| Schools notebook
LINDEN HILLS — There were drunken Vikings, moronic doctors, Spanish Inquisitors and a whole squad of uniformed bobbies on stage during the latest Unhinged Theater production but, luckily, no fire marshal. Lucky, because Southwest High School's black box theater was packed beyond capacity Jan. 9, halfway through a run of "My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels!" Audience members were climbing over one another to reach their seats when director Henry Epp finally took the stage. The Southwest senior looked out at dozens of students crammed into metal folding chairs, shoulder-to-shoulder with parents, grandparents and siblings. "It's a kind of long show, but you'll be laughing," Epp reassured them. Full Article .
Taxes, school vouchers and more township authority
I received a high-quality public education that paved the way for a successful college education. Other states have proved that public education can work. Instead of abandoning its public education system through dispersal of funds through vouchers, Georgia needs to take a long, hard look at what is ailing our educational system and make an appropriate investment to fix it. Perhaps then we won't be listed as the state with the "49th highest average SAT scores". .
Daily Blabber Celebrity Gossip Blog from iVillage Entertainment
The rehabbed actress spent New Year's Eve in Capri, Italy and, while celebrating with some new pals, took a nice big swig from a bottle of bubbly. But Lindsay's lawyer tells People.com it was a one-time deal, and LiLo is not back to her hard-partying ways. ""After being handed a champagne bottle while on a dance floor in Italy on New Year's Eve and drinking from it, the good news is that Lindsay stopped herself, called her sponsor, and got herself back on track," Blair Berk said in a statement. "There is no magic cure here. The most unfortunate part of this is that Lindsay has to share her 'one day at a time' with the entire world." Oh, Lindsay. Perhaps, at this vulnerable time in her life, Lindsay should just spend quiet nights at home. .
Full text: Bill Keller's Hugo Young lecture
When we need to protect our sources, which is often necessary to bring you information powerful people don't want you to know, we should explain why we regard the information as credible, and whether the source has an axe to grind. As my math teacher used to say, we show our work. Third, we are agnostic as to where a story may lead; we do not go into a story with an agenda or a pre-conceived notion. We do not manipulate or hide facts to advance an agenda. We strive to preserve our independence from political and economic interests, including our own advertisers. We do not work in the service of a party, or an industry, or even a country. When there are competing views of a situation, we aim to reflect them as clearly and fairly as we can. Perhaps it is worth belabouring this point a little, particularly here, where the press, like the press in most of the world, practices a less detached form of the craft.
Congress needs to protect our independence
You've got your opinion and I have mine. The only question I have left for you is actually based upon the facts. If you were to try and convince me that Ron Paul is the right guy to vote for, how would you explain to me his legislative record? Why would it be that anyone elected to Congress would have accomplished so little? Is there a reason? I'm not baiting you here . . . I really would like to know, just as the rest of the bunch need to justify their 'performances' as well. " .
Not bad, even for the author of Money and Success. Martin Amis is ...
Just like Wayne Rooney, he earned global fame as an outrageously gifted young tearaway, became a magnet for controversy as he matured, and secured a transfer to a leading Manchester institution. But until yesterday no one suspected that Martin Amis earned more per hour lecturing at the University of Manchester than England’s finest footballer does playing up front for United. The celebrated author, who once wrote that "weapons are like money; no one knows the meaning of enough", is contracted at just under £3,000 per hour to teach creative writing at the university. His £80,000 salary obliges him to work a distinctly achievable total of 28 hours a year. In contrast, Rooney makes £50,000 per week — far more than Amis in real terms. But the footballer trains for 30 hours a week, meaning that his hourly rate is 50 per cent lower than the novelist’s.
Coming Soon: SR to Release E-mail Exchanges ... (Not so fast...)
Update: After reviewing the messages and our options (none good), we've decided not to post the messages. Here's the situation: Of the 50 messages, a few have explicit photos embedded in the message. We can't publish those photos (one shows a toddler's penis). We also have a strong ethical policy against blurring or otherwise manipulating photos. Some of the messages are completely innocuous. The rest of the messages only refer to attachments. Those attachments are explicit, so we can't publish them. We've also gone through each message to blur e-mail addresses for privacy reasons. So, if we don't publish any of the explicit images, and we refuse to blur, crop or otherwise alter them, all we're left with is a bunch of forwarded messages that say things like "take a look at this!" We decided that did not advance the story in any significant way.
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