Thursday, January 26, 2006

The lady protesteth a lot

As someone who has written about Oprah, I've been following the James Frey contretemps, and particularly today's coverage, closely. It's a tough crowd. People don't like being lied to, and Oprah especially doesn't like being lied to. It's her platform and she invited the wrong guy to climb on it. That is her mistake, even if she would like to pass the responsibility to the publisher. Oprah has always gotten a lot of mileage -- meaning shows -- out of her mistakes. Look for more on this.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Watched like a hawk
Walking to school earlier this week I came upon a hawk. He was sitting on a fence alongside the sidewalk atop a tangle of bare clematis. He was eye level with me. I stopped three or feet from him, startled. He looked at me, or looked me over, I thought. I was wearing a scarlet beret and I wondered if I looked like something edible. He sat there long enough for me to study his mottled brown coloring so I could identify him: red tail? red shoulder? His beak was hooked and sharp and his talons also looked fit for hunting. I opened my mouth and out came a little laugh or throat clearing and he spread his big wings and flew away with an audible swoosh of air. It felt like a visitation. Wild birds don't do this: ca ne se fait pas. I always thought my totem was different. This hawk was an observer. Bold yet not aggressive. Both of us stood our ground.