Saturday, June 27, 2009
Editorial: Short takes
Quick views on some of the week's news.
From the RoundTable blog
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A troubled icon's tragic end
You don't have to have been a fan of Michael Jackson's music to recognize his undeniable cultural and artistic influence.
Even those disturbed by the endless plastic surgery, strange marriages and inappropriate sleepovers with young boys and other bizarre behavior that marked Jackson's later life should make the effort to understand a psyche damaged -- shattered, even -- by stratospheric fame gained at such a young age. That fame helped demolish racial barriers in the music industry during the early 1970s and '80s. His pure, smooth voice and youthful charisma anchored The Jackson 5 and propelled a solo career that defined superstardom. His fan base was global, and the reaction to his death proved it remained so to the end.
But despite fame and the riches that came with it, Jackson was clearly never comfortable with adulthood, and never really at home in his own skin, even as he altered that skin and his features to a grotesque extent. Accused and acquitted of child molestation in 2004, Jackson seemed genuinely incapable of comprehending the outside world's suspicion of a grown man's relationships with young boys.
Jackson was a tortured artist who, like so many other troubled, talented souls, came to an early end. The freak show his life became should not overshadow the joy his music and dancing brought to millions all around the globe.
Don't pay the ferryman
A 130-year-old tradition will die in a matter of days unless private donors or local governments step up to replace state funding for the Hatton Ferry. The steel-bottomed ferry takes passengers and cars (it can hold two) across the James River near Scottsville, running on muscle power alone. It may fall victim to state budget cuts on July 1, ending the operation of the last pole-driven ferry in the United States.
The ferry faced extinction before, after a 1972 flood. But Richard "John Boy" Thomas of "The Waltons" fame helped save state funding. No similar reprieve appears in sight this time as a cash-strapped Virginia looks under the cushions for every dime (or, in this case, $21,000 in savings) it can find.
The Albermarle CountyBoard of Supervisors votes next week on whether to spend $5,000 to keep the ferry running through September. After that, the county would be looking for a historical society or private donor to help pick up the slack, or the pole.
'Free' author takes too many liberties with Wikipedia
The fact that it appears to be an innocent mistake and not a deliberate act doesn't detract from the irony of the author of a book called "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" getting busted for plagiarism. Virginia blogger Waldo Jaquith discovered numerous passages in Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson's new book identical to entries in the online Wikipedia. Anderson's book argues that offering free content can lead to profits.
Anderson acknowledges the material lifted from Wikipedia, saying it was the result of a decision late in the process to go from footnotes or other traditional citations to integrating attribution within the text -- which, in too many cases, simply didn't happen in the extensive write-through. "I feel especially terrible," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I'm not one of those who thinks you shouldn't cite Wikipedia. I think you should cite Wikipedia."
