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Chiasmus occupies an important place in the history of American journalism. In fact, the informal motto of newspapers
and journalists for nearly a hundred years has been:
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"To comfort the afflicted,
and afflict the comfortable."
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The line is commonly attributed to the American writer, Finley Peter Dunne, and is clearly his brainchild. But he never quite said it this way.
In fact, he never said it at all. He had his famous fictional character, Mr. Dooley, say it—in his inimitable fashion—in a 1902 book, Observations by Mr. Dooley:
"Th' newspaper does ivrything f'r us. It runs th' polis foorce an' th' banks, commands th' milishy, conthrols th' ligislachure, baptizes th' young, marries th' foolish,
comforts th' afflicted, afflicts th' comfortable, buries th' dead an' roasts thim aftherward."
The expression has been borrowed and altered in many ways over the years. Clare Booth Luce employed it in a memorable tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt (which you can find in the
chapter on "Chiastic Compliments and Insults" in Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You.)
And a fascinating version showed up in a line delivered by Gene Kelly in a great newspaper movie, Stanley Kramer's 1960 film, Inherit the Wind.
Another chiastic line is arguably the most famous quote in the history of the newspaper business. It's the famous definition of a good news story, from Charles A. Dana,
the editor of The New York Sun in the late 1800s:
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"If a dog bites a man,
it's a story;
if a man bites a dog,
it's a good story."
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When I first got interested in chiasmus in the early 1990s, I discovered that some of the most interesting chiastic quotes were to be found,
not in quotation anthologies or literary classics, but in the pages of the paper I read almost every day. A perfect example occurred early
one morning in 1993. I was going through the morning Globe when, all of a sudden, my attention became riveted on one of the finest
chiastic tributes I've ever seen. Written by an unnamed editorial writer for the paper, here it is (notice that it includes two separate
examples of chiasmus):
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"There is a touch of the poet in most revolutionaries—
and a touch of the revolutionary in most poets.
But among revolutionary leaders,
the finest poet—
And among poets,
the most successful revolutionary leader—
Has to be Mao Zedong,
who was born 100 years ago today."
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Even the publisher has joined in the act. On the paper's 125th anniversary in 1997, publisher and CEO
William O. Taylor employed chiasmus in a message to Globe readers:
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"As much as we believe that
the Globe has been good for the city,
we also know
how good the city has been for the Globe."
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In this section, you'll find chiastic quotes from The Boston Globe. Contributors include journalists and columnists,
and occasionally Greater Boston residents whose chiastic observations have been featured in the pages of the paper. I'll present
the quotes alphabetically by author, which will make it easy for you to find your favorite writer.
If you're a regular Globe reader and your favorite writers are not included, it's because I have not yet discovered a chiastic
quote from them. If you know of any, please contact Dr. Mardy. If you're a Globe writer
and your name is not included (Alex Beam, where are you?) feel free to send any of your chiastic creations.
Sam Allis (February 27, 2000)
Kenneth R. Berman (September 13, 1998)
Hiawatha Bray (November 15, 2001)
Kevin Cullen (November 22, 1998)
Osha Gray Davidson (May 21, 1995)
Alan Dershowitz (February 18, 1996)
E. J. Dionne (October 19, 2000)
John Ellis (June 19, 1999)
Bella English (December 1993)
Mark Feeney (June 16, 1998)
Mark Feeney (December 3, 1998)
Mark Feeney (March 22, 1995)
Ellen Goodman (April 3, 1992)
Ellen Goodman (July 19, 1991)
Derrick Z. Jackson (November 28, 2001)
Jeff Jacoby (February 14, 1995)
Mark Jurkowitz (March 4, 1999)
Ric Kahn (no date, 1994)
Elizabeth Knies (March 21, 1999)
Alfie Kohn (March 22, 1994)
Michael Kranish (March 3, 1999)
Joyce Maguire Pavao (January 14, 1997)
Katherine A. Powers (February 23, 1997)
Bob Ryan (March 8, 1996)
George Scialabba (March 15, 1998)
Ron Shaich (Janaury 1994)
David M. Shribman (December 8, 1998)
David M. Shribman (October 11, 1998)
David M. Shribman (February 24, 1998)
Ed Siegel (no date, 1994)
Ed Siegel (May 26, 2001)
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In a Front Page story titled "The Sermon: Creating Words to Live By," staff
writer Sam Allis writes about the weekly challenge facing all preachers, creating a great sermon. He writes, "A sermon is an
anomaly in the chaos of our lives; a profound idea wrapped in stillness, crafted and delivered with skill and care. It is the
vertical in a horizontal world, the opposite of a sound bite. It honors the capacity of the congregation to absorb a message."
