National Review, Oct. 24 An article examines the struggles some conservative scholars face at America’s universities. Professors who question “the tenets of political correctness” can find themselves facing discipline without due process because they “hurt the feelings” of students; and some are even passed over for tenure despite stellar credentials. If this trend continues, the article concludes, right-of-center faculty may become “an endangered species on campus.”… An article reveals that the New Orleans’ “good Samaritan” evacuation plan did work after all. In the immediate aftermath, pundits and officials estimated the death toll between 10,000 and 60,000. More than a month later, only 1,000 bodies have been recovered. What saved the city from such massive devastation? A menagerie of “military units, volunteers, and state and local first responders” that rescued more than 50,000 people. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Bob Duncan reports that “one of the biggest problems was that so many helicopters were operating they risked crashing into one another.”—Z.K.
Economist, Oct. 15 The cover wonders who will succeed Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan, who is scheduled to retire on Jan. 31. Stressing that it’s the “most important economic-policy job” in the world, the magazine champions Don Kohn, “a governor on the Federal Reserve Board, who is not affiliated to any party.” A longtime veteran of the Fed, Kohn has attended its meetings longer than Greenspan has and possesses a “vast experience of monetary-policy decisions and financial crises.”… A piece about the Kashmir earthquake insists that even poor countries can afford to make the improvements that would stave off earthquake-related deaths. The article also criticizes Americans for not sending more aid more quickly. Noting that Pakistan hasn’t been as open to receiving Indian aid as it could be, the article stresses “it is a matter of sadness” that India and Pakistan haven’t put aside their differences.—B.B.
New Republic, Oct. 24 After a visit to Provincetown, a longtime haven for gays, Andrew Sullivan proclaims“The End of Gay Culture.” Noting that the divisions between homosexuals and heterosexuals seem increasingly less important in some places, Sullivan writes, “For many of us who grew up fighting a world of now-inconceivable silence and shame, distinctive gayness became an integral part of who we are. It helped define us not only to the world but also to ourselves. Letting that go is as hard as it is liberating, as saddening as it is invigorating.”… Another piece examines a Senate bill that calls for a language czar to help Americans (especially “diplomats, intelligence analysts, teachers, medical and social services professionals, court interpreters, and law enforcement officers”) increase their proficiency in foreign languages. The essay affirms the need for such a position, but points out that, “as currently envisioned, the language czar has no real power to enact change.”—B.B.
Weekly Standard, Oct. 17 William Kristol lauds his fellow travelers for not rolling over and supporting the nomination of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers. While her devotion to the president might be good enough for some, overall, says Kristol of conservatives, “the vigor of their arguments, and in their willingness to speak uncomfortable truths, conservatives have shown that they remain a morally serious and intellectually credible force in American politics.” The outcry raises the question: If many in his own party do not support Miers, can the president save face? Kristol reckons that if Bush withdraws the nomination, he “could quickly nominate a serious, conservative, and well-qualified candidate for the court vacancy.”… The cover article offers up a meditation on celebrity and American culture. Seeing that celebrity coveting has become so pervasive, penetrating even the sacrosanct bastion of the ivory tower, the author concludes that one is famous “when a crazy person imagines he is you.”–Z.K.
Nation, Oct. 24 More than a year after his death, Pat Tillman remains an enigma. An article reveals that the political philosophy of the NFL-player-turned Army Ranger was more in line with the MoveOn.org crowd than with the Young Republicans. Tillman’s mom says he was a fan of Noam Chomsky, and an Army bud confides Tillman thought the war in Iraq was “so F***ing illegal.”… The Republicans’ recent scandals, charges of cronyism, and Katrina blunders present Democrats an opportunity to escape the 25-year choke-hold conservatives have had them in “only if [they] can make themselves a compelling force for change,”advocates an article. Besides breaking down a nine-point plan of action for Dems, the author suggests party members do some soul-searching to discover if they are as hungry for change and power as Newt Gingrich and his back-benchers were in the mid-’90s.—Z.K.
New York, Oct. 17 A cover story on a new procedure that allows women to freeze their own eggs and reinsert them later—theoretically allowing them to extend the age of fertility—predicts disappointment, as the success rate is expected to be fairly low. “People can look at it as a little bit of an insurance policy,” says Dr. Jamie Grifo, “but if they see it as ‘the Answer,’ and the way to avoid meeting Mr. Right or deciding when to have kids, they could be disappointed in the end.” … A business story about JetBlue focuses on the challenges facing the low-cost airline: rising fuel costs, fleet maintenance issues, and defensive competition from major airlines, particularly Delta. Despite an expected third-quarter loss after four years of steady profits, CEO David Neelman doesn’t seem worried. JetBlue’s lower costs will ensure that other airlines are hurt worse than they are. “Companies built for the good times go out of business in the bad times,” he tells New York. “This company was built for the bad times.”—B.W.
