It is probably natural, having worked in the mixed worlds of journalism, movies, academia, non-profit and private sector, “old” media and digital media, that I continue to get a lot of questions about my long strange career.
It is rare that a week goes by that somebody or other doesn’t call to discuss something about the way it was “back then.”
I always try to comply wit their requests, because I was a reporter for a long time and I know how many people resist such calls about what they know or remember.
Usually I’m willing to discuss pretty much anything except the identities of certain confidential sources or relationships that should not disclosed.
That leaves a pretty wide latitude for conversation. Probably the most sought-after information is about my years at Rolling Stone and specifically the Patty Hearst stories.
In 1975-6, Howard Kohn and I had three cover stories on the newspaper heiress’s kidnapping and apparent conversion to the cause of her kidnappers, the domestic terror organization calling itself the SLA.
Even mundane details of our own lives at the time seem to be of some interest and one recent caller asked me, “Do you ever think about how amazing it is that you did all of that? That you lived through it?”
The question took me aback for a moment, but I answered, “Sometimes it feels like it was in fact someone else, not me.”
After we hung up, I stayed with that thought about it feeling like somebody’s else’s life, not mine. I suspect a lot of people feel that way about the distant past and the things that happened back then — things that sound strangely exotic now.
Given that we grow and change substantially throughout our lives it is kinda true, too, that many of us were pretty much someone else when younger. And speaking only for myself, I have no regrets about that.
WEDNESDAY’s HEADLINES:
China’s Births Hit Historic Low, a Political Problem for Beijing (NYT)
Public trust in governments running the world's democracies has fallen to new lows over their handling of the pandemic and amid a widespread sense of economic pessimism, a global survey has found. The Edelman Trust Barometer conversely showed rising scores in several autocratic states, notably China. (Reuters)
Vaccinated parents should not hesitate to vaccinate their kids (Edit Bd/WP)
Pfizer’s New Covid-19 Pill Works Against Omicron in Lab (WSJ)
Fauci says COVID-19 won't go away like smallpox, but will more likely become endemic (NPR)
France reports nearly half a million new cases, a record increase; Italy records 228,179 daily infections (Guardian)
Don’t count on omicron variant ending the pandemic, Fauci cautions (WP)
The chief executives of major U.S. passenger and cargo carriers warned of an impending "catastrophic" aviation crisis in less than 36 hours, when AT&T and Verizon are set to deploy new 5G service. The airlines said the service could render a significant number of widebody aircraft unusable on the dispute over 5G and airline safety. (Reuters)
AT&T says it will delay some 5G after airlines raise alarms (AP)
T&T, Verizon Will Withhold 5G Signals Near Airports to Prevent Flight Delays (WSJ)
VIDEO: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Family Tells Senate to Legislate, ‘Not Celebrate’ — Relatives of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched on Washington and urged the Senate to pass voting rights legislation. (Reuters, Pool)
Martin Luther King III came to Arizona with harsh words for Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), whose refusal, along with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), to change the Senate’s Jim Crow-era filibuster rules makes voting rights legislation unlikely to pass. The plea from the King family brings an especially powerful voice to an increasingly tense campaign to pressure Sinema to change her mind. [AP]
Workers are calling out sick in droves, leaving employers scrambling (NPR)
The Persistent Gender Gap at the Supreme Court Lectern — More than 40 years after Ruth Bader Ginsburg last appeared as a lawyer at the Supreme Court, relatively few women argue cases there. (NYT)
A U.S. appeals court handed a defeat to abortion clinics by delaying a legal challenge to a Texas law banning most abortions in that state. The Republican-backed law bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. (Reuters)
Detainees Sue Arkansas Jail That Gave Them Ivermectin to Treat Covid — For months, the jail’s doctor has promoted the drug, which health experts say should not be used to treat or prevent Covid-19. (NYT)
‘Gunmen were looking for my mum’: daughter of Afghan ex-radio boss (Guardian)
Thick ash on an airport runway was delaying aid deliveries to the Pacific island nation of Tonga, where significant damage was being reported days after a huge undersea volcanic eruption and tsunami. Communications with Tonga have been extremely limited. The explosion of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano was the latest in a series of dramatic eruptions. [AP]
Sweden drones: Sightings reported over nuclear plants and palace (BBC)
US plans $50B wildfire fight where forests meet suburbia (AP)
Why teens need more sleep, and how we can help them get it (WP)
For decades renowned Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez kept the public from knowing about an intimate aspect of his life: He had a daughter with a Mexican writer, with whom he had an extramarital affair in the early 1990s. (AP)
Man Uses Weekend To Make Totally Different Mistakes Than He Did During Workweek (The Onion)
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