Thomas Reid pointed me today to an article from December of 2007, in which Andrew Sullivan lays out a very cogent argument for the reasons behind the US’s bitterly partisan politics, and suggests a direction for the future. Here’s an excerpt that may sell you on the essay:
I read an old train porter’s tale the other day about an incident from the early years of railroading. It seems that this new engine was being tried out with a longer-than-usual line of cars on a very steep grade. When the train finally crested the mountain, the engineer confessed to the brakeman that he hadn’t been altogether certain they were going to make it.
Some things in life are inevitable. You know, like death and taxes. Another one, for men at least, is apparently “mid-life crisis.” As crises go, my own has been relatively tame: First I bought a motorcycle; then I got a Chihuahua. I’ll talk about the motorcycle some other time. This post is about the dog.
Today the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation announced its second annual “Children’s Poet Laureate” award. The recipient, Mary Ann Hoberman, is certainly deserving. Her poetry has just the sort of life and joy and—perhaps more importantly—inventiveness and surprise that I found missing in the work of last year’s winner.
As a professional writer, I sometimes find my breath stolen away by another writer’s piece of work. Recently I stumbled across this eight-year-old Rolling Stone essay covering the McCain 2000 primary campaign: I mention it here both because the content is so fascinating (and applicable to the current U.S. presidential race) and the writing performance itself is so masterful.
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