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Maryn McKenna

Minneapolis, MN
Commenter for
5 years 25 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 02/23/10 at 10:25 am in response to Wanna get lucky? Minnesota group arranges 'speed dating' for freelancers, editors

Just FYI, this actually isn't that unusual among professional journalism organizations: The Association of Health Care Journalists, National Association of Science Writers and American Society of Journalists and Authors all host things like this at annual meetings. (I am a member of all three organizations and a board member of the AHCJ*). Generally we call them "pitchfest"s. It's very impressive though to see a local chapter of an organization take on a pitchfest — they take a metric ton of...

Posted on 01/20/10 at 03:30 pm in response to 70th anniversary of British food rationing serves up some food for thought

I wonder how much serving sizes played into this. I grew up south of London and remember as a kid that grownups would talk about having "an egg" for tea (meaning light evening meal, not fancy hotel-salon tea). That was 15 years after food rationing ended; though you could argue that the scarcities of rationing imposed certain expectations of what a serving was, and perhaps they persisted afterward. Meanwhile, here in the US, the restaurant standard for an omelet is 3 eggs.

Posted on 02/21/08 at 08:20 pm in response to Apple's 'Thinnovation' marketing strategy -- and Air itself -- troubling to some

Sorry, this argument is too much of a reach for me. I've carried unwanted poundage most of my life; I understand the cultural pressure to be thin. I also - while recognizing its limitations - lust for a MacBook Air. But I don't want it because it will by some magical transference make me feel thin. I want it because I'm a journalist who routinely has to schlep laptop, cables, locks, cameras and more on my back for weeks at a time, and anything that will reduce that load while running a...

Posted on 12/18/07 at 11:55 pm in response to City Pages just lost its Sugar Mama

"Collagen-leather-Lexus" made me spit coffee on my keyboard.

Posted on 11/19/07 at 05:46 pm in response to Wolfgang Puck: changing the world dish by dish

Organic is good. Humane raising is great. Eliminating gavage is an extra bonus plus, no matter how tasty foie gras is. But let's not forget that this program, high-profile and right-thinking though it is, is still in service to a large corporation.
The Puck-owned tablecloth restaurants such as 20.21 may have a lot of freedom in how they source; but the fast-casual side, Wolfgang Puck Express, has a substantial number of outlets that present identical food but are scattered across the...