Dateline: Cahors, France – Arriving in France and sampling European media again has been a jolt for me, in part because of dates. It’s the week of World Refugee Day and also of Juneteenth, celebrating the day (June 19th, 1865) when slavery’s abolition-order eventually found its way to deep in America’s still obdurate slave-state of Texas.
I’m settled for a few weeks now in the country that made an extraordinary gift to the USA, inspired by both slavery’s end and the grand notion of an open haven for refugees — a gift that soon became a worldwide symbol of America’s own generosity and idealism. Continue reading “Media Coverage From Across an Ocean: ‘Plus Ça Change … ?’” »
“I’M SORRY. I JUST CAN’T. If I appear in public and say honestly what happened with me – who knows what the fall-out may be.” Such has been the anxious response I’ve gotten so many times when, as a journalist working largely in TV, I’ve requested an on-camera interview. Continue reading “Out from the Shadows: Suicide-Attempt Survivors” »
JUST NOW AND AGAIN, specialized journalism scores a bull’s-eye hit that the mainstream media can overlook – but certainly shouldn’t.
‘ART FOR ART’S SAKE!’ is without doubt a slogan to conjure with. And sure enough, that irrepressible conjurer/playwright Tom Stoppard (left) twirls Théophile Gautier’s 19th-century notion – that art is defiantly non-utilitarian – around his bewitching wand again and again during the newest revival of his Travesties (back on Broadway since last week). 
Dateline: London – IS IT A JOKE AIMED AT stereotypical Britishness? Well, it is a British play … and it is about the weather. Actor and now also playwright David Haig’s tautly-named “Pressure” does indeed concern itself with weather systems – and yes, a character does acknowledge at one point the old adage that the weather “is all we British ever talk about!” 
