Although the Linsky boy persists on wearing oversized linen pants to his place of employment and shirts wrinkled to the point that his fellow co-workers offer him wrinkle free hand me down, he still has the ability to sharply and smartly compose a story about journalism and bias. He also contains more charm in his puffy-when-warm stomach scar than Jude Law posseses in all of his new movies combined. Oh yeah...and his parents are rich too.

Last year Columbia J-School had Lou Boccardi, former head of the AP, speak on the second or third night of August bootcamp. He exhorted us to never sign petitions, among other things. He said he voted, but other than that, not much more. No one could tell his party preference. This was a badge of pride for him, clearly. It rather knocked the wind out of my sails.

The year was closed off by Walter Pincus at one of our graduation ceremonies; he told the tale of how he broke a major policy story and then was asked by Senator Fullbright to leave journalism for a year and actually help Fullbright fix the problem, which he did. This was a long time ago, making it both inspirational and sad. Picking between the two models, I'd always hope for the latter.

The question your friend raises, but does not answer--how do we get people to read more alternative weeklies? And how do we learn to watch FOX without cringing? Or should we?

you should check out sorryeverybody.com
i met the guy that started it, and i suddenly felt better because i knew there were so many people out there that felt the same way i did.

Hey Natalie, you gotta give us the teenage perspective here. Were people at your school bummed about the election, or did they totally not care? (Did you vote??)

there were some of us that really cared. Oregon, and more specifically Corvallis, is VERY liberal - except the few extreme christians/farm people that were imported and breeded to create another race of oh-so-dangerous bush supporters.
So theres the occasional bush-nazi running the halls of my high school.
and then there were the cool kerry supporters (a close friend worked every day after school for 4 hours at the corvallis democratic headquarters) and i proudly sported my "Ogres for John Kerry" (featuring Shrek) pin. people would ask me about it, and i would proudly list off my liberal blah blah and make them listen to it.
i was called a communist democrat one day, and i must admit that that nazi republican was lucky to walk away with both eyes.
some people cared (those of us who realize that our future depended on the election and those of them that were raised as bush-loving *no pun intended* robots by their parents aka people who cannot think for themselves), some people did not care at all.
IF i was old enough (news flash: you apparently didnt know, but i am not old enough... not YET.) i would have voted. i will surely be even more involved in 2008 because there is NO WAY that i want another crazy puppet in the white house.
now that you know where i stand, and i have spoken my very long and almost excessive angry loser speech, i think ill go recoil back to my high school drama.
something that irritates me just as much as george bush is the fact that Oregon, the state that was suppost to pass 36, did not. imagine all the love and rainbows that would have been in my town... not that there isnt a lot already. i almost feel like measure 36 was something that wasnt just about having homosexual rights. i think it almost stood as a representative of human rights in general and proves that a majority of our society is, indeed, still primitive. it just pisses me off that even though our country preaches "freedom," that some people in our OWN country still do not have their own freedoms. that, my friends, blows.
but to actually answer your question straight out(i am sorry if i have bored you to death): yes, some people at our school were bummed about the election, some nazis were not. some people did not care. and no, i could not vote because i was not old enough. tis a shame.
cheers, my friends. down one on behalf of your country and your sad underage friend.