Society of the Silurians EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS DINNER The Players Club 16 Gramercy Park South Wednesday, May 22, 2013 Drinks: 6 p.m. Dinner: 7:15 p.m. Meet Old Friends and Award Winners Published by The Society of The Silurians, Inc., an organization Reservations: (212) 532-0887 of veteran New York City journalists founded in 1924 Members and One Guest $100 Each Non-Members $120 MARCH 2013 A Roundtrip, From Artist to Journalist to Artist BY BETSY ASHTON

hose who remember me as the consumer editor of WCBS-TV Tand CBS News may well won- der how I made the switch from journal- ist to professional portrait artist. It’s not the typical move from the newsroom. But I was an artist before I ever picked up a microphone. From the time I was old enough to hold a pencil, I sketched things — mostly people — especially my teachers. “Betsy, what are you doing? Bring that up here,” the teacher would scold. When I walked the paper up to her desk, her tone would change. “Oh! May I keep that?” And so I figured that I had potential as an art- ist. I also grew to love history, political science, debating, and international rela- tions, but I majored in art in college. My first job involved illustrating ads for the G.C. Murphy Company — not exactly great art — so I quickly switched to teach- ing art in high school. But overcrowded classrooms filled with kids who took art mainly to escape music or shop or have a “play period” prompted me to go back to A pair of oils on canvas: The author Louise Erdrich and the actor Hal Holbrook. graduate school for a Master of Fine Arts Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and people who acter, stories, motives, how they change cartoons for various publications. I found degree, with the intention of teaching art threw balloons full of paint at the wall. I or are changed by the world around them. myself having the wrong skill set in an art in college and painting. was not an Abstract Expressionist, I had already painted dozens of portraits world that I thought was going bonkers. My timing was terrible. In 1969, the Minimalist, or looking to do the next shock- of fellow high school teachers and their In the summer of 1970, Gene Davis, art world was totally enamored with Mark ing thing. People interested me: their char- friends, and had done more than a few Continued on Page 4 The Memoirist: A Journalist With Creative License BY ANNE ROIPHE who have betrayed their profession and all the rest of us who depend on the trust ou could say a memoir writer of our readers. is a reporter whose assignment But a memoir is written with other goals Yis herself. But that is only besides the literal truth. Memoir may be partly true. an act of revenge against a parent who A memoir writer is a journalist with a failed or a world that betrayed the hopes point of view that cannot be purely ob- of a child, or a family. A memoir can ac- jective. There is always an agenda in cuse a whole culture, a world of slavery, the writing which would spoil decent or poverty, or oppression, or colonialism, journalism but serves as the fuse that fires or just the common meanness of the hu- memoir with its energy, its passion, its man heart. A memoir can be written, and intensity. often is, out of hate for someone or A good journalist needs to tread with something, and at the same time it can caution and listen with a degree of skep- contain a hidden recipe for avoiding the ticism, and check the facts. A memoir pain that was. A memoir can report on writer on the other hand needs to aban- a battlefield or of sickness or of loss. It don caution, confront the dangers, expose can be a complaint against God or against the very things that we are trained to nature. It can be a story of survival or of hide from others, our flaws, our greed, defeat. It can be a political statement or our excessive egos. The good journalist a revelation of personal pain or both at learns to keep himself still, like a guard Anne Roiphe is a novelist and journalist and the author of two memoirs and a football the same time. dog at the doors of hell, seemingly asleep, stadium’s worth of personal stories included in fiction and non-fiction, and bald opinion. Memoir is never written as an inten- large head lying still on his front paws, his tional lie, although surely there are lies and tail barely twitching, but ready neverthe- rotary blades of your lawn mower. and they are always coming. The jour- distortions in our memories that make less to devour what may came his way. A journalist is committed by profes- nalist is committed to bringing news to memoir writers falsify even when they A memoir however requires a letting sional ethic to finding the truth of an event, the public, news of hunger, news of war, are most intent on telling the truth. The down of the guard, a willingness to be un- a past story, a present calamity, a social news of fashion, news of human folly and memoirist has no fact checker and so can comfortable, to rush around and bite if condition, to ride a political wave until it greatness and always to report on what slide or slip away from the facts and some- necessary, to growl, if you must, to admit crashes on the shore and then to exam- is, what really is. Which is why we get so times the facts themselves are not enough to longings that might bring shame or re- ine the spray, the sand, the dents it made upset when stories surface of journalists to tell the tale and the memoir writer may gret to yourself and others. Memoir or is making on its way. A journalist is a who fake, or pretend to have interviewed have to add, imagine, conjure what might therefore risks the anger of those who, kind of Paul Revere riding through the or report on distant affairs from their arm- have been in order to reach the truth of like unwilling dandelions, get caught in the pages calling out, the English are coming, chairs at home. Those are the journalists Continued on Page 4 President’s Letter PAGE 2 SILURIAN NEWS MARCH 2013 I’m pleased to report that the Society of the Silurians George Bookman: Distinguished Silurian at 98 is on a roll. Dues payments (This is the first in a series of articles be sent over- have come in earlier than on notable Silurian members.) seas. ever, and many of them Utilizing the have included a little – and BY MYRON KANDEL language he per- sometimes a lot – extra. fected while Thanks to all those who he oldest member in every or- spending his jun- ganization is a special person. ior college year in have helped get us on a solid TBut the oldest member of the Paris, he was as- financial footing. It wasn’t so Society of the Silurians, George B. signed to a post in long ago that we were tee- Bookman, who turned 98 last December, Brazzaville, in tering on the brink. is much more than that. He’s exceptional what was then Our luncheon programs — due to a remarkable career in news, French Equitorial have been great, with terrific wartime service, public relations and a Africa, the only commitment to improving journalism. territory in the speakers and good audi- George started his professional jour- western world ences. And the Lifetime nalistic career in the dark days of the that flew the Free Achievement Award Dinner Great Depression, when