In the article, Allis asks, "What is a great sermon?" He responds with a provocative chiastic question:
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"Is it great because it is remembered
or remembered because it is great?"
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Berman said this about President Clinton's sworn testimony in the Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky affairs. At the time, Clinton said his
testimony was "legally accurate" even though it might have been misleading or not completely forthcoming.
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Kenneth Berman is chair of the litigation department at the Boston law firm of Sherin & Lodgen.
He is also the former chairman of the Boston Bar Association's litigation section. In a Boston Sunday Globe
article in September, 1998, Berman was quoted as saying:
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"True statements are always legally accurate,
but legal accuracy is not always the truth."
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In a "Technology & Innovation" column (titled "Microsoft Jumps Into Gaming
Fray"), columnist Hiawatha Bray examined Microsoft's upcoming venture into the computer gaming industry. About to launch the new
Xbox home gaming platform, Microsoft was challenging the two established industry leaders, Sony and Nintendo. Recognizing that a
major marketing and technology battle was about to take place, Bray wrote:
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"I have never been one for those electronic fighting games,
but I'm always up for an electronic gaming fight."
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In a front-page article titled "For BBC's Cooke at 90, Reporting is Ageless," Kevin Cullen
wrote of the legendary Alistair Cooke:
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"Through more than a half-century of work that was
remarkable for its simultaneous simplicity and erudition,
Cooke became America's most admired Englishman
and England's best-loved American."
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In an article on gun control, Osha Gray Davidson, a writer and gun control advocate, offered
this penetrating observation about the nation's number one gun lobby:
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"Until recently people thought of
the NRA as a hunting and sporting group
that did a little lobbying on the side.
Now it's thought of as a lobbying group
that does a little hunting and sporting on the side."
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Just prior to the 1996 New Hampshire primary, Republican candidate Pat Buchanan accepted the resignation
of one of his top aides, a man who on a number of occasions had reportedly shared the stage with members of the
Aryan Nation, a known hate group. In an article by Robert A. Jordan, Alan Dershowitz was quoted as saying
about Buchanan:
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"There have been men close to power
with no extreme views,
and there have been men with extreme views
that were not close to power.
But we've never had a candidate with
such extreme views and so close to power."
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Dershowitz said he based his comment on the findings of the Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith, which had been monitoring
Buchanan for decades. He minced no words when he concluded, "He has a history of forty years of bigotry."
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In an article on the Op/Ed page, syndicated columnist E. J. Dionne wrote that
George W. Bush was sometimes advocating contradictory policies in his run for the White House. Talking about the "balancing act"
of the Republican nominee for president, Dionne wrote: "Bush confirmed that he plans to win on sweeping themes, not specifics.
And he'll happily ignore the contradictions when his themes collide." He concluded:
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"Bush is trying to be an ideological conservative
Without seeming to be a conservative ideologue."
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His observation is similar to a famous observation James Reston made about LBJ in the 1964 campaign for the presidency:
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"Everybody is in doubt about whether President Johnson
is a conservative progressive or a progressive conservative,
and he is in clover."
