Culture Briefs

Education reform

“Calling [former 1960s radical] Bill Ayers a school reformer is a bit like calling [Josef] Stalin an agricultural reformer. (If you find the metaphor strained, consider that Walter Duranty, the infamous New York Times reporter covering the Soviet Union in the 1930s, did, in fact, depict Stalin as a great land reformer who created happy, productive collective farms.)

“For instance, at a November 2006 education forum in Caracas, Venezuela, with President Hugo Chavez at his side, Ayers proclaimed his support for ‘the profound educational reforms under way here in Venezuela under the leadership of President Chavez. We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution … . I look forward to seeing how you continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane.’ …

“Ayers and his education school comrades are explicit about the need to indoctrinate public school children with the belief that America is a racist, militarist country and that the capitalist system is inherently unfair and oppressive. As a leader of this growing ‘reform’ movement, Ayers was recently elected vice president for curriculum of the American Education Research Association, the nation’s largest organization of ed school professors and researchers.”

— Sol Stern, writing on “The Bomber as School Reformer” at the City Journal blog Eye on the News on Oct. 6

Shared risk

“In town-hall debates, the questions from the crowd can easily be turned into ‘moments’ that journalists cling to for weeks. We’re always looking for vignettes that allow us to tell a larger story. A ‘moment’ by a swing voter is particularly valuable. The questioner, after all, is representative of a worried nation (even if very few of us have ponytails). It’s not just the journalists who obsess, though. Voters see themselves in other voters — particularly those defined by television anchors as independent-minded - and tend to repeat these moments to their friends. …

“‘Real’ people (by which I mean people who don’t do this for a living) who are asking the questions may be harder [than journalists] to rough up. Or maybe not. On Tuesday night, if Son of Ponytail Guy asks a question, he can rest assured that he will receive a thorough going-over in the blogosphere. So I suggest all prospective questioners Google themselves, make sure they’re on good terms with their co-workers, and wipe clean their Facebook page. If they don’t - or even if they do - they could become the story very quickly.”

— John Dickerson, writing on “Beware of Ponytail Guy” at Slate on Oct. 6.

Screwball heroine

“[Arianna] Huffington fielded a question from a software engineer. ‘You are very famous for a very distinguished set of mannerisms,’ he said. ‘I’m wondering whether you like watching impressions of yourself.’

“‘Actually, Tracey Ullman is a genius,’ Huffington said. ‘I don’t know if you saw her little sketch of me doing Pilates while I’m talking on my BlackBerry. I got a call from my Pilates teacher saying, “I want to absolutely swear to you, I did not tell her that you do Pilates!”’ …

“To professional funny people, Huffington is irresistible, both as friend and as fodder. She possesses the golden comedic ratio: a mind that is as flexible as her body is unwieldy. Arianna walks into a bar, Arianna drops a sparkly earring. … Arianna gets into a car, Arianna bumps her head.

“Pratfalls are best performed by an ugly man or a beautiful woman, and Huffington, with her zany energy, can recall the heroine of a screwball comedy. Once, at a dinner party, a BlackBerry melted in her handbag, because she put the bag too close to an open fire. Another day, I called her on her cell phone and the line went staticky. ‘My hair is all wet!’ Huffington said, over the din of a blow-dryer.”

— Lauren Collins, writing on “The Oracle,” in the Oct. 13 issue of the New Yorker