Monthly Archives: February 2010

Ben Greenman, Emily Flake at ‘How I Learned’: Sinning for Dummies

Jonathan Taylor writes:
The New Yorker‘s Ben Greenman is among those passing forward dubious knowledge tomorrow night at the “How I Learned” storytelling series at Happy Ending in Manhattan. This month’s lesson at the Berlitz of bad behavior, hosted by our confidante Blaise Kearsley, is “How I Learned to Lie, Cheat or Steal.” Cartoonist Emily Flake, whose work has appeared in the mag and was interviewed in the Cartoon Lounge, will also be presenting. Get there early; these free classes are known as an easy A.

Ground Zero Performance: Paul Goldberger on 60 Minutes

_Pollux writes_:
Paul Goldberger, architecture critic at _The New Yorker_, appeared tonight on CBS’ _60 Minutes_, which ran a “story”:http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6228927n on the delayed and knotty redevelopment of the World Trade Center. In 2004, Goldberger published a book, _Up From Zero_, on the attempts to revitalize a site that remains disputed land entangled by conflicting visions and lethargic bureaucratic machines. As Scott Pelley remarks on the story, “failure has many architects.”

Three Cheers for Eighty-Five Years!

Emily Gordon writes:
We are celebrating. We hereby award the Jane Grant to Jane Grant, the Boss Hoss to Harold Ross, the Lei of Herbin to Rea Irvin, the Feast of Yeast to Raoul Fleischmann, and a vat of champagne (we mean Champagne) for the entire New Yorker staff of the present Golden Age.
You’re a natty, brainy 85, New Yorker. If you make the yearly subscription $85 a year, we’ll take it.

Reporting at Wit’s End: The Collected Essays of St. Clair McKelway

Reporting at Wit's End-book cover.jpg
_Pollux writes_:
The newly published “_Reporting at Wit’s End: Tales from The New Yorker_”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/160819034X/ref=s9_simi_gw_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1FDBYXJN2NYY47SFW8D3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846 collects the essays of _New Yorker_ reporter “St. Clair McKelway”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Clair_McKelway (1905-1980), who wrote for the magazine from the 1930s to 60s. At a hefty 620 pages, _Reporting at Wit’s End_ is a substantial contribution to classical American journalism and _New Yorker_ history.
McKelway’s pieces pulsated with the power of the personalities he profiled. McKelway wrote pieces on figures like Stanley Clifford Weyman (born Stephen Jacob Weinberg), a “dedicated imposter.” Weinberg, like many rogues and con men, tinkered with his name, posing as “Royal St. Cyr only when he wished to drum home to himself and other people the notion that he was a lieutenant in the French Navy, which he wasn’t.” In 1940, McKelway profiled and radio commentator Walter Winchell, who, “although he has never been shot at and has been beaten up only twice, he is always expecting to be attacked.”
With an introduction by Adam Gopnik, _Reporting at Wit’s End_ is the best tribute (who needs another statue in a park?) and service that can be made to a writer of St. Clair McKelway’s caliber.