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John Ellis says the Internet is rewriting the rules of customer service
because of its ability to make customers feel important. Two recent
experiences make his point. After joining the 401(K) plan of the Boston
Globe Employees Association, Ellis signed over eight percent of his income to
Putnam Investments, the fund's manager. Instead of a "Thank You" note to
their new client, Putnam sent Ellis an off-putting note telling him his new
PIN code. Ellis felt taken for granted and (understandably) miffed. At the
same time, Ellis was in the market for a new car and found a new General
Motors car-buying service on the web. Within days of expressing interest, he
received seven e-mails from five dealers. One dealer in Long Island said
he'd even drive a car up to Boston so Ellis could give it a test drive. The
two experiences caused a dramatic "turnaround" in Ellis's thinking:
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"A brand I thought was great—Putnam—
I now think is brain dead.
A brand I thought was brain dead—GM—
I now think is great."
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In her annual "Christmas Wish List" column, Bella English had a special wish for Massachusetts's
governor and Boston's mayor:
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"To Gov. Weld:
a heart, to go along with his brain.
To Mayor Menino:
a brain, to go along with his heart."
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If you're not familiar with Bay State politicos, the sentiment reflects the reputation former
Massachusetts governor Bill Weld had for being intelligent, but not very compassionate, and Boston
mayor Thomas Menino's has for being compassionate, but not particularly intelligent.
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In "The Blount Edge," an article on writer Roy Blount, Jr., Mark Feeney discovered that one of Blount's early intellectual
heroes was the legendary American writer, A. J. Liebling. Feeney then piggy-backed on a famous Liebling line to write of Blount:
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"Blount's preeminence among contemporary humorists
has for some time allowed him to boast
(even if he's too modest to)
that he can write funnier than
anyone who can write smarter
and smarter than anyone
who can write funnier."
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If you're not familiar with the Liebling quote that inspired this line, you can find it in another section of this site,
Chiasmus in the New Yorker. The following quote by Feeney also
appears in the New Yorker page of this site, but I'm including it here as well because it originally appeared in the
Globe. Below I'll also speculate on the original quote that might have inspired the line.
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In 1998, David Remnick became the fifth editor in the 73-year history of The New Yorker.
Remnick originally discovered the magazine as a youth in his dentist father's waiting room, and became enthralled
by the publication. Hired as a staff writer in 1992, he produced over 100 byline pieces over the next six years.
In 1998, the 40-year-old became the youngest editor in the magazine's history. In an article titled "The New Yorker's
Boyish Wonder," Mark Feeney wrote:
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"It was Storybook 101:
Boy meets magazine;
magazine gets boy;
boy gets magazine."
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Feeney's line captured the essence of the story. Reading the line, I wondered if Feeney was familiar with
Jack Woodford's summary of the typical plot of Hollywood movies:
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"Boy meets girl.
Girl gets boy into pickle.
Boy gets pickle into girl."
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In April, 1995, a "Special Hollywood Issue" of Vanity Fair magazine appeared on the stands,
with a dramatic fold-out cover featuring ten lingerie-clad Hollywood starlets. In a "Literary Life"
column, Mark Feeney offered this assessment of the cover:
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"Fabulous babedom may never be the same.
It's prurience at its most ironic,
irony at its most prurient:
airbrushed decadence."
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Writing about sex education in our schools, Ellen Goodman noted a deep
division between advocates of safe sex and abstinence (which she dubbed "the
chastity curriculum" and "the condom curriculum"). Both approaches, however,
reflect a pendulum swing away from the prevailing social atmosphere of a few
decades ago. Goodman wrote:
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"In the sixties and seventies,
we talked about pleasures and forgot about dangers …
in the 1990s,
we talk about danger and forget about pleasure."
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Goodman's observation demonstrates how useful chiasmus can be in making
comparisons. In my view, no figure of speech can hold a candle to chiasmus
when it comes to comparing one thing and another (for more thought-provoking
examples, see the chapter on "Chiastic Comparisons"
in Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You.)
