Borg

A story told about Malcolm Borg, the publisher, when he started working at his father's newspaper, the Bergen Record.

He went over to a blind newsdealer in front of the Hackensack courthouse. Took a paper.

"Charge it. My father's the publisher."

***

Everyone in editorial who left the Record, on their last day, told Malcolm off. Told him what a jerk he was.

I didn't. I wondered if he would ever remember.

***
Talking about his daughter, Jennifer, a lawyer who had joined the Record, he said proudly, "She's as tough as nails."

She quickly earned the name: "The bitch on wheels."

My Father

Tall, strong, angry.

A story told in the family:

He had been a teacher at Queens Vocational High School. Art. Radio.

Two tough kids were placed into his class.

They kept talking after he had told them to stop.

He punched one in the stomach. Bounced the other kid's head against the table.

My father was called down to the principal's office.

The principal opened his wallet and gave my father a $10 bill.

From an Interview with Kevin Spacey in Newsweek

Q. You're on stage all the time. How do you manage to see "American Idol"?

Spacey: What the fuck kind of question is that?

Dangling Participle

Lead of article:

"Seeing him sitting in a plastic chair behind prison plexiglass, it is hard for a visitor to imagine that Ralph J. Phillips..."


Page one, New York Times, Saturday, April 7

Bush the Loathesome

So Bush slips Fox in as ambassador to Bulgaria.

A man who contributed $50,000 to the Swift Boat degenerates.

Bush has no shame. He thinks he can get away with anything.

Contemptible.

Being close-minded and shallow, and arrogant, as well as powerful--a disgusting combination.