OF A GOLDEN AGE

anna quindlen used to be a reporter and then a columnist for the new york times. now she does a semimonthly column for newsweek, alternating with george will.

in one essay, “the great obligation,” quindlen writes about a family whose son was kidnapped. she covered it at the time, and twenty-five years later, he’s never been found. she called to talk with the father in 2004.

“he didn’t remember the story i had done; i’ve never forgotten it. the couple’s loss, their need, their grief, made me feel that i had to lift the level of my game to meet the level of their bereavement,” she says.

she goes on to make a larger point about jayson blair and other asshole journalists who invent parts of stories. it got me thinking, again, about jay webster and how he’s a “real” journalist now, how he offered me a “connection” into the “real world.” HA! i wouldn’t take jay’s advice about where to eat lunch.

anyway, the first round table will come out on friday, and i am getting excited about it.

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[01:34] someone: a few years later, my ex boyfriend was telling me this horror story of this girl falling down in vomit in the hallway
[01:34] someone: and i was like ‘was it the language hallway, in october?’
[01:34] someone: and he was like, ‘yeah…’
[01:34] someone: and i was like, ‘was it pink?’
[01:34] someone: and he was like, ‘yeah…’
[01:34] someone: and i was like ‘OMG THAT WAS MINE SOMEONE FELL IN IT YESS’
[01:35] someone: it’s like leaving a banana in mario kart
[01:35] someone: and then your guy gets all happy when someone finally runs into it

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