I flew to Los Angeles and back on Tuesday, which made for a really long day of adding frequent flier miles to my account and reinforcing my decision not to have chosen “traveling salesman” as a career.
But I do love flying for the reading time it offers (or forces, since I rarely sleep on flights). I, for one, don’t like the idea of adding WiFi in airplane cabins so everyone can be Facebooking the whole time, and actually enjoy the sense of schadenfreaude when the guy sitting next to me has nothing to do for a three-hour flight (BUY. A. NEWSPAPER, buddy. They sell so many of them in the terminal for a reason.)
Anyway, end of the rant. What I wanted to share was what I read during my eight-or-so hours in transit and waiting yesterday. (I mean beside the newspaper.)
— A story in the April issue of Runner’s World on
ultramarathoner Scott Jurek. (The profile isn’t available online, I
just realized, so if you take my word for it you’ll have to buy the
magazine. What a concept.) I’m reveling in my own side interest
here, just so you know, though I met Jurek last month and thought
he was a pretty neat guy as well. The profile is a fairly personal
story about how a guy at the top of his field stays there — or
doesn’t — and how a dedication to running can translate into your
outlook on the rest of life.
— The other was this
New Yorker piece about Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Again,
I’ve got a personal connection, having lived in Chicago for six
years of his administration (and again, the whole article isn’t
available on-line, sorry about that). But it’s also one of those
profiles any political junkie should be interested in. Chicago
politics don’t work the same as in other places, and the writer
points that out by tracing the Daley empire, racial gamesmanship by
politicians there, and the city’s history of public corruption.
Later in the piece it goes into Daley’s relationship with, and
delayed endorsement of, President Obama.
So if you’re headed to Sea-Tac this week, there you go. If not, we’ve got bookstores around here, too. (Or send me an email, I’ll lend you a copy.)
