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Sam Allis.  February 27, 2000

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:

"Is it great because it is remembered
or remembered because it is great?"

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Hiawatha Bray.  November 15, 2001

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:

"I have never been one for those electronic fighting games,
but I'm always up for an electronic gaming fight."

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E. J. Dionne.  October 19, 2000

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:

"Bush is trying to be an ideological conservative
Without seeming to be a conservative ideologue."

"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.  June 19, 1999

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:

"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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Derrick Z. Jackson.  November 28, 2001

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:

"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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Mark Jurkowitz.  March 4, 1999

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:

"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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Elizabeth Knies.  March 21, 1999

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:

"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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Michael Kranish.  March 3, 1999

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:

"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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Ed Siegel.  May 26, 2001

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:

"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."