True Maroons: Andrea Walker, Grant McCracken, Anthony Grafton, and more

U OF C, SEEN & NOTED
"Chicago, Where Fun Comes To Die" (The Book Bench blog, New Yorker, Jun. 25, 2009)
Andrea Walker, AM'99, AM'02, shares thoughts about UChicago tees, Baffler's comeback, and Twitterature.

OLD REGIME & NEW REGIME BRANDS
"Futurist and Culture Guru Grant McCracken: Optimistic on Effects of Recession?" (Thom H.C. Anderson blog, Jun. 24, 2009)
"There will always be a Martha. She speaks to and for a certain constituency," says anthropologist Grant McCracken, AM'76, PhD'81. "But I think her cultural trend and theme is being supplanted by the Rachael Rays of the world."

DISHONEST QUESTIONS
"Deception as a Way of Knowing: A Conversation with Anthony Grafton" (Cabinet magazine, Spring 2009)
"Montaigne and other anti-absolutist philosophers with the tools of ancient skepticism at their disposal found ways to resist the world-view of the witch-finder," says historian Anthony Grafton, AB'71, AM'72, PhD'75.

AT HOME IN THE CAPITAL
"The Chicago Way" (Congress Daily blog, National Journal, Jun. 22, 2009)
Rep. Mike Quigley, AM'85, leads his "rag tag team" from his Capitol Hill office where he also sleeps on an air mattress.

ECONOMIC RX
"Medical Analysis by Milton Friedman" (Forbes, Jun. 19, 2009)
After researching the health-care industry in 2001, Milton Friedman, AM'33, concluded the current U.S. health-care system creates increased medical spending and rampant dissatisfaction: "Third-party payment has required the bureaucratization of medical care," he wrote. "The interest of the patient is often in direct conflict with the interest of the caregiver's ultimate employer."

MILESTONES

  • "ICFJ Set To Honor Hersh" (MediaBistro, Fishbowl NY blog, Jun. 24, 2009)
    Seymour Hersh, AB'58, will receive the Founders Award from the International Center for Journalists later this year.

  • "30 Under 30" (Windy City Times, Jun. 24, 2009)
    Ryan Kaminski, AB'08, made the Windy City Times editors' list of "30 Under 30" movers and shakers in Chicago's LGBT community.

  • "Another Chicagoan Joins the Obama Administration" (The Scoop from Washington blog, Chicago Sun-Times, Jun. 25, 2009)
    Bryan Samuels, AM'93, joins the Obama White House as the Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Health and Human Services.

June 26, 2009