Our Favorite Headlines of the Week

We had a bunch lately, so why not share the abundance, we figured? This one nicely plays off the title of Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope. Better yet, the piece contains a sublime phrase that we'll be sure to adopt from now on: "dyspepsia is the new equilibrium." We thought this headline served as a nicely counterintuitive come-hither device to read the piece, and we loved this headline for its playful sense of humor (though this classic Andy Borowitz spoof headline in the Huffington Post really took the prize for sense of humor). This odd headline in the Seattle Times wins the award for countercultural oddity, going out of its way to keep the word 'sex' out of the headline, even when it not only belongs there but is almost misleading without it (now there's a first). We attribute that to metro dailies' prudish sense of rectitude, which is overdone in this case. Finally, we mustn't forget the lowly subhead, which can be raised to a high art in the hands of accomplished headline-writing artists. This subhead in Slate takes the prize for wicked irony. Okay, now it's your turn. Share your thoughts, send your favorite headlines, or just tell us about your bad hair day, if you'd prefer. We like hearing from you, no matter what the message might be. You can also bathe in headline nostalgia by review earlier favorite headlines here.

Our Favorite Headline & Quote of the Week

Each month we bring you our favorite lead paragraph, in a belief that beginning well is at least half the battle with any piece of writing. But we can't forget other important building blocks of interesting writing: great headlines and vivid quotes. Our favorite headline comes from Inside Higher Education, a lively and well-written online-only competitor to the grandaddy of the niche, the authoritative Chronicle of Higher Education. We noted with interest this headline, "The Pedagogy of Place." Meanwhile, in the Guardian, the founder of the British literary journal Granta and later the New Yorker's fiction editor, Bill Buford, offers up this pithy sentiment: "I'm a person who gets energized by deadlines, even when I'm well past them." I think most people who write can appreciate the blend of humor and truth in that thought.
UPDATE: Special thanks to Inside Higher Ed's editor Doug Lederman (a native of Shaker Heights) for taking note of our busted link today and sending along one that works. Great editors are like world-class chefs. They somehow pay attention to the big picture while also keeping track of microscopic details such as this, a problem link to one of their stories on a blog they've never heard of before. Thanks for dropping us a line, Mr. Lederman. We now like your pub even more than before. I neglected to note previously that we've celebrated this online publication here before.

Our Favorite Headline of the Week

Are Married White Men in Convertibles Doomed to Deafness? The headline on this CNet story does what good headlines are supposed to do: it stops you (or at least it stopped me) and beckons your attention. I don't know about you, but I couldn't resist reading on to learn more. Is it only because I happen to share two of three attributes mentioned (I'm a white married guy, but alas, I'm convertible-less)? That doesn't hurt, I suppose. But I think it's also just inspired headline writing. On the other hand, does the story deliver on the headline's promise (another important but often overlooked element of good headline writing)? On this question, we report; you decide. Meanwhile, you can review earlier favorite headlines here.

The Best of Both Worlds

Here's our favorite news headline of the week, and our favorite blog headline of the week. Hats off to great headline writers. They help focus readers' attention in this age of too many distractions, and help guide our eyes to something worthwhile. I, for one, found it nearly impossible to resist reading either of these stories after scanning the witty & imaginative headlines. But enough about me. What were your favorite headlines this week?

Our Favorite Headline of the Week

This surely caught our attention and lured us into reading the story. Would it do the same for you? For its sly irony, this headline deserves at least a nod for runner-up. You can review earlier favorite headlines here.

Our Favorite Headline of the Week

Okay, so it's from last week. Still, we enjoyed Time's relative cheekiness with this headline about Sarah Palin. It shows that the once oh so serious journal of the American Century has finally learned it's okay to occasionally lighten up a little as well.

Saturday Stuff

Our Favorite Headline of the Week. Okay, you might find this headline in Ad Age silly, but we think it makes it pretty hard for a reader to pass up the article.

Eleven Foods You Ought to be Eating. Eat your vegetables, folks. I plan on taking this to heart. And just look at how many comments this modest little subject drew. More than 700 and counting...

