In the New Yorker...

[Jeff Wrangler]

Prof. Florida is well known for his work on economic competitiveness, demographic trends, and cultural and technological innovation. In the last five years, he has penned the international bestseller, The Rise of the Creative Class and also The Flight of the Creative Class, which launched an intellectual revolution that has changed the way companies, nations, and communities compete and thrive.

Gee. I don't have the issue any more, but I'm sure I remember that some of the other authors discussed in that issue did not think so highly of Prof. Florida.

Professional rivalry, I guess. 

[Front-Ranger]

Gee. I don't have the issue any more, but I'm sure I remember that some of the other authors discussed in that issue did not think so highly of Prof. Florida.

Professional rivalry, I guess. 

That blurb reads like it was written by his publicist!! I was a little underwhelmed by the book myself, which seemed an unnecessary elaboration of a rather thin idea.

[Jeff Wrangler]

That blurb reads like it was written by his publicist!!

It is a bit over-the-top, isn't it? 

[Brown Eyes]

This is a horribly embarrassing question for a long-time Brokie to be asking... but could you remind me what date BBM first appeared in The New Yorker?

[Front-Ranger]

Happy to oblige: October 13, 1997. A date that is incised in my memory!!

[Brown Eyes]

Thanks Lee!

I've been having a Brokie nostalgia trip lately.  Just tonight I un-earthed a bunch of my Brokie memorabilia from boxes.  It's been fun.  I don't own a copy of that New Yorker.  Seems like one of the best pieces of Brokie history/ material probably.

[serious crayons]

The July 11/18 edition is wonderful. So far I've read a hilarious David Sedaris essay that had me cackling so loudly while sitting on the patio I thought the neighbors might wonder what's up, an interesting profile of a kind of oddball tech visionary named Jaron Lanier, and another interesting profile of Sheryl Sandberg, a top executive at Facebook, that examines the reason for the scarcity of women in the tech industry.

[Jeff Wrangler]

The July 11/18 edition is wonderful. So far I've read a hilarious David Sedaris essay that had me cackling so loudly while sitting on the patio I thought the neighbors might wonder what's up.

I read that while I was eating lunch today. Chrissi would love the section on learning German.   

The article reminded me very much of a James Thurber piece called "There's No Place Like Home," about learning to speak French from a phrase book. I know the Thurber piece from its inclusion in the collection called My World--And Welcome To It (anybody else remember that short-lived TV series?), but like as not the article first appeared--where else?--in The New Yorker.

[serious crayons]

I read that while I was eating lunch today. Chrissi would love the section on learning German.   

Yes! I thought of Chrissi when I read ... hold on, I'm going to go get the magazine so I can quote it correctly ... OK, here it is:

"The first time I went [to Germany], in 1999, I couldn't bring myself to say so much as a Guten Morgen. The sounds felt false coming out of my mouth, so instead I spent my time speaking English apologetically. Not that apologies were needed. In Paris, yes, but in Berlin people's attitude is 'Thank you for allowing me to practice my perfect English.' And I do mean perfect. 'Are you from Minnesota?' I kept asking."

Also, I know exactly what he means about feeling like foreign languages sound false coming out of one's own mouth. In order to pronounce things correctly, you have to get out of your own way and get over feeling fake about putting on someone else's accent.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I finished the Sheryl Sandberg article over lunch today (then passed the magazine on to my coworker). As I was working my way through the article, I thought the part on the issue of mentoring was interesting, but by the time I finished the article I felt vaguely annoyed with myself for wasting my time on the "issues" facing this enormously fortunate and privileged woman and the others like her mentioned in the article.

I preferred the article about the bicyclists in Rwanda.