Saturday Good Reads

I was all of 26 and working in Houston when I received a phone call from a recruiter named Jean Cardwell. And that was the start of an odyssey that led me to St. Louis. David Murray at Writing Boots interviewed Jean recently about speechwriting and speechwriters.

No one has read the Donald Trump phenomenon as well and as accurately as Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert cartoon. He’s been attacked on social media, been muted by Twitter (yes, Twitter does such things), vilified, and protested. But he predicted months before the election that Trump would win, and has been almost consistently accurate in his predictions since. He even predicted the failure of the Republican health care bill four days before it happened, and explained how that failure would benefit Trump, and, as it turns out, in more ways than one. Whether you love or hate the President, you should pay attention to Scott Adams.

For years, PBS televised a half-hour Britcom called “Keeping Up Appearances,” the life, trials, and tribulations of Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced “boo-kay,” not “bucket”). a social climber constantly foiled. It was 30 minutes of televised vaudeville with a limited number of standing jokes, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Hyacinth was played by actress Patricia Routledge, and this past week (at age 88) she became a Dame of the British Empire. I hope she celebrated in true Hyacinth fashion with an “indoor-outdoor luxury barbeque with finger buffet.”

Writing

“When We Were Nerds”: Catching up with legendary speechwriter headhunter Jean Cardwell – David Murray at Writing Boots.

Eight words that change the way we think – Kelly Grovier at BBC (Hat Tip: J of India).

Art and Photography

Ferns and Muted Lines of Euphorbia – Tom Good at Photography by Tiwago.

Cycling Australia’s Gold Coast – Neil Ennis at Musings.

Faith

How Dante – Rod Dreher at American Conservative.

What’s the difference between ignorance and apathy? – David Rupert at Red-Letter Believers.

The Pagans Who Will Save Christian Publishing – Samuel James at Inklingations.

How Steven Curtis Chapman Fought Through the Tears to Play ‘Cinderella’ Again – Lifeway Facts & Trends.

Life and Culture

Five Tendencies That Aren't Always Right – Michael Lukazewski.

Why the Art of Speaking Should Be Taught Alongside Math and Literacy – KQED Mindshift (Hat Tip: Janet Young).

Trump and Healthcare – Scott Adams.

Google and Facebook Can’t Just Make Fake News Disappear – Danah Boyd at Backchannel.

Poetry

A Florida Vacation – John Grey at Curator Magazine.

September: The Poem and the Moment – Loren Paulsson at World Narratives.

Just as Beautiful – Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.

British Stuff

Patricia Routledge, aka Hyacinth Bucket, is made a dame of the British Empire – Daily Mail.

Jerusalem – City Alight

Painting: Man Reading (2), watercolor by John Singer Sargent, circa 1910; Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass.