“‘Times’ resurfaces an opinion column with a colorful history,” Columbia Journalism Review
This CJR story about the revival of The New York Times’ “Topics of the Times” column, by Thomas Vinciguerra, is worth reading if only for the end, detailing what may be one of the most famous corrections in the paper’s history, one 49 years in the making. —Peter Callaghan, local government reporter
“The Dark Side: An Oral History of ‘The Star Wars Holiday Special,’” Mental Floss
Before bits and pieces began showing up online in the last few years, “The Star Wars Holiday Special,” a 97-minute musical-variety special from 1978, was shrouded in myth and legend. Co-written by Leonard Ripps and Minnesota’s own Pat Proft, the special featured much of the cast of the 1977 sci-fi blockbuster in a story Ripps described as a “Wookiee Rosh Hashanah” designed to keep the movie’s toys selling through another Christmas season. Throw in “Maude” star Bea Arthur singing to an alien-filled cantina, Jefferson Starship (also singing), and endless non-captioned Wookiee dialogue, and it becomes clear why it was kept locked up in a LucasFilm vault. —Corey Anderson, web editor
“The Art of a Nation Will Outlast Its Governments,” Literary Hub
Like many of us, Scott Esposito, an author and frequent contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, is “anxious and appalled” by the times we live in. “These holidays are playing out amid a period of collective gloom unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” he writes. But he also believes that our arts will play a “crucial role … in maintaining the values that make this nation recognizable.” And that “the Presidency is a powerful pulpit, but so are the collective theater stages, independent bookstore event spaces, community symphonies, museums, galleries, literary magazines, and so on across the United States.” —Pamela Espeland, Artscape columnist
“The Problem With Obama’s Faith in White America,” The Atlantic
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ look at the Obama years has been getting a lot of attention, as it should, but the Atlantic is also publishing a few responses to his piece. I really liked this one from sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom. In it, she looks at the other side of Obama’s faith in white America: that many of us had faith in Obama because he allowed us to feel better about ourselves without changing anything. —Jonathan Stegall, user experience engineer