as a student at French flag. was a winner. Not only was Haverford College he obtained a paid Among other du- Gloria Steinem a most wor- summer internship in the financial depart- ties, he made thy honoree, but her re- ment of the New York World-Telegram. broadcasts in But his taste for journalism went even French and En- marks were special. If you farther back: as a young teen-ager he glish that were missed them – or just want wrote a social column for a newspaper short-waved to to hear them again in their on the Jersey shore, where his family North Africa and entirety — go to our Web spent its summers. Southern France. site, Silurians.org, which, by He subsequently spent more than After spending the way, is filling up with three-quarters of a century in communi- time in Beirut, cations — as a magazine and newspa- Lebanon, George good material. per reporter and editor in Washington and moved to Italy, Our Web chairman, Joe New York, as public information chief at following behind Vecchione, has been doing the New York Stock Exchange and the American troops splendid work in sprucing up New York Botanical Garden, as an as they liberated our Web site and providing author and as an active participant in a that country. He lots of new features. One of number of journalistic organizations. was responsible Nowadays, he’s showing some of his for all the news those is a report on interest- The oldest member of the Society of the Silurians, 98 years. His step is a bit slower, his and propaganda George B. Bookman ing achievements by our memory not as keen as it once was in the forward members — books, major (whose is?), and his hearing is not as good area as the Allied troops advanced and to someone who was. George gave them articles, promotions, etc. If as he would like. But his mind is sharp, the Germans retreated. to his parents’ long-time housekeeper, you have any such tidbits – his sense of humor is always evident, and After two and a half years overseas, who was thrilled with the gift. plus any new ideas for the his genial nature is still as enviable as ever. he was granted home leave, the highlight After he and Janet bought a Revolu- Send George an email, and you’ll get a of which was his marriage in December tionary-era house in Millbrook, NY, ad- Web site – send them to him reply within the hour. And he’s still the 1944 to Janet Schrank Madison, who was joining a sprawling arboretum owned by at [email protected] He’s news junkie he’s been most of his life. to be his bride of 57 years before her death the New York Botanical Garden, George been working with our great Until very recently, he was present at in 2002. Janet had a stint as a Washington received a job offer he couldn’t refuse – webmaster, Fred Herzog. most Silurian luncheons and dinners. And reporter for the United Press. They had heading public affairs at the Garden, Bernie Kirsch, after an aus- it was a treasured presence, especially two children; the first, a daughter, arrived which involved spending two days a week picious start with his first because he was often accompanied by while George was back overseas, in Aus- at the arboretum. So he left the bulls and Ruth Bowman, his lady love for the last tria. Even though the war in Europe was bears of Wall Street for a more bucolic two issues as editor of the decade. He also over, he couldn’t setting. Among other achievements there, Silurian News, is hard at has a distinction get back to see he broadcast a program on gardening that work on the next one, which that many of his A lifetime of journalism, her until she was ran on WCBS radio for two years. will appear in time for friends — in- nearly three Then in 1979, the NYSE asked him to our Awards Dinner on cluding this from the U.S. News to the months old. He help out again, and George decided to cre- Wednesday, May 22. He wel- writer — can at- and Janet then ate his own consulting business, with other test to and envy. Botanical Gardens. had a son, clients, including the Dreyfus Corp., Time comes ideas for future ar- They’ve never and George now Inc., the Business Roundtable and the U.S. ticles as well. He’s at heard a negative also has four Dept. of Energy. He remained busier than [email protected] word expressed about him. He has le- grandchildren and five great-grand- ever, at an age when many of his contem- I can’t repeat too often gions of devoted admirers. children. poraries were retiring, and he continued that one of the most impor- George showed his talent early on. The Post offered George his old job working until he was nearly 86. tant services of our society Following graduation from Haverford as back — but only at his old salary even He has also maintained his love for a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1936, though he now had a family and it was the news business, having been active in is the one provided by our George sold a lengthy magazine article four years later. So he went back to David a number of journalistic organizations in Contingency Fund. It stands titled “Life Begins at Graduation” to the Lawrence’s magazine and later moved to addition to the Silurians. He served as ready to give financial help Ladies Home Journal. It appeared while Time’s Washington bureau. Next came president of the Deadline Club (the New to members who may have he working at The Villager, a Greenwich Fortune’s board of editors in New York, York chapter of the Society of Profes- fallen on hard times. Re- Village weekly, where, in addition to writ- and when that proved a bit dull, he went sional Journalists); headed the Admis- quests for assistance are ing and editing news, he sold ads. After a to Wall Street in 1962 as public relations sions Committee of the Overseas Press year there, he created, together with two chief of the New York Stock Exchange. Club for many years, and appeared in the held in strictest confidence equally young friends, an “ultra-progres- At the NYSE, George won the respect Financial Follies show of the New York and can be relayed to me, sive” newsletter for students and then of a bunch of often-cynical Wall Street Financial Writers’ Association, among [email protected], started a newspaper feature service, reporters, who found him trustworthy and other activities. “I like the company of or to committee chairman which ran out of money after a few knowledgeable. He helped the exchange other news people,” he told me recently. Larry Friedman at months. Next came a stint with the president Keith Funston popularize the slo- In addition to writing hundreds of [email protected]. McClure’s Syndicate. gan “Own Your Share of American Busi- newspaper and magazine articles, His big break came in 1939 when ness,” which attracted a new generation speeches, broadcasts and reports, George We’ve also been adding David Lawrence, the columnist and of investors to the stock market. wrote his autobiography, “Headlines, some distinguished new magazine publisher, hired him as a cub Along his journalistic path, George met Deadlines and Lifelines,” largely at the members. You can see the reporter for U.S News to cover a num- and interviewed some of the world’s most urging of his children. It was published listing elsewhere in this is- ber of New Deal government agencies, famous