In which various Emdashes contributors note what we liked in last week’s issue.
What a world! This issue was chock full of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Who knew that Oliver Sacks was a ferner? (No, I don’t mean someone born abroad, although he is that too.) I forwarded Yoni Brenner’s chortle-worthy Shouts & Murmurs “Aesop in the City” to every NBA fan I know. Aesop knew his hoops.
Tom Mueller’s engaging Letter from Italy exposes the thriving fake olive oil syndicates. My mother is an avid consumer of extra-virgin olive oil, and I’m contemplating burning the issue to ensure that she never finds out. Meanwhile, I just love thinking about Italy’s crack olive oil tasting squad. Jane Mayer deserves credit for reminding us of the misbegotten legacy of Presidental Medalist of Freedom George Tenet, who has given us a C.I.A. now more associated with overseeing black sites abroad than for not foreseeing the fall of the Berlin Wall! This is not your older brother’s C.I.A.! (I also salute Guy Billout for his haunting and iconic artwork for that story.)
And holy cats, was Richard Preston’s Annals of Medicine about Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome a riveting, disturbing read, or what? Jim Murphy’s sister’s explanation of how she handles it when her brother curses at her (“I just say, ‘I love you, too.'”) tore me up inside, in a good way. I also really loved the section where Preston quotes H.A. Jinnah at length to show that the even such a hyper-liberated “imp of the perverse” as this isn’t necessarily the affront to human instincts it might first appear to be. This might be the story in this issue that will stay with me the longest.
Finally, I have a question about Michael Maslin’s caveman cartoon. Isn’t it even funnier if the man is speaking? I’d appreciate if any funnymen or -women out there could help me on this one. I’m counting on you, too, Daniel Radosh.
—Martin Schneider