Dear Readers,
It's been a week, hasn't it? Some kind of week. Reminds me of a story a great comedy writer producer, Bill Persky ("The Dick Van Dyke Show," "That Girl," "Kate & Allie", etc.) has told me.
Bill Persky
He was once invited to see a well-known-but-maybe-past-his-prime comedian perform at the Copacabana nightclub in New York -- I think the comedian wanted Bill to write him new material. In any case, Bill was unimpressed with the show but still had to go backstage and pay his respects to the performer. What should Bill say that would be kind, but not a lie, and acquit him in the dressing room? He came up with, "Wow, did you fill 45 minutes! Boy oh boy, that was some 45 minutes!"
Which brings us back to this week.
Between James Comey's book and tv appearances, "taint teams," Michael Cohen's client #3 - Sean Hannity, the courtroom artist's sketch of Stormy Daniels' thug, John McCain's medical troubles, Barbara Bush's health decline, and so on -- (and I'm only writing this on TUESDAY) it's been quite a week. This administration is aging us! I feel the only way to train for this endless hysterical news cycle is to run up and down stairs -- all day -- in a highrise. The air is thin up here!
But we must hold on to the good, in the midst of all the bad, strange, and unsettling.
1) The 2018 Pulitzer Prizes.
Honors and appreciation to the organization and to the winners. It was great to see that the teams of reporters who dug deep to investigate the sexual predators were rewarded for their hard and good work. I read the remarks made by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, and I wanted to post them here. They moved me enormously.
https://www.nytco.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/Pulitzer-speech-from-Jodi-and-Megan.docx.pdf
2) Over the weekend I attended a bridal shower. It was the first shower I've been to for the daughter of a friend. It was delightful. Given the bride-to-be in question is a lovely, brilliant, serious feminist, I was amazed by how feminine the party was. Of course, it was a bridal shower, not a We Work meet up. There were flowers everywhere -- on the cupcakes, on the tables, on the fabric of the dresses. (My memo said "casual." Don't ask what I wore.) But I loved the feminist/feminine connection. The bride and many of her friends are lawyers. I look forward to watching their progress in the years ahead. And honestly, the love of this family for one another, and the romance in the air was very, very nice to experience.
3) I won a raffle for the first time in my life! I won a raffle! I won a raffle! (I hope the person picking the ticket didn't rig it. I did say, "I've never won a raffle in my life; I probably won't win this one." Cue Eeyore voice.)
Before the drawing of the raffle
4) Pulitzer Prizes, continued. Andrew Sean Greer's novel, Less, won the prize for fiction. This is worth celebrating, as it is a "comic novel," and "comic novels" are rarely taken seriously by the literati. As someone who loves nothing more than making anyone laugh -- not that you'd know it from this blog -- this is an encouraging development. Here is Christopher Buckley's review of Less from the New York Times last July. I haven't read the novel yet, but I will when I go away this weekend. Can't wait.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/books/review/less-andrew-sean-greer.html
Robert S. Mueller, III
Have a lovely weekend!
Lisa xo