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A 1991 Vanity Fair cover featured a very pregnant Demi Moore. Except for
what Ellen Goodman called "two strategically placed hands" the actress was
totally naked. In the photograph, Annie Leibovitz had juxtaposed sexuality
and motherhood, two things that don't normally go together. Noting that
Leibovitz had "captured and, uh, exposed a visual taboo," Goodman wrote:
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"After all, a mother isn't supposed to be a sex object
and a sex object isn't supposed to be a mother
and where is Freud when you need him?"
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In an article on the Op/Ed page, regular columnist Derrick Z. Jackson
revisited the issue of Black voters feeling disenfranchised in Florida's presidential election last year. He tied the
disputed election to the current war on terrorism with this chiastic creation:
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"It should not be lost to history that Bush
is going after the Taliban in the name
of democracy when he worked so hard
a year ago to ban the tally."
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In a Valentine's Day column, Jeff Jacoby writes with great fondness about the
valuable lessons he learned from his parents, including this chiastic maxim
from his mother:
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"Love doesn't grow from
the things somebody else does for you.
It grows from
the things you do for somebody else."
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Unlike the countless numbers of "adult children" who speak with anger and
resentment about their parents, Jacoby comes across as a pretty lucky guy.
He writes: "I was raised by two parents who derived deep satisfaction from
their marriage to each other. During my growing-up years … I had a
ringside seat at a true love story. Of the many gifts my parents gave to me,
that has to rank among the most valuable."
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On the 25th anniversary of People magazine, Mark Jurkowitz examined the history of the publication as well
as the issue that commemorated the occasion. About the special issue he wrote:
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"The special 25th-anniversary edition of People
follows the magazine's formula of
'Extraordinary people doing ordinary things
and ordinary people doing extraordinary things.'"
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In 1994, Ric Kahn wrote a fascinating article on the tortured life and self-inflicted death of a former Boston
undercover cop named Jeffrey Coy. Kahn offered this chiastic clue to Coy's ultimate despair:
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"In the primordial undercover world,
Coy found his psyche stretched in a tug of war between
unsuspecting cops who believed he was a criminal
and the suspecting criminals who believed he was a cop."
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In a review of Annie Dillard's book, For the Time Being, Elizabeth Knies, a teaching fellow in
the creative writing program at Boston University, wrote of Dillard:
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"If one cardinal rule of writing is
to 'write about what you know,'
she made it her business
to know about what she wrote
and to describe it in fine detail."
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In a 1994 article titled "The High Cost of Rewards," Alfie Kohn wrote:
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"The question we need to ask is not
'How motivated is this person?'
but 'How is this person motivated?'"
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Kohn added, "What matters is not the amount, but the type of motivation involved." His observation makes it clear
that "problem performers" don't lack motivation, they're simply motivated in ways that fail to meet the approval of parents,
teachers, and other frustrated authority figures.
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In an article titled "As GOP field fills up, race for donors on," Michael Kranish points out that the schedule of
presidential primaries in the year 2000 has been dramatically compressed. As a result, the pressure to raise
money earlier than in previous years has affected current presidential hopefuls, especially among the Republicans,
where as many as ten prospects are courting a donor base that, at best, could probably support only as many as
three full-fledged campaigns. He also writes:
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"Candidates are in a Catch-22 situation:
They can't raise money
unless they are shown to be credible,
and many can't prove they are credible
unless they raise a lot of money."
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In an article on adoption, Joyce Maguire Pavao, a family therapist and adoption specialist, was quoted as saying:
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"Adoption is not about finding children for families,
it's about finding families for children."
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Director of the Center for Family Connections in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pavao went on to add, "It's a cliche, I know,
but I work very hard, and train people very hard, to do just that. Too often the child gets lost in the legitimate
pain and difficulty the adults are going through."
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Writer and critic Katherine A. Powers offers her reflections and musings on a regular basis in the weekly
feature, "My Back Pages." Early in 1997, she observed:
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"The whole point of art, after all, is to make
the particular universal
and the universal particular—
while at the same time expressing the ambiguities
and complexities of the human condition."
