Hey --
Another late Sunday.
First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
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 what did we come up with?
An important essay on the Iraq War. Use the link to read it in full.
Cindy Sheehan and her sister Dede Miller.
Bruce A. Dixon. This was a week when there were three statements that were too strong to narrow down any further so we went with three truests.
This is a brief editorial. Dona suggested/insisted that all be brief due to one article. This one also doesn't have an illustration. Dona argued that the lyrics quoted at the start break up the text enough without an illustration. I (Jim) think she's right on that.
Ava and C.I. report on Hulu. This wasn't planned. They were on the phone at 3:30 a.m. calling any and everyone they knew might be up with NBC, Hulu or Variety. What did they plan? To write about an entertainment show. Why didn't they do that? I gave them an assignment.
I pointed out Judy Collins has a new book and that when women in music write books we try to note the books -- Belinda Carlisle, Pat Benatar, Natalie Cole, etc. They didn't want to cover Judy and suggested that they work on their entertainment piece and we do a roundtable on Judy without them. "But no one's read the book," I insisted. "Neither have we!" they responded. So at 9:30 p.m. they divided up sections of the book between them and read those. They finished around 11:00 p.m. And then discussed what they'd read with one another planning the bare bones of what they would end up writing. This is an epic piece. Even more so before they spent a half-hour editing it. As I read over it, I was again struck by the fact that you won't read anything like this any where else. It's amazing. Truly epic.
"Portions." I still can't get over that. The general who wanted to defend that which can't be defended by insisting it wasn't the remains of the fallen, it was "portions" of the remains.
We continue our look at the ten most important books of the last ten years. This is number seven (check me on that) which means there are three more books to go.
Law & Disorder had several outstanding moments last week. Due to the number participating in OWS across the country, we thought this was the most improtant moment.
Katrina wrote a book? No, of course not.
Like the feature above, this one became a go when Dona asked for short pieces due to the length of Ava and C.I.'s book piece. We were holding this topic for Thanksgiving weekend when we assumed we'd be worn out.
A repost of C.I. addressing the issue of Iraqi women.
ETAN.
Repost from Workers World.
Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.
So that's what we ended up with. And Jess points out that those who always wish we had more book coverage should especially be pleased because they've got Ava and C.I.'s mammoth take on Judy Collins' new book, another pick for the ten most important books of the last ten years and a short piece on a new bad book (Katty van-van's.)
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.