Kamala Harris first interview: a successful snoozer

Kamala Harris easily achieved her minimalist goal of responding to those wondering whether she could do an unscripted interview, without the benefit of a teleprompter, the hoopla of the national convention, backup pop stars, cascading balloons, and upbeat Beyonce music. On Thursday night, she did that unscripted interview. She was smooth, engaging, responsive thematically to …

Continue reading Kamala Harris first interview: a successful snoozer

Festive DNC ends. Will Dems stay united?

Kamala Harris may have started her speech Thursday night as the little girl inspired by her mother to be anything she wanted to be, urged on by mommy to "do something" to challenge injustice, but the Democratic nominee ended her speech in warrior mode. No frills or sequins or even summer colors for her. Her …

Continue reading Festive DNC ends. Will Dems stay united?

Notes from first night at DNC

I have covered Republican and Democratic national conventions from New York to Kansas City, but I’ve never seen a first night as electric as that which I viewed on television last evening.  I did not take notes, so the following are the impressions that “have legs.”   Especially moving were the personal accounts of men …

Continue reading Notes from first night at DNC

Getting to first for a brave female sports writer

Locker Room Talk: One Woman’s Struggle to Get Inside by Melissa Ludtke is a sports writer’s impressive account of her 1978 lawsuit against Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who had banned female reporters from interviewing baseball players in the locker room before and after major league games. An art history major in college, athletic Ludtke was …

Continue reading Getting to first for a brave female sports writer

Did Red Sox go too easy on Duran?

I thought the Boston Red Sox were well past their sordid corporate history of bigotry and ugly fans' and players' misbehavior. New ownership since 2002 has largely been a breath of fresh air. Gone are the overt racist ways of owner Tom Yawkey, who notably turned down opportunities to hire Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays and …

Continue reading Did Red Sox go too easy on Duran?

Kamala Harris scores with VP pick

I was happier than I thought I'd be yesterday morning when Kamala Harris announced her selection of Tim Walz as her running mate. That quiet sense of elation rose to celebration last evening with their first joint appearance at an exuberant rally in Philadelphia. Several weeks of compare and contrast, sorting out the pros and …

Continue reading Kamala Harris scores with VP pick

Still more summer fiction

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl is a confection, set in the 1980’s in Paris.  Stella, a 20-something copy editor in New York, leads a highly routinized life, the regularity of which is comforting to her.  She is estranged from her mother, Celia, who has never expressed love of her. Nor has Celia ever told …

Continue reading Still more summer fiction