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Chiasmus can involve the use of numbers as well as words or phrases, as this Bob Ryan line demonstrates:
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"Padilla is a 1 with overtones of a 2,
while Travieso is a 2 with overtones of a 1."
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If you're a sports fan, you immediately know what Ryan means in this assessment of Edgar Padilla and Carmelo Travieso,
the two guards on the 1996 University of Massachusetts basketball team. For those who require a translation, I'll
let Ryan explain it himself: "Padilla is a point guard, or floor leader, who can also shoot and take it to the hole.
Travieso is a hired gun type of shooter who is not struck dumb when the coach asks him to bring the ball up."
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In a review of Linda Simon's A Life of William James, book critic George Scialabba offers this
chiastic assessment of James:
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"And although he was perhaps not
superhumanly charming or heroicically good,
it's hard to think of any among his fellow immortals
as charming as James who were also as good,
or any as good who were also as charming."
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As a nationwide coffee craze was sweeping the country, Ron Shaich (pronounced shake), the co-chairman of Au Bon Pain,
offered this observation in a 1994 Globe article on a possible "coffee war" in the Boston area:
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"In the rest of the country, Dunkin' Donuts is perceived
as a bakery with a coffee shop attached,
but in Boston it's perceived
as a coffee shop with a bakery attached."
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During the 1998 impeachment hearings, David M. Shribman, the Globe's Washington Bureau chief,
noted that the growing support for impeachment among House republicans was occurring "at the very moment
of a serious leadership vacuum on Capitol Hill," with no one really in charge. Speaker Newt Gingrich
had resigned, but hadn't yet formally left his office, and Robert Livingston had been selected as the new
Speaker, but hadn't yet assumed the role. He made his point with this observation (note the two
separate examples of chiasmus):
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"Often, drifters and the dissolute say
they're between jobs.
The problem with the House speakership is the opposite:
The job is between people.
Gingrich has the job but can't exercise its power.
Livingston has power but won't exercise it
because he doesn't have the job."
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Writing about John Glenn's return to the astronaut ranks at age 77, David M. Shribman observed:
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"Glenn, who has led the life of his times,
is having the time of his life."
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In a 1998 piece on Ralph Reed, the former director of the Christian coalition, David M. Shribman noted
Reed's penchant for always wearing white shirts. Juxtaposing Reed's sartorial tastes with his political
acumen, Shribman added:
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"His shirts are hot white
and his mind is white hot."
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During the 1994 Olympic games, television critic Ed Siegel lambasted Connie Chung for her unprofessional
interviews with Tonya Harding, the figure skater implicated in the attack on rival figure skater Nancy Kerrigan.
Chung's first TV interview with Harding was considered so laughably "soft" it was criticized by most observers, and
even ridiculed by some. In a second Harding interview, Chung appeared deliberately provocative, causing
Harding to end the interview prematurely. Her dramatic about-face seemed a transparent attempt to salvage
her reputation as a tough interviewer. By contrast, Siegel couldn't help but recall how gallantly Jim McKay
had covered the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Palestinian terrorists massacred Israeli athletes. He wrote:
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"ABC's Jim McKay was a sportscaster
who distinguished himself covering a news story …
CBS' Connie Chung was a newswoman
who disgraced herself covering a sports story."
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In a "Living/Arts" article entitled "Difficult Transition from Crane to
Thane," critic Ed Siegel reviewed a new production of "Macbeth," with Kelsey Grammer of the hit TV sitcom "Frazier" in the
lead role. Siegel noted that Grammer has had classical training and asks, "How easily, then, does Grammer move from Crane
to Thane?" In answering the question, he says, "At the end of this two-hour freight train of an adaptation, the issue remains
Grammer and the vagaries of celebrity rather than Macbeth and the vagaries of power." And then he adds:
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"Or to put it another way,
Grammer doesn't quite rise above the adage that
you can take the boy out of Frazier,
but you can't quite take Frazier out of the boy."
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