Laurie Garrett's memo to Newsday colleagues

Long gone are the days of fast-talking, whiskey-swilling Murray Kempton peers eloquently filling columns with daily dish on government scandals, mobsters and police corruption. The sort of in-your-face challenge that the Fourth Estate once posed for politicians has been replaced by mud-slinging, lies and, where it ought not be, timidity. When I started out in…

Ward & Newt & Tenure

At Kansas State University, the contracts of all faculty members were terminated after a Populist victory in state elections in 1896. Many professors were hired back, but Republicans were removed from the economics department and senior administrative posts. A few years later, Republicans regained control of state politics and did their own purge of the…

A God in Colchester

Instead of just putting my CV on the Web like everyone else, I kind of think I would like someone to make a fan site for me, possibly something like the one created for Hasselhoff. Oh, yeah! Check out my experiments with facial hair in the 90s. Instead of building temples to ourselves — which…