May 21, 2004

The Save Our Short Story campaign is something I advocated years ago. Apparently, the Scottish Arts Council and the Arts Council of England agree with my assessment.

In order to rescue this dying literary form, these organizations are actively working to increase the number and visibility of high-quality outlets for short fiction, give the short story form more prestige and enable writers to specialize in the short story form.

"I was married to Philip Hamburger for 23 years, after which, as the late writer William Maxwell predicted at the time of our divorce, Phil became my best friend, as did his wonderful wife, Anna. Phil's death, on April 23rd, so soon after Anna's, left a void that, at 87, I can't fill. Phil and I met in 1939 in the library of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he had been a student the previous year, and which I was attending at the time. We began a conversation that lasted 65 years."
--Edith Iglauer

May 20, 2004

Despite what you may have read in an e-mail, the chemicals in the Swiffer Wet Jet cleaning product do not cause liver failure in dogs, cats or fuzzy bunnies. According to the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, the ingredients in Swiffer Wet Jet will not harm household pets, when used according to label directions.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, Febreze is safe, too.

Oklahoma police are searching for robbers who've been breaking into Mexican, Chinese and steak restaurants to steal cooking oil and grease. In the past three months, these bandits have run off with 5,000 lbs. of lard.

Remember when crooks actually stole money?

May 18, 2004

At least 25 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the war officially "ended." Twelve have died in 2004 -- all of them Iraqis.

Everyone scorns the media, but the public needs journalists in the field. Reporters and photographers risk their lives so the masses can hop on the Internet, turn on CNN or pick up a newspaper and see what's happening in the world. The worst places to work as a journalist are:

* Iraq
* Cuba
* Zimbabwe
* Turkmenistan
* Bangladesh
* China
* Eritrea
* Haiti
* The West Bank and Gaza
* Russia

The next time you learn about news in one of these places, bear in mind that there's a man or woman risking injury, intimidation, kidnapping and death just to bring the story to you.

[Update: Gunmen ambushed a Polish TV crew south of Baghdad last Friday, killing producer Mounir Bouamrane, a dual Algerian-Polish national, and correspondent Waldemar Milewicz, who was Poland's best-known war reporter. They were en route to Najaf and driving in a car with "press" marked on the windshield when they were shot and killed.]

"It's easy to complain about the press -- I've been doing it for a good part of my career. It's part of what goes with a free society. What I do is try to focus upon those elements of the press that I think do an effective job and try to be accurate in their portrayal of events. For example, I end up spending a lot of time watching FOX News, because they're more accurate in my experience, in those events that I'm personally involved in, than many of the other outlets."
--Vice President Dick Cheney

May 17, 2004

A new Jaded Writings column has been posted. This week, I discuss Alton Brown's battle with fat acceptance extremists.

* MacKenzie Raye Van Cleef - 5/18/71
* Jim Lehrer - 5/19/34
* Lorraine Vivian Hansberry - 5/19/30
* Nora Ephron - 5/19/41
* Honore de Balzac - 5/20/1799
* Dante Alighieri - 5/21/1265
* Alexander Pope - 5/21/1688
* Harold Robbins - 5/21/16
* Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 5/22/1859
* Peter Matthiessen - 5/22/27
* Scott O'Dell - 5/23/1898

May 16, 2004

Alex Trebek recently invited some of the country's most influential political minds to compete on "Jeopardy!'s Power Players Week. Every dollar Anderson Cooper, Ari Fleisher, Bob Woodward, Al Franken and about a dozen others win will be donated to their favorite charities.

If you were a power player, what charity would benefit from your wisdom and generosity? I'd probably donate my winnings to Planned Parenthood, the ASPCA or The Coalition on Donation.

"A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized."
--Fred Allen

Past Afterthoughts