people. Among them, Franklin and four years ago and is filled with personal sue. But we’re still on the particularly those involved with the Eleanor Roosevelt, the Shah of Iran, the letters to and from his wife dating back look-out for more. The re- economy. He then moved to The Wash- Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Nelson to his World War II days, and to his par- ington Post, where he covered the White Rockefeller, Ludwig Erhard, Wild Bill ents even before that. It’s a fascinating quirement is 12 years in House among other assignments. With Donovan, Jimmy Hoffa, Jean Monnet, account of a remarkable life. journalism. An application World War II looming, he joined what William McChesney Martin and Pope Pius “The book,” he explained, “has blank can be downloaded later became the Office of War Infor- X11, to name a few. When the Pope of- been written for personal reasons, not from our Web site. mation, with a recommendation from fered him rosary beads he had to become a New York Times best- – Myron Kandel President Roosevelt’s press secretary blessed, and George said he was not a seller, but if that should happen, I could Steve Early that supported his desire to Catholic, the Pope suggested he give them live with it.” MARCH 2013 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 3 When Anchors Are Weighed Down by Facts BY MERVIN BLOCK — and more interesting. “overnight.” In fact, Reuters Q. After you ran across an anchor’s had moved a story the day ’ve obtained an interview with the mistake, did you talk to the anchor and before at 2:47 p.m. ET; author of a new book about an- get his side of the story, his explanation, Reuters said the attack had Ichors’ bloopers and blunders: me. for what went wrong? begun around 10 a.m., ET. But is it proper for me to interview my- A. No. That was 32 hours before the self about my book? Of course. I, me and Q. Why not? anchor called it an “over- yours truly are all of one mind. No con- A. I had the goods — really, the bads night” attack. That’s why I flict. The title of my book is “Weighing — on him. What would the anchor tell called that account “The Anchors: When Network Newscasters me, assuming I could get him (or her) on Overnight Life of Brian.” Don’t Know Write from Wrong.” the phone? Would the anchor say, “I never Another irregularity also Q. What does the book say about an- wrote that”? I would have asked, ”Well, sticks in my mind: an ABC chors? why did you read it on the air? You’re the correspondent was anchoring A. Plenty. It documents deceptions, dis- managing editor of the newscast. And “World News.” The fill-in tortions and delinquencies. you’re responsible for every word uttered anchor, Jake Tapper, whose Q. How did you come to write the on your newscast.” So why talk to an- regular day job was cover- book? chors before using their names? Say, do ing the White House, began A. I kept hearing anchors making mis- movie and theater critics phone actors a story this way: “We’re takes, some serious, some startling, some before lambasting them in a review? learning more tonight about apparently deliberate — like fiddling with Q. How did you proceed? an unusual story of survival facts. I figured the mistakes would add A. After I collected a fistful of faulty in Wisconsin.” But the story up to a good read. scripts, I’d try to find a theme, then write of the man who slipped in waist-high snow language — which they do night after Over the years, I’ve read a lot about an article for my Web site. After a while, and was buried under snow for several night — thank goodness there’s Merv anchors’ wardrobes, their hairdos, and it occurred to me that I had the makings hours had occurred earlier — more than Block to perform the autopsy. No one has their delivery. Yet rarely about what they of a book. When I assembled all the ar- four and a half days earlier. Tapper didn’t a better ear or sharper pencil than Merv deliver. I poked around on the Internet, ticles, I reorganized the material, tried to tell us when the accident happened, the Block. He’s a one-man quality control de- but I couldn’t find any article or book that sharpen it and added a lot of new mate- man’s age, occupation or even the name partment for the broadcast news busi- examined scripts delivered by network rial. of his town. ness. His wise and witty dissections of anchors. Some faulty scripts are written Q. What were some of the most com- A section of my book about a CBS an- TV’s highest-paid poobahs and their ver- by anchors, and some are written by staff mon problems in the scripts? chor is titled “When Exclusive News is Not bal blunders are both hilarious and ap- writers. There’s no way for an outsider A. Inaccuracies, grammatical errors — Exclusive — and Not Even News.” No won- palling. After reading his collection of to know who wrote what. You might call mangling and strangling language — and der I call one section, “Alas, Poor Couric.” spot-on critiques, you’ll never watch TV it a scriptease. carelessness with the truth. In many such I also write about anchors at CNN. news the same way again.” Q. How did you go about your project? cases, exaggerated efforts to use “tonight” One head reads: “Blitzer Cries Wolf.” And I didn’t know Robert Feder; now I A. I listened to the networks’ evening even when the story broke many hours I write about a CNN anchor who’s also a think the world of him. newscasts. When I heard something that earlier, even the previous day. Although I “60 Minutes” correspondent, Anderson As for the anchors, they all have their was wrong or questionable, I noted it on did identify the culprits in my book, I hesi- Cooper. He almost automatically intro- strengths. But to borrow from the Book of a clipboard. I didn’t just hear newscasts; tate to mention them here. After all, I try duces his CNN newscast by saying, “Hap- Daniel and the Book of Block, the anchors I listened. In a day or so after noting a to focus on the sin, not the sinner. You pening now.” Or “Breaking news.” Usu- have been weighed and found wanting. boo-boo, I’d visit a database (Factiva or know the names: the evening stars, who ally, the story is neither. And he often says, LexisNexis) and check a transcript of the don’t always shine. “Keeping them honest” — but doesn’t Mervin Block wrote news for Walter newscast in question. And I kept at it. Here’s one misrepresentation: On a identify them. Honestly. Cronkite on the CBS Evening News, for I started by writing articles for my Web 6:30 p.m. newscast, an anchor said there Q. What do you think of your book — Frank Reynolds on the ABC Evening site (mervinblock.com). At the outset, I was news “tonight” that an attack on a honestly? News, and freelanced at NBC News. Block didn’t identify any culprits. No names, no prison in Iraq had occurred at sundown. A. I’m not a disinterested party, so taught broadcast news writing part-time blames. But a friend urged me to use The sundown was in Iraq, but never mind. please let me quote Robert Feder, the at Columbia’s journalism school for more names (though not his). So I began using On the next night in Manhattan, 24 hours media critic of TimeOutChicago: than 30 years. He’s a former Chicago names, and my articles seemed stronger later, that anchor said the attack occurred “When network anchors murder the newspaper reporter. Eye-Openers Are Not an Exact Science BY BEN PATRUSKY navigable. It being the rainy season, and the catalyst, over the years, for a the constant downpour made the plethora of wonderfully surprising and cience writers, like scientists, oc ordeal all the more onerous. The enriching reveals. casionally have “eureka” mo- collection effort took several miser- The second “aha” (OMG or WTF Sments of their own. For this sci- able weeks to complete. might be even more appropriate, given the ence writer, two spring to mind, each a Done at last, he made his way circumstance) came years later, when, personal game-changer. home, but not before a stop in Lon- now a fulltime freelancer, I was a fre- The first came in the in the mid-‘60s don, there to deliver his cargo for quent contributor to a magazine that spe- when, as the research reporter for the analysis by another member of the cialized in long-form narratives about sci- American Heart Association, I spent international medical-forensics team, entific exploration. In this instance, I was much of my time roving the nation’s labs a world-renowned toxicologist. The reporting on efforts to tease out details of for features on what investigators were vials had been packed in a carrying the molecular choreography that allows up to. What I wrote, for the most part, case tailor-made for the task. genes to have their proper say. It was an were procedurals, process-en-route-to- Boarding the airport shuttle to the intensely competitive pursuit, as is most discovery stories. I had come to an insti- city, my sleep-deprived host handed front-line research. Among the string of tution affiliated with Case Western Re- the case to the driver for storage in investigators I had arranged to interview serve University to report on efforts to the bus’ luggage compartment. Dis- were two at separate institutions, each the better define the rudiments of kidney embarking at the city terminal, he leader of a research team that had, using function as prelude to the development watched as bags were unloaded. different experimental schemes, indepen- of new disease therapies. Interview The carrying case never appeared. dently solved a major chunk of the puzzle, concluded, my host removed my overcoat Scotland Yard was alerted. A wide- an achievement of seminal consequence. from a hook on his office door. Beneath spread search ensued. The samples One of the two was widely celebrated the coat, tacked to the door, lay what were never recovered. Days later, (let’s call him Dr. Palmer) and far more looked to be a map, crudely penciled, on A depiction of Archimedes Eureka moment. and just weeks before my interview, senior than the up-and-comer heading the sketch paper. ies in what is now Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia a dejected but stalwart Hall had no op- other team (designated here as Dr. Dou- As we said our goodbyes – and more and Herzegovinia. There was reason to tion but to return and repeat the laborious glas). The record shows, indisputably, that out of courtesy than curiosity, thinking it think the culprit was a river-borne agent. collection process. Palmer and his group were the first to a child’s doodle – I asked about the draw- For one, individuals of the same ethnic I wrote not the basic kidney story but publish on the discovery, beating the Dou- ing. “That’s Yugoslavia,” he said. “Why stock dwelling in mountain hamlets above of the unexpected hazards of research glas group to the punch by a few weeks. Yugoslavia?” “Long story,” he said. the river were malady-free. and the trials and tribulations of a dedi- In science, priority — being first — is the “Want to tell me?” Reluctant at first, he My host had traveled to the besieged cated man of science. It received very big enchilada; from such spring prizes, soon relented. area to oversee the collection of urine wide play. And thus was born a serial grants and tenure. As a renal specialist, he had been re- specimens from ailing villagers and, sub- peripheralist. From then on, a deliberate After interviewing Palmer about the cruited to investigate a chronic kidney sequently, from healthy mountain dwell- visual sweep of the margins of my labors that underlay his team’s success, I malady that had affected inhabitants of ers, who were to serve as “controls.” The interviewee’s office/lab surround and the moved on to Douglas’s lab. There, I briefly small, discrete communities situated along roads were primitive; those to the higher serendipitous search for any unusual “ar- recounted to Douglas what I had learned the Danube River and its major tributar- elevations perilously steep and barely tifact” became routine practice for me, Continued on Page 6 PAGE 4 SILURIAN NEWS MARCH 2013 A Roundtrip, From Artist to Journalist to Artist Continued from Page 1 from Mutual Radio told me that a pro- known for painting stripes, insisted I paint ducer was looking for a woman to report nothing but stripes on huge canvases — on it. Now that was interesting! I called not that I have anything against stripes the producer and was given a chance to — but I didn’t want to spend the rest of write a couple of 3:30 second reports on my life laying down and ripping up mask- the movement’s key issues, then go to the ing tape. And I was too ambitious to want studio and record them. I wrote one on to pursue an aesthetic that would be dis- the use of the term “Ms.,” another on the missed as passé or irrelevant by critics concept of equal pay for equal work. and historians. I needed a new direction. Three days later, he called back to say, Opportunity came from a surprising “A, you can write; B, you have a voice, event. A friend, whose portrait I had and C, you’ve got the job.” painted, invited me to draw cartoons that A few weeks later, an activist I’d in- were filmed for an arts conference held terviewed for the radio reports called to in Washington’s Mayflower Hotel. Then- say that she’d just learned that WWDC F.C.C. Commissioner Nicholas Johnson was looking for its first full-time woman spoke there about his new book, “How to news reporter. “You should apply for that Talk Back to Your Television Set,” the the- job,” she said. “But I’ve never taken a sis of which was, if you don’t like what journalism course.” “What the hell do you you see in television, don’t just sit there think you’re doing?” and complain about it; come up with a Thus began a wonderful 20-year run better idea and pitch it to the program di- as a radio and television news reporter, rectors of your local stations. These are sometime anchor and host, filled with the the public airways, he explained, and you joy of learning, while earning far more should have a say in how they are used. money than I’d ever dreamed possible. I took the book and inhaled Johnson’s There was no time for art, except once. words. Julia Child was teaching French In 1977, assigned to cover the courts for cooking on television, so I decided to teach WJLA-TV in Washington, I sat through art on TV, and spent the summer reading a big trial with an artist who wasn’t very every book I could find on television pro- good. I told my boss that I could do the duction. Fortunately, there weren’t many, sketches