miscellanea |ˌmisəˈlānēə|
plural noun
miscellaneous items, esp. literary compositions, that have been collected together.
I'm not sure which is better: the title of the book ("Fiction Ruined My Family"
) or the title of the book review ("Mom’s a Drunk, Dad’s a Writer: A Recipe for Disaster and a Memoir").
Memoirists impress me. (And I'm lucky to be married to one.) It seems like an impossible feat to pull off a memoir. First, you have to have lived an interesting life. Second, you have to be talented enough to write about it. Here's an excerpt where the author describes the affects of living with a father who insisted on high standards for language:
I'm convinced memoirists have a fuller experience than those like me who remain confined to the past.
There's a strange visual irony that the historical image below was attached to a story entitled "Whatever Happened to the American Left?" Ironic because left and right are switched in the photograph.
After the photograph was published in the New York Times about a week ago, a reporter noticed that the buildings adjoining the park were on the wrong side of the square. With Tammany Hall in the background, the park pavilion should have been on the right and the row of buildings on the left. After further research, editors at The Times found that the picture that was first published in 1934 and the original print from the Associated Press were both backward.
But why? And how is it that the protest signs in the lower right corner of the image read correctly? The Times suggests this explanation:
Perhaps this is just another example the left-wing bias critics assign to the The New York Times.
Speaking of left-wing bias, a commentator in The New York Times recently lamented the ineffectiveness of ongoing protests on Wall Street.
But that small dose of objective reporting—documenting the incoherent messages, uninformed participants and paltry attendance—hasn't sat well with some on the left. They see a bias and conspiracy of their own, this time coming from the right. In specific response to The Times article:
It you're getting it from both sides, you're probably doing something right.
plural noun
miscellaneous items, esp. literary compositions, that have been collected together.
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) or the title of the book review ("Mom’s a Drunk, Dad’s a Writer: A Recipe for Disaster and a Memoir").Memoirists impress me. (And I'm lucky to be married to one.) It seems like an impossible feat to pull off a memoir. First, you have to have lived an interesting life. Second, you have to be talented enough to write about it. Here's an excerpt where the author describes the affects of living with a father who insisted on high standards for language:
I was under the impression clichés could ruin you, ruin your life, your hopes and dreams, bring down your whole operation if you didn’t watch it. They were gateway language, leading straight to a business major, a golfy marriage, needlepoint pillows that said things about your golf game, and a self-inflicted gunshot to the head that your family called a heart attack in your alma mater announcements.When it comes to telling a good story, it probably helps that the really good memoirists feel less constrained by the conventions of accuracy. What actually happened in a situation is less important than what the author actually remembers happening. I fret over getting all of the details right at the expense of the story. Thelma, on the other hand, allows experiences to live on and grow in her memory until they are fully realized as something worth recounting and sharing. Something to be learned from or enjoyed.
I'm convinced memoirists have a fuller experience than those like me who remain confined to the past.
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There's a strange visual irony that the historical image below was attached to a story entitled "Whatever Happened to the American Left?" Ironic because left and right are switched in the photograph.
 |
| A Communist rally as part of the May Day celebration in Union Square, New York City, 1934 (AP) |
But why? And how is it that the protest signs in the lower right corner of the image read correctly? The Times suggests this explanation:
It is not known why the original prints were made in mirror image. But one possibility is that editors at The A.P. did so in order to make several signs, carried by members of the crowd in the foreground, legible to readers. (The letters evidently bled through the signs, which appear to have been made of cloth, and would have appeared backward if the image had been printed without alteration.)It makes more sense now when you look at the photograph and realize that all of the other signs and people are facing away from the photographer.
Perhaps this is just another example the left-wing bias critics assign to the The New York Times.
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The group’s lack of cohesion and its apparent wish to pantomime progressivism rather than practice it knowledgably is unsettling in the face of the challenges so many of its generation face — finding work, repaying student loans, figuring out ways to finish college when money has run out. But what were the chances that its members were going to receive the attention they so richly deserve carrying signs like “Even if the World Were to End Tomorrow I’d Still Plant a Tree Today”?
We all know that the corporate-owned media is going to try to undermine any protest movement--especially one from the Left.
Did you honestly think they'd do anything else but try to smear and malign the demonstration ....seriously the Grey Lady and the corporate media are all part of the problem and one of the reasons we citizens find ourselves in a world full of hurt...The comments are a study in contrast. The same organization that Fox News hosts and fans accuse of being a left-wing propaganda machine is accused by those on the left of being a Corporate (read right-wing) conspirator out of touch with the progressive movement.
It you're getting it from both sides, you're probably doing something right.
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