Once every couple months I get asked to one of my favorite babysitting gigs at the Mar house. This family goes to my church and I love spending my time with them, well the parents anyway. Most of the time when I go to their house and I never see the kids. By 7:00 p.m. they are in bed and they don’t wake up the entire time that I’m there. I try to get as much of their kid time as possible on Sundays when i see them at church. With little kid time, I usually bring something with me to do like the book I’m currently reading or a DVD. I usually start the evening out reading the newest kid books they picked up at the library. I’ve read about pigs and about builders and about other animals saving the day – but this last visit, Olinda found out I love to read magazines- not just any magazines but Vanity Fair, New York Magazine or the New Yorker (all of which, they have!) She usually stores them away in their bedroom so the kids won’t tear out the pages, and last week, she brought out the motherload! It was delightful.
I discovered Vanity Fair at the airport on the way to Orlando for work, and consumed the whole thing in the 6 hours on the plane. I had no idea it was so informative and thought of it only as a fashion magazine. I learned about Bear Stearns and why they collapsed, and of course, the up and coming movies of the Fall with the up and coming young actors. VF was the two of me perfectly blended, the shallow and the intellectually interested. I was so enamored with the latest issue of VF that I didn’t get a chance to pick up New York Mag which had such a great article about Malcolm Gladwell and his new book Outliers. (Read the article here) In their generosity I got to take the magazine home with me and tonight – I fell back in love with Malcolm Gladwell and can’t wait to read his new book! (The title of this blog post is an idea put forth in his new book. If you’re interested in reading it with me, let me know!) This line in the article, Jason Zengerle, especially excited me as I’ve started thinking more seriously about poverty and taken up reading more Shane Claiborne, “With his last book, Gladwell sought to eliminate the focus group; with this one, he wants to eradicate poverty.” So exciting!
His hair, his self deprecation, his flair for telling good stories, his wit and humor… what else can I ask for?
For your viewing pleasure, I offer these videos… enjoy!
and this video featuring Anderson Cooper and Mr. Gladwell (two favorites in one place!)
1 Comment
December 11, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Outliers is a great book. The problem is Gladwell leaves little room for critical thinking by interlacing his opinion and ideas throughout the book. I like to form my own thoughts based on presented research. But I think for the target this was a great book.
I’m currently working on my 10k hours of writing to hopefully get better at it.
http://www.paunchiness.com/i-finished-outliers-last-night/