Hey --
Another Sunday and not that difficult of an edition mainly because we decided to sleep in. Not joking. We started this at 5:00 a.m. PST and as I (Jim) type this it is 11:00 a.m. PST. I don't think we've ever had such a short edition. But we did a lot of prep ahead of time and Ava and C.I. dashed off their commentary pretty damn quick. Anyway, thank you to all who worked on this edition:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
And Dallas who hunted down links and was a soundboard and much more. And here's what we came up with:
Cindy Sheehan will have the most truests of anyone by the time 2010 comes to a close, that's even if she were not to get another one all year. But when you speak the truth, you get noted with a truest and Peace Mom's earned everyone of her "truests" of the week.
Anthony Shadid may need an explanation. For some time now, we've puzzled over how 2006 and 2007 became the guide for 'progess' in Iraq, specifically the violence level. It shouldn't be the guide but the military loves for it to be because it makes everything else look better. Shadid didn't just run with that US-created benchmark and so he got a truest.
This was an editorial I wish we'd had more time for. I'd set aside a public radio program during the week, told C.I. we could use it at Third, so she didn't note it at TCI. And then we didn't have the energy for it. So that's how it goes. Thanks to Isaiah for the use of his comic. The photo is not of Chris Hill. Originally, we were using a driving photograph and that walking photograph. But then it was pointed out that we should use Isaiah's comic. With the other photo, the one used might make more sense. Maybe not.
I really loved this one. We were trying to do our quickest edition ever and I told Ava and C.I. that they didn't need to grab politics -- as they often have to do because we have a weak issue (or think we do). But this issue seems strong and so they just focused on TV and this is really a great critique. When I read this outloud to everyone there was repeated laughter. Readers will enjoy this one.
A magazine survey. It's almost been a month since we did one. Political rags here.
Music mags here.
A quick roundtable. Everyone did speak, mainly due to naming an album they are currently listening to. There were older ones and newer ones. There was a wide mixture.
I'd noted before that we were trying to do more fiction after the response to our summer read a few weeks back. We made time for it this edition. The short story, however, did not work. I said, "If Ava and C.I. would take a crack at it and just turn it into dialogue, it might." They did just that, pairing it down to one essential sequence. The photo helps, I think. Establishing it's at a meal. But they made the piece work whereas before it was three times that length and meandering everywhere. Again, short story.
Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.