The Times also has a long piece on inside-the-beltway influence peddling, for those interested.
A fascinating piece on composure:
How much neuroticism anyone gets is determined largely by genetics. But it is also within our control. Psychiatrists and psychologists talk about emotional regulation — the ability to manage neuroticism so that even the most nervous of people can go through life appearing and feeling more in control than those genetically predisposed to calmness.
It hits home on several counts, not least of which is that mom and I are polar opposites in that respect. There's more, though. A friend and former colleague once started the following conversation:
G.: You're handling this very stressful situation very well.
A.: Losing composure is not going to help.
G.: Right, but now that I've gotten to know you, I realize you have excellent stress management abilities. When you were first chosen for this position, people warned me that you went off the deep end easily.
A.: Jerks. I know exactly whom you're talking about...
G.: Well, him too, but even people who like and respect you felt that they should let me know.
A.: Names, please.
G.: Sorry.
A.: That's just unfortunate, because none of those people have seen me operate under pressure. They have no f*ing idea. I have, for example, been stalked by a crack dealer on an island in Nicaragua. I don't melt down; that's just not how I operate.
And I have to partly credit mom for that. I've seen her operate that way, and I've seen that it gets her nowhere.
That's not to say that I shouldn't learn to project composure in addition to simply experiencing it. But I do wish people would just shut up and stop *warning* colleagues about me. Then again, maybe I should be greatful that they're setting low expectations; if all I need to do is not melt down, that makes my job easier. In any case, I work somewhere now where I don't see this happening, because people have plenty on their plate without minding other people's business.
***
On the future of books:
There’s reading and then there’s reading. There is the gleaning or browsing or cherry-picking of information, and then there is the deep immersion in constructed textual worlds: novels and biographies and the various forms of narrative nonfiction — genres that could not be born until someone invented the codex, the book as we know it, pages inscribed on both sides and bound together. These are the books that possess one and the books one wants to possess.
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