I was looking over someone’s shoulder this morning on the subway while they were reading the sports section of… the Post? AM New York? Metro? Regardless, there was an action shot from a football game, and I couldn’t help noticing that there was a ton of pink behind the players. I looked more closely, and it turned out to be a huge breast cancer awareness ad inside the stadium — I think it may even have been about self-exams. Kind of crazy how far we’ve come: I was just reading in The Emperor of All Maladies (Siddhartha Mukherjee’s ridiculously compelling “biography” of cancer) that in the early 1950s, the New York Times refused to publish the words “breast” or “cancer” in its pages (thus making it impossible for a survivor to place the announcement she wanted to run about a support group); today, advertisements push the importance of early BREAST (gasp!) CANCER (gasp!) detection in the background of a professional football game, that stronghold of masculinity and wholesome American values. Progress!
Whatever sense of professional competence we feel in adult life is less the sum of accomplishment than the absence of impossibility: it’s really our relief at no longer having to do things we were never any good at doing in the first place—relief at never again having to dissect a frog or memorize the periodic table.
Adam Gopnik, “Life Studies,” The New Yorker (June 27, 2011 issue)
The indignity of industrial tomatoes
I’m not sure why I’m so behind on this — or why I’m suddenly posting things to Tumblr again — but it nearly made me cry and definitely made me want to move somewhere where I can have a giant garden and never buy grocery-store produce again, so.
Email exchange between me and the guy who moved into my old apartment (who owes me money)
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Me: I'm not totally clear on how PayPal works, but I do have an account, so if you know what to do then please proceed!
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Him: I think a small gerbil delivers the check through the internet, which is really just a series of tubes. I'm not sure. But we'll figure it out.
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Me: In that case, I'm guessing I'll need to take the DVD out of my computer's drive. That's where the cash comes out, right?
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Him: Definitely take the DVD out, so the PayPal Gerbil can put the check in and then the computer can print all the money. If you need help setting up the money printer, just ask the Gerbil. He doubles as a GeekSquad guy on the weekends.
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Me: Damn it, the internet is incredible!
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Him: SCIENCE!
supergalaxy quest: in defense of liz lemon
i’ve heard some guys grumbling about how women all too frequently compare themselves to liz lemon.
maybe if i put it in guy terms, it’ll make more sense: liz is like that person you look up to in field of dreams. or the kobe of unathleticism. she probably has some parallel quality to that …
The Doree Chronicles: The Time I Visited Martha Stewart Living
So a couple weeks ago I got a Tumblr message, the gist of which was, “Hey I work at Martha Stewart, I noticed that you’ve been writing about making some of her slow-cooker recipes, would you be interested in coming by the office and checking out her test kitchens, which are sort of like seeing the…
Doree S.’s account of her visit to the MSL offices is delightful in every way. I want a prop closet!
College senior wins $1.5 million Manhattan condo in HGTV giveaway - NYPOST.com
Speaking as someone who entered this contest TWICE A DAY for the entire duration (seriously, I set a daily calendar reminder) and actually LIVE IN NYC and have USE for a nice apartment, I am mad. This kid stinks.
Convention draws thousands of high school journalists to KC - KansasCity.com
Ha! I think the first time I heard the term “convergence” was at my first JEA/NSPA convention in Portland in 2003. Glad I’m not out of date yet. Though the JEA/NSPA should probably be concerned.
