Fish for Friday

Limerick of the Week:

Readers weren't asking to be given a choice,
But for months we've wanted a female voice.
    We asked and dealt,
    We touched and felt,
And all we're hearing now Susan's come's rejoice.

Monday's column ["Fourth Monday Ethics Up Close and Personal"], by Susan C. Price, was excellent. She's a marvelous writer. Both her ideas and her hip, readable, fun writing style. And her morality. If you're the friend who asked her to write for Moristotle & Co., you knew what you were doing.

I read John McPhee's latest article in The New Yorker ["Structure," January 14] and admired how sophisticated and diligent he was in his writing process. He's one of the great writers of nonfiction of our time. One of his best short works conflates the history of the game of Monopoly with the present-day status of Atlantic City.
    It has been said that McPhee could make anything interesting. Unfortunately I can't buy that. I started his book on geology and put it down, and I started an article in The New Yorker he wrote about coal and never mined it very deeply. Nevertheless he has immense talent and range; writing this reminds me of a particularly moving article he wrote recently about the death of his father and fishing; it also included a few passing comments about McPhee's teenage daughters in a car that were revealing and amusing.

On Wednesday mornings legendary sports journalist Frank Deford does a blurb on National Public Radio. This past Wednesday he reminded us of "The Dutchman"—the iconic Norm Van Brocklin, who quarterbacked the then Los Angeles Rams from 1949-57 and the Philadelphia Eagles from 1958-60. According to articles from the era, Van Brocklin apparently had a contentious relationship with many people, and especially with the sports media. When he had surgery to remove a brain tumor later in life, he reportedly quipped: "It was a brain transplant. They gave me a sportswriter's brain, to make sure I got one that hadn't been used."

You asked whether I'd like to be interviewed about my work as an archivist and even proposed that the opening question might be, "Why should archiving for the United States Army be of interest to Americans?"
    I enjoy writing, and I would like to be interviewed, but I have to decline your offer. The general policy is that any interview—official or otherwise of a federal employee here at this command must be approved by our Staff Judge Advocate. The offer, however, is very flattering.

Of course I remember you. We met at...and likely shared more than one dinner there.
    Thank you for asking me to consider writing for Moristotle & Co. I looked at it a few weeks ago and think it's great! My apologies for taking a week to respond. I was very flattered with your invitation, and I needed a few days to consider whether or not I would have the time to contribute. Unfortunately I know I just don't right now.
    Thank you again for asking.

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