Tolerating Twitter-lite, for the tweets that rock my world

There are times I rue ever venturing into the Twitter universe. So many of the tweets are so light, so ephemeral... do I really need to know that a fellow PR-type here in Toronto really enjoyed the grilled fish at some restaurant that probably waived his bill for the mention?

But then there are flashes of brilliance, that demonstrate how rich the universe of Twitter can be. I followed the Iranian democracy protests via Twitter, and I now avidly track the tweets by Nicholas Kristof, the extraordinary foreign correspondent for the NY Times who with his wife and fellow Pulitzer-holder Sheryl WuDunn (wouldn't you love to sit at their dining room table??) wrote the stunning book/wake-up-call to the world "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide."

Last week Kristof's tweet read thusly: <<A Kenyan girl's question echoes in my mind: "Should I keep sleeping with the man who pays my school fees?">> That 140-characters-or-less statement hit me like a ton of bricks. Her simple question says so much about this upside-down world. I just can't shake thinking about her, and the millions of other children in the world facing equally awful dilemmas.

And now, my admission: despite my lifelong love of the NY Times, despite my interest in women's rights in the developing world, I had never heard of Kristof until Stephanie Nolen's tweet sent me to him. I now read his columns in the Times avidly, and my copy of "Half the Sky" is on order. I fully anticipate that it will rock my world.

So I'll continue to tolerate the annoyances of Twitter-lite, for these flashes of brilliance.

Beauty, eh?

This Tuesday, November 3 is Art with Heart at the gorgeous Carlu. It's Casey House's biggest fundraiser, a 16-years-strong auction of contemporary art raising funds for their services to people living with HIV/AIDS in the Toronto community.

This year's collection has a fun, edgy Canadian slant we're dubbing "Contemporary Canadiana." The art is absolutely glorious, and the bidding spectacle always makes me giddy.

Want a feel for the night? The event website includes a promo video that I co-produced with the amazing Lisa Lightbourn Lay.

This just in: Pigs DO fly...

Last Friday night while on our New York adventure, hubby and I snapped this photo of the Fox News pixelboard near Times Square.

Happy Birthday Strunk and White

Pictured above, from the NYTimes: E.B. White’s original typewriter and manuscript are pictured with William Strunk Jr.’s original version and the 1959 edition of “The Elements of Style.”

Today's New York Times Room for Debate blog includes a tribute to Strunk and White written by five grammarians and their ilk. Fun reading, and they do tend to pooh-pooh the ongoing dedication on the part of so many English teachers through the years, mine included. It seems Messrs. Strunk and White have not aged well. To quote the hilarious entry by Patricia T. O'Connor:

"... 'six persons' is not better than 'six people.' Show me a guy who invariably says 'six persons' and I will show you a fathead. But Happy Birthday anyway, Strunk and White."

Still, I do love this admonishment from ol' Strunk & White: "Interesting. An unconvincing word; avoid it as a means of introduction. Instead of announcing that what you are about to tell is interesting, make it so."

Words to live by. (Or is that, "Words by which to live?")

No kidding.

What I find troubling about polls like this is the way they artificially segment ideas that are really intertwined.

I mean, how exactly do you separate any of the other issues people spoke about ("Education," "The Environment," "Healthcare," "Gas Prices," "Deficit") from "Jobs/Economy"?

The question then becomes one of semantics, of top-of-mind word choices and categorization, rather than a measured analysis of public opinion regarding complex issues. Have we not all clued into this thanks to the disrobing of the George W strategy?

So what is one to take home from a chart like this? The words "Jobs/Economy" are our hot buttons right now. Yes. Got that.

Newspapers still capture eyeballs

From today's NADbank release...

NADbank Releases 2008 Readership Study
Weekly readership has remained stable indicating that daily newspapers continue to be a relevant source of news and information for Canadians. Almost three quarters of Canadians (73%), 13.7 million adults 18+, read a printed edition of a daily newspaper each week. Canadians continue to turn to daily newspapers as a source for local news (73% of readers usually read local news) as well as other news and arts and entertainment. (more)

Abandoned boxes

Photo of disused newspaper boxes in San Francisco, from the Silicon Valley Insider... I felt sad to see it at first, but then realized that I now read more news than ever.

I can see the logos of the Onion and The Oakland Tribune--both are still publishing online, and probably saving themselves a bundle not having to print and distribute the former contents of these boxes.

While I do love the visceral feel of a world-class newspaper in my hands, I have to wonder... assuming that publishers will find a way to monetize journalism in other media (and assuming the quality of the information remains good--a leap of faith, I know)... then is the loss of print newspapers really such a tragedy?