What I'm reading this weekend
NYT's "The Lives They Lived" issue offers writing done right
It’s been a tough couple decades for the “legacy” media. Bashing what used to be known as the “mainstream” media is a year-round sport enjoyed across the political spectrum. But I confess that I still love reading the New York Times, The Atlantic, and other such dowdy publications, particularly when they free their writers from the constraints of covering the “news.”
One great example is the NYT Magazine’s annual “The Lives They Lived” issue, which appears each December with perceptive, poignant portrayals of people who died that year. Who merits such treatment? The subjects run the gamut, from celebrity athletes and entertainers to little-known intellectuals and inventors. A favorite from this year’s issue is Wally Amos, the flamboyant Floridian who tweaked a standard Nestlé Tollhouse recipe and launched the “Famous Amos” cookie brand.
The essays are not standard obituaries (though I’m a fan of a well-written obit as well), and they can be as idiosyncratic as the subjects themselves. I love them because the writing is just so #$@%# good. Even when I think I know a lot about someone — James Earl Jones or Pete Rose in the latest issue, for example — the writer will frame the life in a new, creative way that reshapes how I understand that person.
I pace myself with the issue, never reading more than one essay at a time, because I want to savor and appreciate each one — and I don’t want to finish too soon. It’s been a couple weeks and (sadly) I’m almost done. Take a look and enjoy the lives they lived.