Lately I’ve become a fan of Harper’s Magazine‘s Weekly Review (from which I’ve linked the picture, above). I get them emailed to me and though a new writer tackles this percolated news appetizer each week, when there’s a good one, as there was June 5–one that flows so well that it almost sings along with my laughter and insight–well, it just makes me very happy. Great writing and a synthesis of the world’s events and ideas–who could want more?
It was written by Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, a translator, illustrator, and writer. Here’s one of my favorite parts, from somewhere around the middle. Read more by clicking on the title of this post, then sign up to get them in your inbox, too.
“…The crowd at the Miss Universe competition in Mexico City booed Miss America, and in Crawford, Texas, Cindy Sheehan resigned as the ‘face’ of the American anti-war movement. ‘Good-bye America,’ wrote Sheehan. ‘You are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.‘ Paris Hilton went to jail and, according to family members, ‘breaks down crying a lot because she can’t deal with the reality and the pressure.’ Hundreds of men serving life terms in Italian prisons demanded to be put to death. ‘We are tired of dying a little bit every day,’ said the inmates in a letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. ‘We have decided to die just once.‘ Jack Kevorkian was released from prison, and Damien Hirst unveiled a diamond-encrusted human skull valued at $100,000,000.” …
Literary Lotus 