Prediction: The Next President Will be a Lefty. Well, not that kind of lefty necessarily.

A Not-to-be-Missed Event. Don't forget to check out the Cain Park summer art festival in Cleveland Heights next weekend. Apart from the Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy, it's the high point of Cleveland's summer fests, I think.

Always a Step Behind. In 2002, shortly after the first Internet-fueled tech bubble burst, I read in the New York Times about Pittsburgh's Carnegie-Mellon University opening a satellite campus in California's Silicon Valley. I recall having two immediate reactions: one, that's a smart move, and secondly, why isn't our own Case Western Reserve University ever doing that kind of forward thinking? The two schools are roughly compatible in size and resources, just as their host cities are. The only difference, I'm afraid, is the quality of leadership in the universities. But good leadership never stands still, naturally. Sure enough, take a look at this page, which documents how those satellite CMU campuses have now spread around the world. Read it and weep, Case.

Things We Couldn't Help Noticing

• Our Favorite Headline of the Week. From the Chronicle of Higher Ed: Bonk if You Want to Take This Course.
• The First Cleveland Browns. A new entry in the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, an essential reference tool for any curious & educated Clevelander, notes that the second Cleveland Negro League baseball team was named the Cleveland Browns. Formed in 1924, it predates the football team of the same name by about two decades. Add that to the long list of things I never knew.
• Advice on Your Clunker. The new federal "cash for clunkers" law seeks to encourage Americans to trade in their faded jalopies for newer, more environmentally-friendly models. But how to know if your car qualifies? This nice tool on the car-centric Edmunds website will help you find out.
• The First Photo Ever Taken in Canada...A haunting image of Niagra Falls, taken 170 years ago.
• Guide to a Fun & Unusual Family Outing. Sandy Mitchell, the About.com Cleveland guide, points to this online directory of places throughout the region where you can pick your own fruits and veggies. Not a bad idea for the dog days of summer. Three years ago, I wrote about her and About.com here.
• A Chick Flick that Even Men Will (Okay, May) Like. I saw the new tear-jerker movie, My Sister's Keeper, over the weekend, and it's actually surprisingly good. Guys don't generally go in for this sort of thing (it's based on a book by Jodi Picoult, whose female-centric emotional yarns haven't exactly cried out to be read in my Darwinian book pile). The Washington Post recently got off a great line about her work, referring to it as "ovarian Gothic."
• And Finally...Is the economy leaving you bummed out? Not to worry. This piece from Mental Floss notes that even personal bankruptcy didn't stop seven high achievers. So why let slower cash flow keep you from enjoying the summer? Find some free or low-cost things to do, someone (or a few someones) you love to do them with, and get on with it. But do let us in on what those favorite things might be.

Just a Few of Our Favorite Things

Here's our favorite provocative headline of the week (do you think this could prompt a fistfight at a meeting of Zionists? I do). Here's our favorite haunting image, from a blog published by a treasured WWW reader and frequent commenter, the divine Ms. Kass. And here's our favorite new blog of the month, published by our old friend and mentor, Bill Gunlocke, who also publishes a limited-circulation print companion in Manhattan. Good luck with it, Billy G. You can review earlier mentions of Bill here.

Our Favorite Headline of the Week

Wired Mag nabs it with "The Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective Terrorists." You can review earlier FHOTWs here.

Wednesday Stuff

Our Favorite Headline of the Week: 'Welcome to America...You're Under Arrest.' A close runner-up: 'I'm Not Lying, I'm Telling a Future Truth. Really.'

Director Spike Lee says "Obama will change everything." But I'm not sure I want to put too much stock in a guy whose next "film" project involves piecing together various bits of video taken by cellphones. Sounds more like a marketing stunt to sell phones than a movie to me.

Here's How You Can Play Like Lebron. Just follow his exercise regimen and you'll be on your way. Looks easy enough, doesn't it?

Former Newspaper Guy Picks Up Blogging In Record Time. This fellow just left a staff job at a newspaper after a career spent at a series of such jobs. Judging by this sublime description of why people blog, we think he took to the blog format in record time. The bad news: he'll soon find out that some, including this hipster who recently took up shaving, think "blogs seem so yesterday." The big thing now is video, or vlogs (that sound you hear is me snoring). So what's a recycled writer to do? We advise against chasing the latest fad. Just make sure it's good, whatever you do. Everything else has a way of taking care of itself.

