Meeting: Saturday, January 26, 2008

American Scrap

John Seabrook

The remaking of an old-school trade.

Q. Is Seabrook focusing more on the scrap trade today or it's origins and history? What do you think about the characters and the jargon? Does he capture the spirit of recycling or the joy of destruction?

The films of Otto Preminger.

David Denby

Q. What makes this such a readable story? Is it Denby's prose, Preminger's life and antics, the trappings of Hollywood and it's stars of the time? If you've seen any of the movies, do you agree with DD's assessments?

James Surowiecki on job numbers.

Q. JS claims "jobs numbers ... are much better than their critics say they are but nowhere near as good as investors believe them to be". Does he prove that in his essay? Or is it an unprovable, but uncontroversial claim? Do gamblers care?

The Spymaster

Lawrence Wright

The new director of National Intelligence has a controversial plan to tighten national security.

Q. Reorganizing the intelligence community, like the armed forces, appears to be a good thing. Still there's many complicated aspects to McConnell. Should he be trusted? Is it a moral community? Is the spy game "good against evil"? "us against them"?

The Roving Eye

Judith Thurman

Lee Miller and the camera.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/01/21/slideshow_080121_miller?viewall=true#showHeader

Q. What is Miller's most compelling trait as an artist? Is she fearless? obsessed? How do you balance images of Lee Miller as war correspondent and fashion icon? Is she a product of fate or in complete control of her success?

Meeting: Saturday, January 12, 2008

Journey Into Night

David Sedaris

Flying to Paris is so much better in business class—you can do almost anything you like.

Q. Can you identify with the author? the mourner? the rest of business class?

James Flynn’s “What Is Intelligence?” and the debate over race and I.Q.

Malcolm Gladwell

Q. What is Intelligence? Does it matter that we can measure it? Does it matter that we measure it inaccurately? Is intelligence the ability to correctly predict? To explain? What is "correct"?

CHECK, PLEASE
The Frog at Forty-Five
by Mimi Sheraton
Arranging the flowers at La Grenouille.

Q. What makes this a successful "Talk" piece? What's the recipe?

Demolition Man

John Lahr

Harold Pinter and “The Homecoming.”

Q. Is Lahr critical enough of Pinter's work? The anecdotes are enjoyable, but doesn't Pinter have any failures or shortcomings?

I Hit Hamlet

Paul Rudnick

Behind the scenes at a Brooklyn fiasco.

Q. Could you make this up? Is Rudnick still sore about this?

Rough Crossings

Raymond Carver’s letters to Gordon Lish and unedited versions of Carver’s stories reveal an extraordinary battle of wills between an author and his editor.

Q. What's the difference between "editing" and "re-writing"? Is it control? or style? or technique?

The science of reading and its decline.

Caleb Crain

Q. Does reading equate to intelligence? Is the science in this article sound? What's being measured that indicates a decline? If writing is an art, is reading an art too?

Guinea-Pigging
Carl Elliot
Should people take drugs for a living?

Q. What makes this article important? Can the "market" solve the problems with current conditions? Can government regulation?

The Envoy

Samantha Power

An assignment to fix Iraq.

Q. Is this journalism or propaganda? What's the intention of the author?

Mystery on Pearl Street

Burkhard Bilger

The secrets of a nineteenth-century building.

Q. What is this article really about? What makes it interesting (or not)? Would it be compelling with different characters? In a different location?