1. Maud rips Malcolm Gladwell for his apparently quite idiotic Enron piece. (I’m not sure I can stomach it, from the excerpts. And I’m more than willing to take her word for it, based on some of the other stuff he’s peddled lately.) Brava, dah-link:
A friend points out that Gladwell’s piece is the inevitable result when a writer who has — literally — made a career out of hailing superficial first impressions and banal fads as the height of human endeavor tries to reckon with serious wrong-doing that has serious real-world consequences.
2. Callie on how much it sucks to go back to the grind after time for more writerly pursuits:
I am not alone, I suspect, in my loathing to leave this state behind and plunge back into the world of work and clients and deadlines and the required pacifism, patience and forced pleasantries that will ensue. After two weeks of reading & writing, I’ve developed a routine that I’m loathe to change. I’ve begun writing in a way that has inspired more writing. I’m not eager to fiddle with the state of things. But I’ve got no choice.
I am not alone, I suspect, in my loathing to leave this state behind and plunge back into the world of work and clients and deadlines
Indeed not.
Gwenda — thanks for the link! It is so nice to hear from others who feel the same way…I guess we must band together and fight the bleh work as one!
i don’t know anything about Gladwell, but i thought the New Yorker piece was actually pretty cool: I read it on the place home to Cleveland.