Aug
12
Unnecessary Quotation Marks?
August 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Thanks to Michael Shapiro for the link to UnnecessaryQuotes.com, a delightfully satisfying site that provides a “Wall of Shame” for unnecessary (if exuberant) use of quotation marks. 
Aug
9
Travelers as Loose Cannons
August 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment
When Travelers Take Too Many Risks is a series of articles from the NYT inspired by the recent incidents in which “reckless” American travelers were detained after illegally entering North Korea and Iran. The articles present a range of thoughtful—and thought-provoking—opinions, including these:
- While Americans are celebrating the return of journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling after four months of captivity in North Korea, there’s also been an inevitable backlash. Some commentators have suggested that their actions — and the pardons apparently negotiated in exchange for a visit by President Clinton — have jeopardized U.S. strategic interests….
Whatever the particulars of these two cases, the argument misses the broader point. We as a society benefit enormously from the work of U.S. journalists who travel to remote and dangerous places and report back on what they see.
Aug
4
The Accidental Photographer
August 4, 2009 | 1 Comment
Congratulations to Marsha Black, on her new website, The Accidental Photographer, with “tips written for people who carry a point and shoot camera but don’t have a clue about how to get good photographs out of it.” Marsha’s book with the same title will be coming out soon.
While you are on Marsha’s blog page, visit the store, click on the CafĂ© Press APOW link and take a look at the fun photo gifts and mementos she and fellow photographers are selling through the APOW store at CafĂ© Press.
Aug
4
Teacher, Can We Leave Now? No.
August 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Thanks to Diane LeBow for sending the link to this article by Thomas Friedman about the importance of education, in Afghanistan and elsewhere. (Diane has traveled extensively in Afghanistan, and is writing about her experiences there.)
Teacher, Can We Leave Now? No.
by Thomas Friedman for the NYT
I confess, I find it hard to come to Afghanistan and not ask: Why are we here? Who cares about the Taliban? Al Qaeda is gone. And if its leaders come back, well, that’s why God created cruise missiles.