far better. And so I became the so I quickly moved on to assembling a only television news reporter ever to do portfolio of projects that could be taught her own courtroom sketches. on TV. Two of Washington’s five local I retired from television at the end of program directors gave me a chance to the 1980’s, when I married the president audition. One immediately hired me to of a major corporation, who lost his job Betsy Ashton: A Self-Portrait. do a weekly segment on WTTG-TV’s shortly thereafter. He soon convinced me sibly make enough money to survive and Long Island City. After painting a lot of daytime “Panorama” program. (It had to go with him to Antigua to restore his thrive in my dotage. Kinstler agreed to folks for free to build up a portfolio of three hosts, one of whom was Maury old plantation house. That sounded at- become my mentor, directing my study sample work, I am now — thank God — Povich.) I earned $50 a week. tractive. And so I restored a house and throughout a two-year tune up that in- getting paid. I did Myron Kandel as one President Nixon, followed by a bored gardens, traveled a great deal, and wrote volved winning scholarships and study- of my samples, and was invited to paint Washington press corps, spoke at that con- an (unpublished) novel and memoir. ing full-time at the National Academy Hal Holbrook for the Players’ collection ference. I found the reporters far more Twenty years later, an unplanned divorce School of Fine Arts and the Art Students’ (it’s at the top of the stairs on the second interesting than Nixon’s speech and got necessitated a return to work. But what League. What a thrill to find realism alive floor). It hasn’t been easy launching a into a hallway conversation with them. work? The networks weren’t hiring 60- and thriving amid the finest workshops luxury product at a time of deep reces- The conversation got around to the emerg- year-old women who had been out of the and instruction in the country. I joined sion, but I’ve found work. You can see ing women’s movement, and someone business for 20 years. And writing - at the Portrait Society of America and the my paintings on my Web site at least my writing - did not provide much National Arts Club and Salmagundi Clubs. www.ashtonportraits.com. income. Age was, thankfully, not an impediment. Right now, I’m painting a portrait of a Society of the Silurians Quite by accident, I ran into Everett Kinstler was, and still is, painting in his former U.S. Ambassador to the Court of Officers 2013-2014 Raymond Kinstler, who had painted my 80’s. Aaron Shikler, who painted St. James that will hang in the U.S. Em- then-husband’s portrait as well as seven Kennedy’s portrait, is 90 and still paint- bassy in London. My work will be hang- President MYRON KANDEL U.S. Presidents and hundreds of dignitar- ing. To them, I’m a kid. ing next to Gilbert Stuart’s John Adams First Vice-President ies. Hmm! Maybe I could go back to Four years ago, I set up my own stu- and George Washington. Not too bad for ALAN DODDS FRANK painting people, do what I love, and pos- dio next to the Silvercup Film Studios in starting over at 60. Second Vice-President BETSY ASHTON Treasurer MORT SHEINMAN The Memoirist: A Journalist With Creative License Secretary Continued from Page 1 of man and nature, storm and LINDA AMSTER the material that is his or her story, his or war, divorce and murder, elec- Board of Governors IRA BERKOW her truth. tion and firing squad, the glory BILL DIEHL The good journalist never invents de- of science, the squalor and tri- GERALD ESKENAZI RICKI FULMAN tails, tempting though it might be. The mem- umph of commerce. LINDA GOETZ HOLMES oir writer may sometimes tell you the color As memoir writers our work BERNARD KIRSCH ENID NEMY of the curtains or report on the fading of is to mine our own stories for MAX NICHOLS the sun when those facts may or may not both the truth of our private ex- BEN PATRUSKY KAREN BEDROSIAN- be correct. Details are needed so the periences, the moral implications RICHARDSON reader can more easily enter the story and for others, and to explore the ter- JOAN SIEGEL JOSEPH J. VECCHIONE sometimes the little details are written to rain of the private on the as- capture emotion rather than reality. sumption that there is nothing Governors Emeritus GARY PAUL GATES The journalist is not allowed those small unique under the sun and we HERBERT HADAD ROBERT D. McFADDEN leaps of imagination. The memoir writer need each other’s most intimate LEO MEINDL needs them because the emotions of the tales to learn how better to sur- Committee Chairpersons story are crucial to the endeavor. Of vive our own journeys. Advisory course the facts should be true but a small Also memoir writers, unlike TONY GUIDA allowance is made at the edge of the our finest journalists, are often Dinner bedside of a dying father. For instance, out for revenge against the MORT SHEINMAN it is possible to describe, by the oxygen crimes of neglectful parents, Legal KEN FISHER tent, a cup of coffee turning cold, when cruel twists of fate, death itself. the author is not fully sure that the coffee Memoir writers recognize Job, Membership MORT SHEINMAN was cold or was there in the first place. calling out God for his lack of Nominating The memoir writer will not fabricate the justice, as a colleague in good BEN PATRUSKY pain of the moment. The good journalist standing. The journalist is more Silurian Contingency Fund Trustees will not describe the unknown or un- like a spelunker down in the LARRY FRIEDMAN, CHAIR caves. It’s risky business and NAT BRANDT knowable, or invent the convenient tell- JOY COOK ing detail. you better get your footing MARK LIEBERMAN right but your eye is on the out- Anne Roiphe: The memoirist has no fact checker. MARTIN J. STEADMAN As journalists our responsibility to our readers is to add to the depth of their side, no time for dreaming. service of both disciplines. But we know Silurian News BERNARD KIRSCH, EDITOR understanding of the world we all inhabit. Many of us are both journalists and the difference the way the sailor knows It is to report on political, calamitous ways memoir writers. We use our tools in the his ropes. MARCH 2013 SILURIAN NEWS PAGE 5