If Writing Text is So Yesterday, Reading is Too. Apple CEO Steve Jobs caused a small stir not long ago by saying no one reads anymore. But his Macs certainly are in no danger of dying out. Due to their rising popularity, a geek digest (E-Week) says company IT departments now must deal with what it calls "Mac creep," the growing demands from internal users to accomodate Macs instead of PCs. Anyway, this piece nicely demolishes the absurd notion that people aren't reading anymore. On the contrary, the web has helped launch an explosion of reading and writing by millions of people. The alarmists attempt a nice parlor trick by simply not counting any of that. How convenient, and how ridiculous.

Our Favorite Headline & Subhead of the Week

It's also one of the more satisfying developments we've read about, this moaning from Wall Street. While you're at it, perhaps you're also in the mood to read about the privations of an anonymous spouse of a banker who feels he must get out of the crosshairs of public attention as a result of accepting the federal TARP bailout funds. Please, do include all these poor folks in your prayers, will you? But if all that focus on bad economic news leaves you in need of some comic relief, I recommend this video clip posted not long ago by my friend Erin O'Brien, wielder of a uniquely wicked pen. I watched it four times, and laughed each time.

A Few Things We Couldn't Help Noticing

• Proud to Proclaim Our Ignorance. A Cleveland company we've never heard of is among Fortune Mag's 100 fastest-growing companies.
• Yet Another Health Myth? Canada's leading newsweekly thinks so.
• World's Weirdest Hotels. Which one is your favorite?
• Ten Oddest Places to Work or Live. Our favorite is #7.
• That Other 40th Anniversary (Sort Of). You can help write a history of the internet.
• Another Kind of History. We're guessing this headline might have drawn more than the usual amount of interest.
• Same Old Crap. This development reminded me of journalist Michael Kinsley's infamous principle about Washington outrages: the real scandal is not what people are doing illegally, but what's actually legal.
• And Finally...This is not a fake news item from The Onion, all appearances to the contrary. I'm just trying to imagine the experience of being coached by this disturbed cretin.

Thursday Stuff

Best Headline and Subhead of the Week...goes to the Weekly Standard, for this little gem of wiseassery (my coinage) at the expense of the magazine's favorite targets, the Clintons. If you don't immediately get the joke, just give it a moment and think about it. Hint: it harkens back to the Lewinsky scandal.

Read It and Weep. Ohio Attorney General Mark Dann, once positioned to be the second coming of the crusading AG in the likeness of Eliot Spitzer, has followed him into disgrace by resigning yesterday. If you're a glutton for punishment, here's the investigative report that prompted the whole thing, although it's been criticized by some as being a partial whitewash. But you decide.

Moore's At It Again. The Iraq war is increasingly slipping out of the news pages and the larger cultural conversation. But director Michael Moore isn't letting up on it. The New York Observer reports (well, it really just reprints a press release about it) that the rotund lefty auteur is now working on a followup to his devastating anti-Iraq war flick Fahrenheit 9/11. Like many, I found the latter film to be a little too emotionally manipulative to be completely effective, or as effective as it might have been (and there was considerable speculation -- which I think was warranted-- that it boomeranged and left some voters sympathetic to Bush, thus helping him squeek into a second term). But it was nevertheless quite interesting, and an important contribution to the debate. I would expect this next one will be as well.

