Catching up on Vanity Fair
Too many magazines come into this house, but really it's ok. Except for the Economist and The New Yorker most of them are remarkably inexpensive as they want circulation to show their advertisers. The magazines pile up but something from most them is eventually read. This weekend was an opportunity to catch up on the October and just received November issues of Vanity Fair that had been in their plastic wrappers untouched.
Despite having at a least a half pound of paper devoted to fashion adds, Vanity Fair apparently pays really well for some good writing. It was a primary outlet for Christopher Hitchen's essays and if one digs deep enough there is almost always some good writing.
In the October issue, one of their regulars, Michael Lewis, was given the assignment of a major piece on President Obama. The result, "Obama and Me", was well worth reading. Lewis was obviously given significant access to Obama, from his basketball games to trips on Air Force One, and the result is a personal profile that is both interesting and insightful. While it is only one piece of the puzzle, it shows the President's discipline, strengths, and capacity for work. It uses decisions about involvement in Libya to highlight the depth of the President's thought process on an issue. What the article does not do is touch at all on policy issues of consequence. It is, as I said, a personal profile.
In the November issue, there is the article "Jamie Dimon on the Line" by William Cohan and Bethany McLean. These are not my favorite business writers, not even close, but they do a credible and reasonably balanced job of profiling this influential and outspoken banker. It was interesting, I learned a few things, and they has some quotes that really capture the chasm between much of the business and investing world and Obama. One --- "The denigration of business hurts America, because the secret sauce for our economy is confidence... I don't want to hear that nonsense that all business is bad." As JPM is my alma mater, the article was certainly more interesting here than it might be broadly. One great thing that I learned was that an executive who somehow has been promoted to one of the highest levels, who was rumored to be a candidate to be Dimon's eventual successor, was fired in July. This guy was a relentless self promoter and his competence beyond that was suspect. I had marveled from this distance at his rise under the hands-on Dimon. Finally he must have caught on to this jerk's game and there is some justice.
If I wanted to sit in my reading chair 8 hours a day for the next week(I definitely don't) it might be possible to catch up on every magazine article that would be of interest. That's not possible, but I pick what may be the best and otherwise will look at titles and do some skimming as a clean up time eventually arrives.
Despite having at a least a half pound of paper devoted to fashion adds, Vanity Fair apparently pays really well for some good writing. It was a primary outlet for Christopher Hitchen's essays and if one digs deep enough there is almost always some good writing.
In the October issue, one of their regulars, Michael Lewis, was given the assignment of a major piece on President Obama. The result, "Obama and Me", was well worth reading. Lewis was obviously given significant access to Obama, from his basketball games to trips on Air Force One, and the result is a personal profile that is both interesting and insightful. While it is only one piece of the puzzle, it shows the President's discipline, strengths, and capacity for work. It uses decisions about involvement in Libya to highlight the depth of the President's thought process on an issue. What the article does not do is touch at all on policy issues of consequence. It is, as I said, a personal profile.
In the November issue, there is the article "Jamie Dimon on the Line" by William Cohan and Bethany McLean. These are not my favorite business writers, not even close, but they do a credible and reasonably balanced job of profiling this influential and outspoken banker. It was interesting, I learned a few things, and they has some quotes that really capture the chasm between much of the business and investing world and Obama. One --- "The denigration of business hurts America, because the secret sauce for our economy is confidence... I don't want to hear that nonsense that all business is bad." As JPM is my alma mater, the article was certainly more interesting here than it might be broadly. One great thing that I learned was that an executive who somehow has been promoted to one of the highest levels, who was rumored to be a candidate to be Dimon's eventual successor, was fired in July. This guy was a relentless self promoter and his competence beyond that was suspect. I had marveled from this distance at his rise under the hands-on Dimon. Finally he must have caught on to this jerk's game and there is some justice.
If I wanted to sit in my reading chair 8 hours a day for the next week(I definitely don't) it might be possible to catch up on every magazine article that would be of interest. That's not possible, but I pick what may be the best and otherwise will look at titles and do some skimming as a clean up time eventually arrives.
posted by John Borden at 11:56 AM
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