if it’s wrong. But if we have a group Steinem: that really repre- Members sents humanity as it exists, we are much in the News An Evening more likely to have a full range of alter- natives.” Gerry Eskenazi had an of Honors Explaining that article on the Opinion page of she was honored to The Wall Street Journal (Jan. BY BILL DIEHL receive the award, 22) about the regard Brooklyn Steinem remarked playfully, “First of fans had for the late Stan loria Steinem received the Musial. Silurians Lifetime Achieve all, it’s for a lifetime, ment Award at a gala dinner which in my case is G was honored at The Players on Dec. 4. President now 78, a reminder Linda Holmes Myron Kandel presented her with a of age and immor- by the Shelter Island town plaque inscribed, “In recognition of a life- tality which I defi- board when they proclaimed time of excellence as a writer, editor, femi- nitely need, be- Dec. 27, 2012, “Linda G. cause I have a nist, and activist, whose advocacy for Photo by Mort Sheinman Holmes Day in the Town of deep conviction Gloria Steinem is still fighting for the revolution. gender equality has placed her in the pan- Shelter Island.” The honor was theon of civil libertarians everywhere.” that I’m immortal. And this causes me nalist here. She would have loved so Steinem was introduced by Tony to plan poorly. Actually I did have another much to be in your company.” in recognition of her eight Guida, who noted that “Gloria has always reminder recently when I was campaign- Steinem went on to talk about the “Top years of service on the Suffolk defined feminism as a revolution, not a ing [for Obama]. I was on television a lot 10” reasons she loves journalism. Jour- County Planning Commission, reform. And we all know that revolutions and I was trending on twitter, and people nalism, she began, is a portable profes- Town Planning Board, Chair of don’t succeed overnight. Sometimes they thought I was dead, because why else sion, because you can do it almost every- the Town Drug Abuse Preven- don’t succeed for years. Sometimes, I would I be trending on twitter.” where. “I once interviewed circus people tion Council and several other guess, they don’t succeed at all. And sadly “What stirs me up,” Steinem contin- who told me that the sword swallower is sexism is still rampant in this culture.” ued, “is the memory of my mother, who, the most revered person in the circus committees over the years. Guida, the Silurians former president, when I was very little, began to show me world because he, or she, doesn’t need a quoted a remark that Steinem made in how to take a piece of typing paper, fold high wire or elephants or even a tent,” Evan Wiener’s new e-book, 1962 in an article she had written for Es- it into threes, so it was in columns. You she said. “The sword swallower can work “America’s Passion: How a Coal quire: “I’ve never heard a man ask for could hold it in your hand like a reporter’s wherever it’s possible to attract a crowd. Miner’s Game Became the NFL advice on how to manage a career and notebook, because there were no such And I think the same is true of us and in the 20th Century,” about the marriage.” Her comments were prescient things manufactured at the time. And in- even more so now that technology has since a year later, Betty Friedan published deed when she tried to be a journalist her made it possible for us to put words down origins of professional football her groundbreaking manifesto, “The Femi- very first writing had to be under a man’s in different places.” in the coal mining country nine Mystique.” name, otherwise she couldn’t be pub- As Steinem continued to enumerate of western Pennsylvania, Now, 50 years later, Gloria Steinem has lished. So I suspect that like many women her top 10, she said, “Writing allows you came out recently on not lost a step in fighting for the revolution. now, I am living out the unlived life of my to say what you wished you’d said on the smashwords.com and can be “This world of ours has always been ruled mother. And this is a huge step forward. spot. For instance, the other day I spent purchased for $2.99 by men and what a mess we have made “We should be proud of this, but it’s three hours waiting on the tarmac in a of it,” she told the audience. “It isn’t that also true that we need to move forward plane and finally the pilot offered a movie women are going to do a better job looking to a time when parents live out their own to pacify us. And the young man next to Polly Guérin has recently after this world, if we do it by ourselves. dreams. And children don’t feel that they me said ‘I don’t watch chick flicks.’ I had published “The Cooper- No, it’s because we understand now that have to carry on in order to make up for don’t know if I could have challenged him Hewitt Dynasty of New York,” if a group of men make a decision by them- lost talents and lost lives. I think however on the spot but when I went home I a story of wealth and generos- selves, they are more likely to choose the that the reason I’m really moved by this thought, how about prick flicks! For all ity, politics and integrity and most aggressive solution, even if it’s wrong. [award] is the big one—how much my the movies that have glorified World War And a group of women are more likely to mother would have loved it. She wanted II as the last time we could be both vio- family and community that un- choose the most conciliatory solution, even so much to come to New York, be a jour- Continued on Page 6 folded in New York.

Silurians Member A Story of Capture and Escape BLOGS BY HERBERT HADAD • Arlene’s Scratch Paper: a blog of her writing, photog- ulitzer Prize-winning reporter and raphy and random musings by columnist David Rohde told more Arlene Schulman Pthan 90 guests at the monthly Silurian luncheon on Jan. 17 a riveting • Grossblogger – The only account of his capture by the Taliban in blog you’ll ever need by Lewis Afghanistan in November 2008 and his Grossberger escape, seven months later, in June 2009. While co-chief of The New York Times • Novelist Online Onpaper by South Asia bureau, Rohde arranged a Kenneth Crowe meeting with a Taliban commander. “What frankly convinced me to go…was • PollyTalk From New York by the competition,” he said in his remark- Polly Guerin ably unassuming manner. “He was not there, a car blocked the road, there were • The Media Beat – a multi- gunmen, rifles. It’s amazing how fast a media commentary by David situation can change.” Tereshchuk They had conspiracy theories that he was a spy. “We will send a blood mes- P.S. Please mark sage to Obama,” they told him. Photo by Mort Sheinman Rohde, now 45 and a Reuters colum- For David Rohde, being held captive twice was enough; he is now a columnist. the following in your nist, was ultimately able to speak with his photo editor for Cosmopolitan, wrote the as a Times reporter, was shared for cov- 2013 calendar: captors. They called me a “golden hen” book “A Rope and a Prayer: A Kidnap- erage of America’s deepening involve- • Luncheons: March 21, for the ransom he might bring. He was ping From Two Sides,” He is now at work ments in Afghanistan and Pakistan. not beaten, he was given bottled water, on another book, “Beyond War: I had interviewed Terry Anderson of April 18 – both Thursdays he grew a beard, he taught them to sing Reimagining American Influence in a New the AP for The New York Times after Awards Dinner: “New York, New York.” Middle East.” his seven years as a prisoner of terror- Rohde and a local reporter, who had Fate in a way had prepared Rohde for ists in Lebanon and asked him what kept Wednesday, May 22 been abducted with him, were able to es- his tribulations. As a Christian Science him strong. He said he thought about his Players Club cape by climbing over a wall of the com- Monitor reporter in 1995, he witnessed the young daughter. Rohde, married for just 16 Gramercy Park South pound where they were being held. He aftermath of the Srebrenica massacre of two months when he was seized, was (East 20th St between told of how The Times and other media Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs but asked the same question after his talk. kept the kidnapping quiet out of concern was secretly arrested and held for 10 ”I thought of my wife,” he said. “My job Park Ave S. and