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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Events / For a Good Time In Cambridge — Hendrik Hertzberg/Ta-Nehisi Coates Edition (reminder)

For a Good Time In Cambridge — Hendrik Hertzberg/Ta-Nehisi Coates Edition (reminder)

by | 65 Comments

This post is in: ,

Hey, all you Greater-Boston folk, a reminder:

Tonight at 7 at MIT, Ta-Nehisi Coates will talk to Hendrik Hertzberg about the state of opinion journalism…

Lesser_Ury_Im_Cafe_Bauer_1898

and the related matter of the debased (my word) state of American politics.

Location:  32-123, which translated out of MIT-speak, denotes the big first floor lecture hall in the Gehry-designed building known as the Stata Ctr., located at the corner of campus where Vassar St. hits Main. See this interactive map for details.

Ta-Nehisi, as most here know, is a blogger and senior editor at the Atlantic Monthly, writing about race, culture, politics, history, hip-hop, e-gaming, French language studies and anything else that comes to his notice.  Winner of the National Magazine Award for his essay “Fear of a Black President” he is also, to my great pleasure, my colleague in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies/Writing Program.  Hertzberg, senior editor and staff writer at The New Yorker led the New Republic won three NMAs, while taking home the hardware (is there any?) for his solo commentary at the home of the monocle and the top hat.  As I noted the first time I plugged this event, “he is one of those writers on whose work other writers take notes.  He takes writing very, very seriously — talking to one of Ta-Nehisi’s classes yesterday he let them know that the craft isn’t just hard for beginners, that he still sweats and agonizes over getting right with every single piece he publishes.

In other words — whether you want to know about the craft or the content of major-league political analysis, this should be a fun evening.

For those of you who cannot make your way to 02139 tonight, we will be recording the event, and though it may take a little bit, we’ll get the video up in reasonably short order.  I’ll let y’all know when and as that happens.

Image:  Lesser Ury, In the Cafe Bauer,  1898

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    Rebecca Skloot speaking here tonight.

    Take that, Levenson!

    Or, I see your TNC and Hertzberg and raise you a Skloot.

  5. 5.

    Tom Levenson

    @BGinCHI: Or, HeLa v. HeTa.

    Have fun.

    (PS — as you probably know, if your Skloot were a Smoot you’d have a unit of measure, and then we could talk raises and all that.)

  7. 7.

    pacem appellant

    OT, but for lack of a better place, and in need of snarky, yet friendly advice, I thought I’d ask about how (and if) to respond to a cranky wingnut relative on FB.

    This relative recently opined that Obamacare is going to cover pregnancy but not hip replacement surgery (she’s in her 60s). I don’t know if it’s worth engaging her, but is the correct response, a) yes, it does cover hip replacement surgery, too, b) it depends which plan you sign up for, c) aren’t you almost to medicare age, what are you whining about, anyway? d) you already have health insurance, why harp on youngun’s who might need prenatal care, e) cite your “sources”, please, f) some combination of the above, or g) crickets, since we’re under a family banner of truce right now, this might be seen as a breach of political decorum.

  10. 10.

    Belafon

    @pacem appellant: I would suggest a and b and provide evidence. You might also suggest that Obamacare isn’t covering any of this because what everyone signs up for is private health insurance; the ACA is dictating the minimum coverage and helping the poor with paying for it.

    Be civil, your audience isn’t necessarily your relative, it’s everyone else as well.

  11. 11.

    scav

    @pacem appellant: Did the founding fathers go all whimpy and have hip replacements? Well, did they or did they stand sturdily on their own creaky and broken hips like true Freedom loving patriots! Or, possibly, carve replacement sockets out of hickory wood with table-knives and install them their very own self without the benefit of numbing evil evil drrruuuuuggggs rather than whine for govt hand-out Obama-hips.

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @pacem appellant: It appears that the Dimbarts over at Breitbart (no link, fuck ’em) are suggesting that the medical devices tax will kill knee and hip replacements. Take it for what it is worth.

  14. 14.

    Belafon

    @scav: Well, Jefferson went to France a lot, probably to get his hip replacement there. He definitely wasn’t going to pay American prices.

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne

    @pacem appellant:

    If you’re supposed to be de-escalating hostilities, a neutral link to your proof that she’s wrong about hip replacements (maybe to the Healthcare.gov) with little additional commentary is probably your best bet.

  21. 21.