Finally, We Bring You what I would consider to be perhaps the best blog autobio ever written, in this case by a veteran Chicago sportswriter whom I first came across only yesterday. "They tell me I have to write this bio thing to go along with my blog. Not sure you care, but the bosses apparently do, so here you go: I've covered sports for more than 30 years in print, on radio and now in cyberspace. In that time, I've smoked cigars with Michael Jordan, Mike Ditka and Red Auerbach, I've been thrown on a table by NHL all-time bad boy Dave "Tiger'' Williams, I've covered the Super Bowl, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals, I've had former Bears lineman Stan Thomas act like he was going to squeeze my head like a zit, I've interviewed Roger Clemens, Hank Aaron and Donald Trump, I've been cursed at by Mike Keenan, I've watched Denis Savard go into the Hockey Hall of Fame, I've been yelled at by Bill Wirtz, I talked sports with Ben Affleck at the World Series of Poker, and I cry almost every time I see Jim Craig skate up the ice looking for his dad in the stands as the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team wrote the greatest sports story ever. Ever. I have a diva going to fashion school in Los Angeles and a power-hitting DH who's a junior in high school. Got enough on me? Good. Now read the other stuff." After that wild & wonderful riff, who could resist reading more? If you've seen anything that can compete with that, dear reader, by all means do let us know.

Five Events This Month That You Shouldn't Miss

Two of them, as it happens, take place later today. Our friends Roldo Bartimole and Mansfield Frazier, along with the formidable city planning guru Norm Krumholz, will headline this interesting panel that looks back at the legacy of former Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes, the first black mayor of a major American city. A few hours later, the divine Ms. Shannon Okey , the original Cleveland webgrrl, will make a rare author's appearance at the Parma Heights library, talking about one of her favorite subjects, knitting. Expect a packed room, with fans clawing each other for seats in the front row, so get there early. Next Wednesday evening, Cleveland native Scott Raab, easily among the top half dozen magazine writers in America, makes an appearance at the Joseph Beth bookstore at Legacy Village, to promote his new book, a collection of his best magazine work. A day later, the Cleveland chapter of the American Institute of Architects hosts a gathering of ubanophiles (my coinage, I'm afraid) to inspect a new "walkable" neighborhood development downtown. Finally, a few days after that, just in time for the long holiday weekend, the Cleveland Museum of Art, long closed for construction, reopens its rehabbed original 1916 gallery, which should be a treat. Earlier, I mentioned Raab here, Mansfield here, and Norm here. Roldo is mentioned all over the place. Anyway, these events all get our highest five-star rating. Here's hoping we'll see some of you at one or more of them.

Some Iconic Celluloid Gowns to Remember

We liked the gentle play on words in this L.A. Times magazine headline, and the accompanying article was pretty interesting too. As for our favorite movie gown, we'd have to call it a draw between Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. You?

Quickies

Strap on your helmet. We'll be traveling pretty fast today.

Reaching Out to Citizens, Not Just the Usual Suspects. In an open letter to the new superintendant of the Cleveland Schools, the always-insightful Bill Callahan does a particularly fine job of explaining the difference between reaching out to the usual suspects in "the community" and staying in touch with average citizens, who will eventually be asked to vote on a school levy. Let's hope Mr. Sanders eventually reads this and reflects on its wisdom.

A Poetic Twist on Yet Another Plagiarism Scandal. NPR's On the Media, aired on Saturday afternoons, is one of the small jewels of the network. It can be lost amid all the larger, gaudier Hope diamonds (Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, etc.), but it's always worth tuning in. Last week's fill-in for co-host Bob Garfield, a fellow named Mike Pescas, had an inspired riff on the whole dreary Opal Mehta/Kaavya Viswanathan plagiarism story. He invited listeners to think of the affair as their ancestors in the Elizabeathan age might have: by putting it into perspective, and realizing that all writers borrow from others. Parts of her book, he argued, "had the unfortunate character of already having been written." He ended this way: "Eventually, plagiarists will be treated like hack comics. You can steal a joke, but not a career."

Cut and Run? You Bet. That's the headline on this piece in the new issue of Foreign Policy magazine, written by Lt. General William Odom. The subhead is similarly pointed: "Why America must get out of Iraq now." It closely echoes the message that Congressman Jack Murtha has been sharing with anyone who will listen, which is an increasing majority of the country. "In reality," he writes, "a civil war in Iraq began just weeks after U.S. forces toppled Saddam." As for the argument that withdrawal would undermine U.S. credibility around the world, he says, "were the United States a middling power, this case might hold some water. But for the world's only superpower, it's patently phoney. A rapid reversal of our present course in Iraq would improve U.S. credibility around the world." Interestingly, he seems to have some pretty serious conservative credentials. He's a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and was director of the now-infamous National Security Agency during the Reagan years. If you like to keep up on the world with well-written, authoritative reports, you might consider periodically adding FP's new blog to your reading list.

