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TNY on Trib's List, a Cartoon Breakdown, and Those Tricky Invasive Weeds

Filed under: Eustace Google Tagged: awards, Cartoon Caption Contest, cartoons, jazz, Katherine Boo, Mick Stevens, music, newsbreaks

My first daily newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, calls The New Yorker one of its 50 favorite magazines:

Katherine Boo's story on the closing of one of the worst high schools in Colorado wasn't just challenging and moving, it was absolutely riveting - and a reminder that, if other magazines have more bells and whistles, the New Yorker has, pound for pound, more quality writing and reporting than anyone around.

Someone I met at a party recently was saying that Boo deserves a big prize. I agree.

But the most exciting thing in meta-New Yorkerland this week is the grand analysis of all 100 caption-contest cartoons in the magazine thus far, by (it shouldn't surprise you) the tireless David Marc Fischer at Blog About Town. He's broken down the cartoons by subject, gender (of "protagonist" and cartoonist), scenario, geographical location, and everything else you can imagine. It's a truly awesome achievement, and I can't wait to read part two.

Meanwhile, did you know that cartoonist Mick Stevens has a blog? In his thoughtful posts, he provides a welcome and sober look at the cartoon-making process, which doesn't always end triumphantly.

Finally, wunderkind big-band leader and jazz pianist Solomon Douglas, who unexpectedly swung through town this week, just turned me on to Language Log, a linguistics blog, and what's the first thing I noticed? A second look at that recent newsbreak about invasive weeds. You remember:

NO COMMENT DEPARTMENT
From the San Francisco Chronicle.
With California Invasive Weeds Awareness Week just around the corner (July 17-23), there are two words every Californian should know: yellow star thistle.

Funny, right? Language Log's Arnold Zwicky thought there might be more to this thorny issue, and he did some sound sleuthing into how an unthinking copy edit may have led to the horticultural (and orthographical) gaffe. Read on.

1 comments

Comments

Agreed--Katherine Boo deserves every prize she's ever won, including the Pulitzer and the McArthur--as well as the prizes she's destined to win.

When will she come out w/a book?

anonAugust 14, 2007

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Who she?

I'm Emily Gordon, reachable at emily@emdashes.com.

I'm an editor at PRINT magazine in New York City. I've worked at The Nation, Newsday, PEN America, and Legal Affairs. I've written for the NY Times Book Review, Salon, The Washington Post, The Village Voice... continued

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A few clips

Report: Learning to read with comic books edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
Interview: Designer Eleanor Grosch (for Print)
Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
Review: The King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
Review: Does The New Republic's recent redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
Proposal: A more attractive MetroCard (for A Brief Message)
Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
Report: Eustace Tilley spruces up for The New Yorker's website redesign (for Print)
Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands (for Print)
Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)

More clips.

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They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—emphasizes what’s between: in particular, between the lines, covers, and issues of a magazine close to my heart.

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Written and edited by Emily Gordon (plus various guest contributors), designed by Pretty, and illustrated by Inkleaf. Additional drawings by Carolita Johnson. Kissable pencil girl by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.

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