Third Ave) for the men’s safety. days. His coverage brought his first was to keep alive, to give her the life she New York City Rohde and his wife, Kristen Mulvihill, Pulitzer Prize, in 1996. The second, in 2009 deserved.” PAGE 6 SILURIAN NEWS MARCH 2013 2012Steinem: 2012 An Evening of Honors All the Words Fit to Print Continued from Page 5 had to find a son-in-law, and it was just BY GERALD ESKENAZI paper in the city had approached that f- lent and right, I now understand that we fascinating how long this list was. Now word. Newsday wrote that The Times have spent more money making films and we see that [wealthy] women are re- huck Ramsey, the New York altered the quote. television series about World War II than belling against [supporting their hus- Jets’ punter, was crying. It was That embarrassed the powers at my pa- we spent on World War II. And all these bands] and instead giving millions to the first time I had ever seen an per, and an edict came down from on high: shoot-‘em-ups, with no dialogue to trans- women’s groups. C N.F.L. player in tears. Never again is a quote to be altered for late, and more interest in death than life, Steinem is still active as a feminist “What’s wrong, Chuck,” I asked af- any reason. You can use brackets to show and [featuring] women, usually younger, and reformer. Several years ago she ter the Jets had lost a Monday night foot- that a word has been changed, but not ac- and less clothed than men, is often more founded the Women’s Media Center ball game in Seattle. “Was it that punt tually change a quote directly. appealing. So if I am guided by chick with Robin Morgan and Jane Fonda to they blocked?” I mentioned that edict to Ramsey later flicks, why not guide fans toward prick make women more visible and powerful “How would you feel,” the kicker that week. flicks, don’t you think?” in the media and to provide a level play- asked, “if the coach said to the entire team, Some years later I was at a game in Moving to another topic on her list, ing field for men and women journalists. ‘I can fart farther than you can punt?’” Nashville, with the Jets playing an exhi- Steinem cited an editorial meeting she “We are beginning to see that there’s no How, indeed? bition. Ramsey had been retired, but I once had at Ms magazine, which she co- such thing as women’s issues and men’s Now, my problem was how to get that happened to spot him at the players’ en- founded in 1972 with Letty Pogrebin. “We issues,” she continued. “We have the quote of a lifetime into The New York trance, where he was visiting old friends. were looking,” she said “for all the women power to change consciousness, change Times. I failed. “Hey, Jerry,” he called. “Over here. I who had slept their way to wealth and language. How great is that. So I hope The Times, that paper of record, was also want you to meet someone.” He intro- power. . . and we found women who had that we stick together and provide a com- the Old Gray Lady. Its style book was writ- duced me to a friend. slept their way — to a nice house and munity for each other, supporting this kind ten in stone, like ancient commandments. “This is the guy,” he said to his friend, charge cards. But those who slept their of exploration and purpose. I’m very, Its mission, among many others, was never as he held my hand, “who made me fa- way to real power were sons-in-law. And very proud to be in this room and I hope to offend — even on the sports pages. mous in The New York Times. They then we made a list of families that had that this is just the beginning of any sub- Thus, on my first horse-racing assign- have a rule about me there.” the disaster of not having a son, so they versive organizing cells.” ment at Aqueduct, a helpful editor told I felt good for Chuck. Glad he could me, “Remember, you can’t say a horse laugh about that odious moment. Still, came from behind in the stretch.” I won- some part of me wishes I could have Eye-Openers Are Not an Exact Science dered, Is there some editor in an ivory made history at the paper. Continued from Page 3 a description of Palmer’s and Douglas’s tower on West 43d Street looking for dirty Puck? What Puck? from Palmer. I then invited Douglas to parallel investigations. Being in no posi- words or double-entendres? And meanwhile, here was what was elaborate on his group’s work, only to be tion to referee scientific squabbles and in Soon after my immaculate debut at Aq- happening at the Daily News. Mort startled by what followed. No sooner had the absence of unimpeachable proof, I ueduct, I covered the Preakness, the sec- Sheinman recalled that, in the late 1950’s, he begun than he hesitated and of a sud- had little choice but to stay away from ond jewel in the Triple Crown of racing. The when he was a clerk in the sports depart- den began to weep. After a while, gath- Douglas’ allegation. But because I be- huge infield was packed with thousands of ment there, there was a also directive ering himself, he said, “What he told you lieved Douglas, I had him “reporting” his fans, so many that management needed to discouraging the use of the word “puck” is just not true” and, a beat later, added, findings first (technically true, if you have portable toilets for them. So I dutifully in reports of hockey games. “He already has it all, he didn’t have to count his oral presentation at Palmer’s described the “Port-a-Potties,” as they were From Mort: “The hard round object do what he did.” He then proceeded to institution) and Palmer “publishing” first called. In fact, they were trademarked. the skaters kept banging with their sticks tell me his version of the discovery story. (also true), a subtle but, to my mind and No way. All references to portable toi- was generally referred to as ‘the rubber,’ According to Douglas, he had been to the knowledgeable readers of the lets were wiped clean. or ‘the disk.’ At the same time, the Yan- invited to give a talk about his team’s ef- magazine, a significant distinction. Dirt, or words that sounded like dirt, kees had a pitcher named Johnny Kucks. fort to researchers at Palmer’s institution. It was the policy of the magazine to seemed to be a no-no at The Times. I That’s how he’s listed in the Baseball Douglas was in a quandary. He under- give scientists whose work was cited an once asked Muhammad Ali whether he Encyclopedia, but in our shop, he was stood that he was entering a rival’s lair; opportunity to review the manuscripts, but enjoyed Southern cooking. known as Johnny Disks.” that the Palmer’s group was tackling the only for scientific accuracy. It didn’t take “Does a pig like slop?” he replied, rhe- same piece of the puzzle. He had con- long for Palmer to call my editor and take torically. “Slop” is a southern locution for cerns about disclosing in full measure as- issue with the reporting/publishing se- food fed to farm animals. But I guess it New Members Daniel Day: Twenty-one years with the AP, bureau chief yet unpublished data that had led his team quence. He claimed that Douglas’ rec- has some other nasty connotations. The in Omaha, Seattle and San Francisco; now director of to its solution. Not knowing where the ollections were off and that he had got- quote was killed. news and editorial services at Princeton University.