Jones Day is Everywhere You Want to Be. I was surprised--or on second thought, perhaps, not so surprised--to learn that our favorite hometown (well, sort of) corporate law firm has at least a tangential role in Lewis "Scooter" Libby's defense. The former Dick Cheney aide, dubbed "Dick Cheney's Dick Cheney," became the first White House staff member to be indicted in over a century. And today, the Washington Post reports that he's singing to prosecutors about Cheney's personal role in going after Joe Wilson and his wife, the CIA agent Valerie Plame. Anyway, according to this week's New York Observer, the Jones Day California office is part of Libby's far-flung, high-powered defense team. That couldn't perchance, be the L.A. office, where my friend Adele Eisner's daughter (Samantha) toils as a presumably overpaid young associate?

Santorum Nearly Toast? Some time ago, I mentioned an excellent New Yorker piece which examined the shifting politics of the abortion debate through the lense of the Pennsylvania Senate race. I'm thrilled to learn from The New Republic that the neanderthal incumbent, Rick Santorum, seems destined for a loss. TNR: "Even Republicans have privately started to refer to Santorum's campaign as a lost cause and are lobbying party leaders to shift money to more promising contests." We can only hope. I've written before about how the U.S. Senate, once home to enough old lions with safe seats and sufficiently high character to focus more on what's best for the country than partisan concerns (people like Pat Moynihan, Sam Nunn, George Mitchell, Bill Bradley and some others) has in recent years become a place filled with too many ignorant demagogues. These chuckleheads bring disgrace to the chamber where Daniel Webster and Abe Lincoln once spoke to our better nature, and Santorum is certainly high on that list, if not at the top. Let's keep our fingers crossed on this race, shall we?

Can this be the trade mag PR Week? I loved this Q&A with the infamous (at least in some circles) British muckraker Greg Palast. The walking quote machine wonderfully riffs about how U.S. papers shy away from investigative journalism, opting instead for the straightjacket of "acceptable discourse," as defined by elites. "Forget Watergate and Woodward and Bernstein; Woodward himself today would never, in a million years, as managing editor of The Washington Post, publish the Watergate story. It's official denial against an unnameable source. Forget it." Asked if he's ever thought of writing for U.S. outlets, he responds brightly: "Considered? That's the whole idea. I don't like being in journalistic exile. I don't like my words trying to swim across the Atlantic. They could drown..." But he's not holding his breath, either. Over the years, he's taken plenty of shots at the American media's timidity, and "when you pee on these outlets, they pee back."

And from an equally unexpected source, the ordinarily lame U.S. News & World Report, comes this powerful piece about how police across the country are using the post-9/11 atmophere to ramp up their spying. It's a deeply reported and well-written account, covering crucial ground I haven't seen covered anywhere else (most other outlets have their hands full just scrambling to keep track of the D.C.-based "security" outrages emanating from the federal government). Here are a few important highlights, but I urge you to read the entire piece, and perhaps share it with friends. "A U.S. News inquiry found that federal officials have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into once discredited state and local police intelligence operations. Millions more have gone into building up regional law enforcement databases to unprecedented levels...Good or bad, intelligence gathering by local police departments is back...Among the changes: Since 9/11, the U.S. Dept. of Justice and Homeland Security have poured over a half-billion dollars into building up local and state police intelligence units reaching into nearly every state." Let's hope all serious media outlets keep close watch on this, along with the well-funded American Civil Liberties Union, which has been getting bogged down in other really pressing matters, like policing the internal dissent of its board members as they object to the latest outrage from this numbskull executive director, late of the Ford Foundation. Just kind of makes you shake your head...