The New Yorker, Oct. 17 An article tells the story of E. Forbes Smiley III, a prominent rare map dealer who rattled that cloistered world when he was accused of stealing maps. Smiley was not the most popular antiquarian dealer, but he was respected for his ability. A sharp-eyed Yale librarian noticed Smiley drop an X-acto knife in the school’s rare maps room, uncovering Smiley’s habit of lifting rare maps and leading cartography connoisseurs to question the security and legitimacy of their collections. No one is sure whether Smiley’s thefts were a new ploy to regain prominence in the industry, or if they were an old habit. Some missing maps may never resurface; art dealers believe that Smiley’s customers, fearful of losing precious maps without repayment, will refuse to come forward. … Another article profiles Kunihiko Moriguchi, one of Japan’s prominent kimono painters. Moriguchi has practiced the art for 40 years; now, he attempts to continue working while watching the health of his 95-year-old father, a former kimono master himself, deteriorate. “[T]he path to grace in kimono painting, as in many devotions, is through surrender,” the article says.—T.B.
London Review of Books, Oct. 6 Andrew O’Hagan travels to New Orleans and the Mississippi coast with an unlikely pair of volunteers: Sam Parham, an obese, 27-year-old working-class white Republican technophile, and Terry Harper, a down-at-heels former Black Panther with a gouty leg and a job at Waffle House. O’Hagan reports from the back seat on their sex-obsessed banter, their life stories, and the racial and class seams forced open by Hurricane Katrina. Upon arriving, he interprets the devastation: “Every inch of New Orleans was a warning from Faulkner or Carson McCullers. … It was the week Southern Gothic became a form of social realism.” … An early review of Uzodinma Iweala’s forthcoming debut novella, Beasts of No Nation, which is narrated from the perspective of a child soldier in an unnamed African country, praises the narrator’s voice—an original breed of pidgin English—describing it as ” authentic in the … important sense that it conveys a fully developed human consciousness, however damaged.”—B.W.
New York Times Magazine, Oct. 16 The cover story looks at the trend toward McMansions— or “estate homes,” as builders prefer to call them— in suburbia amid a tightening housing market. Bob Toll, a leading estate-home builder, thinks that the housing market will only become tighter, like Europe’s, and McMansions may soon be a relic of their time. “Not only does Toll say he believes the next generation of buyers will be paying twice as much of their annual incomes [for homes]; in terms of space, he also seems to think that they’re going to get only half as much,” the article says. … Another article questions the medical practice of prescribing growth hormone to very short children. Pharmaceuticals companies hoping to market the hormone claim the teasing short kids receive can affect a child’s psychological well-being. But other research suggests that such teasing is either not damaging or should instead be controlled by anti-bullying programs in schools. “Short stature became a disease when unlimited amounts of growth hormone became available,” says one growth expert.—T.B.
Time and Newsweek, Oct. 17 Miers: Both newsweeklies make much of the fact that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers is facing fierce opposition from conservatives. Newsweek claims that Miers has to evade charges that she’s a Bush crony and suggests that, during her confirmation hearings, she ought to “show at least a hint of independence from the man she has so faithfully served.” The article also notes that when Miers taught Sunday school, she began her classes with a song called “Whirly Birds for Jesus!”… Time quotes a “presidential adviser” who says Karl Rove was not very involved in the decision to nominate Miers, but that White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card was. “Andy knew it would appeal to the President because he loves appointing his own people and being supersecret and stealthy about it,” says the source, who claims that the decision has exacerbated tension between Card and Rove.
Odds and ends: Both magazines focus on the bird flu and the fact that scientists last week re-created a copy of the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu, noting that it came from birds and changed only slightly before infecting humans. Although most known cases have ben in Vietnam, Newsweek claims that top-secret congressional briefings may have involved data about people who have contracted the virus in other countries. President Bush has touted the efficacy of quarantines to control the spread of the virus, but Time claims that health officials think quarantines probably wouldn’t work because it wouldn’t make sense to shut down entire communities for months. Isolating the sick and closing down schools, malls, and centers for sports and religion might work for a while—but “even that would be of questionable effectiveness.” … Newsweek’s cover spotlights Mormonism, noting that prominent Mormon politicians (like Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid) and businessmen are increasingly public about belonging to the religion.—B.B.