Palmer group stood in its hunt, Douglas ten the timing all wrong, owing perhaps There were many other no-nos at the Richard Esposito: Senior investigative reporter and worried about giving away too much. to major stresses in Douglas’ personal paper. When Catholic schools played George Polk Award winner at ABC News, Pulitzer Prize-winner at New York Newsday and a former Maybe he should hold back some essen- life. And since I hadn’t been an eyewit- each other, certain verbs could never be Daily News editor. tial details until the results were in print. ness to the events, Palmer told my edi- used. For example, St. Cecilia could never Jane H. Furse: Formerly a reporter and writer at New Being first to publish new findings was tor, I was in no position to judge. In the “down” St. John’s. And of course, St. York Post, Daily News (for which she still freelances) and contributor to New York Times special sections. crucial, after all. end, my editor asked me to back off. John’s could never “top” St. Cecilia’s. Myron Farber: Investigative reporter at New York Times After deliberating with colleagues, To my everlasting regret, I did. And once, when I was en route to from 1966 to 1993, and since 2001 a consultant with the Douglas decided to bare all. Palmer was I must admit to having once been Madison Square Garden, my sports edi- Center for Oral History at Columbia University. too busy to attend Douglas’ formal pre- rather starry-eyed about science and its tor told me not to mention the word Clyde Haberman: With The New York Times since sentation. But, at Palmer’s behest, Dou- practitioners, but hardly a total naïf. I un- “puck” in a hockey story. Seems the 1977, as a metro reporter; City Hall bureau chief; foreign correspondent in Tokyo, Rome and Jerusalem; and col- glas did join Palmer in his office after derstood that donning a white coat didn’t printer’s union was in contract talks, and umnist. Winner of the Silurians’ Peter Kihss Award in 2008. the talk for a private briefing. suddenly transmogrify researchers into the linotypers could not be trusted. So I Julia Kagan: Award-winning editor who’s been an edi- A few weeks later the Palmer group’s angels. And I had been exposed in the used the word “frozen disk” and “hard tor and writer at many national magazines, including paper appeared. To Douglas’ dismay, it rubber disk” instead of “puck.” Ladies’ Home Journal, Back Stage, Consumer Reports, past to questionable behavior that gave McCall’s, Psychology Today and Working Woman. offered the exact same step-by-step de- me pause. But I had never been as im- Of course, those of us who work with Marsha Kranes: Former associate metro editor at New lineation of the intricate molecular minuet mediately and directly involved in any- words are delighted when we can invigo- York Post. and resultant construct that he had de- thing as shocking to me as this. If some- rate the language with a new phrase, or Frank Leonardo: Veteran New York Post photogra- pher, now with JE Photos, an online archive. scribed to Palmer and his colleagues dur- one of Palmer’s towering status could find an athlete who has a new way of ing his visit. But close examination of the saying something old and tired. Maralyn Matlick: Former Sunday editor of New York plagiarize as alleged and get away with Post and former deputy news editor of Daily News.

Palmer paper convinced Douglas that the it, perhaps a lot more scientific skulldug- I am grateful still to the old Mets man- Tim Metz: Financial writer, editor and columnist for data presented in it was nowhere near gery was afoot than I had imagined. ager, Wes Westrum, who remarked af- Wall Street Journal, now a principal in Metz Group, sufficient to arrive at or justify the paper’s Disillusioning as it was, the episode ter a close game, “Boy, that certainly was specializing in corporate and financial communications and media relations. stated solution. To Douglas, the paper’s proved highly instructive, serving as it did a cliff-dweller!” David Saltman: Veteran TV producer with CBS, CNN proposed solution was without question a to make me from then on a far warier, And Joe Gardi, a Jets assistant coach, is and CNBC; now head of Pinnacle Productions, pro- ducer of documentaries, films and books. clear rip-off of his team’s work, a case far more skeptical, more distrusting and in my pantheon of wordsmiths, because he of intellectual thievery, pure and simple. more vigilant – read savvier — science told me, when discussing the team’s prob- Paul Steiger: Executive chairman and first CEO and But Douglas had no way of proving lems, “We’ve got to nip it in the butt.” Per- editor-in-chief of Pro Publica, former managing editor writer, or so I’d like to think. of Wall Street Journal, and winner of a Lifetime Achieve- conclusively what he was alleging. And For the record: “Palmer” remains an haps so, but not in The New York Times. ment Award from the Silurians. he recognized that going public with such Olympian eminence. “Douglas,” having Which brings me back to Chuck Ramsey. Terri Thompson: Director of the Knight-Bagehof Fel- a charge, especially against so revered fig- elected to keep mum, went on to enjoy a After he told me that Coach Walt lowship in Economics and Business Journalism at Co- ure as Palmer without unassailable evi- distinguished research career of his own. Michaels had used the word “fart” I called lumbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. dence would almost certainly put an end As for my Cleveland kidney special- the paper. It was close to midnight in New to his — Douglas’ — career. But he ist: he and colleagues never succeeded York. I told them what I had. They told me In Memoriam deeply resented and despaired over hav- in getting to the root of the disease, now they’d call me back, that it needed a com- ing been cheated out of primary credit for dubbed Balkan endemic nephropathy; it mand decision. The response was fairly Thomas Liggett, 94 such a key discovery, was hard put to ex- remains something of a mystery to this quick—you can’t use the word, but you Ed Wergeles, 93 plain why a person of Palmer’s reputa- day. But he continued to find consider- can paraphrase it. So I dutifully quoted tion and accomplishment would commit able solace in the notion that the putative Ramsey as saying that Michaels had yelled such an unconscionable act, and was at thief had mistaken the purloined urine vi- “I can spit farther than you can punt.” Society of the Silurians a loss as to what to do about it. As was I. als for samples of a precious slivovitz. However, one of the tabloids in the city PO Box 1195, Madison Square Station I drafted a 7,000-word story that cov- Ben Patrusky is executive director actually used the real quote. And then New York, NY 10159 ered the research efforts of perhaps a of the not-for-profit Council for the Newsday, which had a media columnist 212.532.0887 www.silurians.org dozen investigators. The centerpiece was Advancement of Science Writing. then, wrote a big story about how every