Getting Really Small

If I needed any more reasons (which I don't) to cherish and admire Ben Small, my favorite magazine designer, a longtime friend as well as collaborator, and a guy with a much-derided last name, I could simply point to the quote I noticed he placed recently near his work space. It silently speaks volumes:

Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security, unempllyment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. there is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaries and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligable and they are stupid.
--Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952

Does e-mail Make You Dumber? That was the headline of a brief article in the August Discover Magazine, which I breezed through while on vacation recently. Writer Anne Casselman had this to say, in part, as the answer. "If you feel like a zombie at work, perhaps you're suffering from infomania, the term the Hewlett -Packard affiliate in Britain coined for people addicted to e-mail, instant messaging and text messages. A recent study for the company found that British workers' IQ test scores drop temporarily by an average of 10 points when juggling phones, e-mails and other electronic messages--more of an IQ drop than occurs after smoking marijuana or losing a night's sleep." I guess I should be happy that I don't do text or instant messaging and never have, and so maybe my temporary stupidity is only half as bad as some of my multitasking friends. Or at least I hope so.

Small Type, Big Party. We had a blast at last Friday's end-of-summer party at the Poets & Writers League of Greater Cleveland. The weather cooperated, the turnout was brisk. My wife loved seeing (in one case) and meeting (in another) authors whose work she's read and admired. She even found enough fellow teachers in the crowd to chat away with while I worked the room (and the lawn outside) a bit. I was especially heartened to see and be able to chat with at some length a couple of my blogging pals, two especially good and serious writers, Jeff Hess and Chas Rich. They nicely kept watch over the beer supply from a good perch on the porch, while teasing me about my small (there's that word again) type on this site, and the colors which make it hard to read. Okay, guys, I promise to eventually respond with some changes. As for the PWLGC soiree, if you missed it, don't despair. Another in the series is planned for late September. We'll keep you posted.

Wednesday Stuff

The Most Predictable Headline of the Week. From a column about Hillary by the slimeball turncoat political consultant Dick Morris, who once happily indulged Bill's worst instincts. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the slimeball subculture, two former Bill Clinton accusers have teamed up to deliver lurid details of their encounters with Slick Willy. Egad.

The Bush Apostate Matrix. A nice visual depiction of presidential critics and how they rate.

'Gut Reaction Conservative.' Toledo native and right-wing funny man P.J. O'Rourke muses about what he coins GRC.

Edifice Complex. Last week, we brought you news about favorite American architecture. Here's an interesting little feature about how despots around the world are feeding their edifice complex.

Don's New Book of Poetry. My friend Mr. Iannone has another collection out, and I'm sure it's as wonderful as his last one. I'm looking forward to reading it soon. Earlier, we've discussed the bard here. Congratulations, Don. A wonderful accomplishment.

A Few Not-To-Be-Missed Events

I hope readers from outside Northeast Ohio will indulge me today, and forgive this listing of events in the region that we want to highlight for our neighbors closer at hand. These WWW-endorsed events begin with a 7:00 p.m. appearance tonight at Joseph Beth Bookstore at Legacy Village by former Washington Post editor Len Downie, who's recently signed on as a journalism professor at Arizona State. The Lakewood native is hawking his new novel, The Rules of the Game. A couple years ago, he was good enough to spice up this media column about the erstwhile Cleveland Press, with his personal recollection of the paper. Next week, his colleague, the WaPo columnist E.J. Dionne, one of our favorite voices of political reason, comes to Akron to headline the Akron Roundtable, the town's version of Cleveland's City Club. Next weekend you might consider snowshoeing through the lovely Penitentiary Glen in the Cleveland Metroparks, at least if there's any snow by then. If not, keep it in mind for when there is some white stuff. The following weekend, Saturday February 28th, John Ewing is bringing a legendary silent film, Napoleon, to the Cleveland Insitute of Art's Cinematheque theatre. I've been waiting years to see this reputed masterpiece on the big screen. Heck, we think the back story of the film is more interesting than most entire movies. Next month, on March 19th, political activist and author Naomi Klein, whom we mentioned recently, will be speaking at Cleveland State. Finally, we hope you'll reserve the date of April 23rd, when the Cleveland Foodbank will have an evening fundraiser at the Galleria downtown. We plan on supporting that one. So now we put the question to you: what can't-miss events should we have added?