Monthly Archives: September 2009

News of William Safire’s death does make it feel like the end of an era. Here’s a great line from The New York Times’ story about his death:

There were columns on blogosphere blargon, tarnation-heck euphemisms, dastardly subjunctives and even Barack and Michelle Obama’s fist bumps. And there were Safire “rules for writers”: Remember to never split an infinitive. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors. Proofread carefully to see if you words out. Avoid clichés like the plague. And don’t overuse exclamation marks!!

Caster Semenya, the athlete at the center of the athletics gender debate, has posed on the front cover of a South African magazine called You. As if to answer her critics, who say she is too masculine to compete in women’s events, she has been glammed up in sequins and stilettos in shots that appear inside the magazine. Here’s a story about her makeover.