    Cermet

    Damn, damn and double that again! I was there just a few days ago and NOOOOO the talk wasn’t then! Damn! My luck – a day late for the one talk and three days too early for the other!

  23. 23.

    Joel

    Tom, glad you were able to get this scheduled between games 5 and 6 in the World Series. Smart thinking.

  25. 25.

    Yatsuno

    @Tom Levenson:

    Franklin too — and I understand a good time was had by all

    Witnessed, your achievement has been.

    Andover really is looking more and more attractive…

  27. 27.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @pacem appellant: I would go with “e.” Ask where she go the info. That gives you something with which to work if you want to do any of the other things. My guess is it is some version of medical devices tax panic I mentioned above,

  30. 30.

    pacem appellant

    @Belafon: That’s my concern about replying at all. My audience is that whole side of the family. But I don’t like the misinformation being out there. That’s what bugs me, otherwise smart people believing stupid things.

  31. 31.

    MikeJ

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It appears that the Dimbarts over at Breitbart (no link, fuck ‘em) are suggesting that the medical devices tax will kill knee and hip replacements.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/health/for-medical-tourists-simple-math.html

    Desperate to find an affordable solution, he reached out to a sailing buddy with friends at a medical device manufacturer, which arranged to provide his local hospital with an implant at what was described as the “list price” of $13,000, with no markup. But when the hospital’s finance office estimated that the hospital charges would run another $65,000, not including the surgeon’s fee, he knew he had to think outside the box, and outside the country.

    The medical device tax is 2.3%. That’s $299 tax on the $13,000 part in the linked article. I don’t think the $299 tax is going to be the problem in a $78,000 procedure.

  34. 34.

    catclub

    @MikeJ: There was a big article/ Terri Gross interview on hip and knee replacements – and the manufacturers. They are (no surprise) two and three times more expensive here versus other countries. Typically, the manufacturer’s rep is IN THE OPERATING ROOM, doing all he can to upsell the surgeon on the latest and greatest. Oy.

  35. 35.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @MikeJ: I know. Also, my mom had one a couple of years ago and paid a whole $150 in copays. Medicare and good supplemental policy.

  36. 36.

    Birthmarker

    Tom–I am reading your Newton book! I am enjoying it, though I am not far along yet.

    I got it from Oyster.com, which is like Netflix for books. I am paying a monthly flat fee ( $10) for access to all their titles, which I read on my device. Right in my wheelhouse!! (I hope this proves to be lucrative to the authors on the site!)

  38. 38.

    GregB

    I’m going to Boston College to watch Suzanne Somers debate Mindy from The Facts of Life.

    Looking forward to learning about what Winston Churchill had to say about Obamacare.

  39. 39.

    Belafon

    @pacem appellant: You should probably try Omnes Omnibus’s suggestion first. Thinking about it, I think there was a study that showed the best way to change someones mind was to get them to verify their information. When they hit a wall, then you can introduce your facts.

  40. 40.

    catclub

    @MikeJ: “he reached out to a sailing buddy with friends at a medical device manufacturer,”

    Ah, at least The NYT is covering the problems of upper ( very upper) middle class white people. No on else notices their problems.

  41. 41.

    Birthmarker

    @catclub: My first thought was, “Well, this will put libraries out of business…”

    I also download ebooks from the public library website, (free, of course) but they really don’t match the selection available on Oyster.

  42. 42.

    Ripley

    Looking forward to learning about what Winston Churchill had to say about Obamacare.

    “Good lord, there’s a an over-aged prostitute invoking my name?!”

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Belafon: I picked it up from trying to persuade a very stubborn, but very sharp, grandmother to change her mind. Ask questions. Plant a seed. And it would work, because no one pushed her, she got there herself.

  45. 45.

    MikeJ

    @catclub:

    Ah, at least The NYT is covering the problems of upper ( very upper) middle class white people. No on else notices their problems.

    And yet he still had to flee the country to get health care at a reasonable price. He was lucky enough to have the money to do it, but it did illustrate a real problem.

    The medical device tax isn’t what makes a procedure cost $78k in the US and $13k parts AND labor in Belgium.

  47. 47.

    SFAW

    @Tom Levenson:

    if your Skloot were a Smoot you’d have a unit of measure

    Beat me to it, ’cause I’m slow, but: if Ms. Skloot were kidnapped (in a friendly way, of course), to Bostbridge, we could determine whether the Hahvahd Bridge (so named for its shitty construction, no self-respecting Tech engineer would be associated with it) is, in fact, 364.4 Skloots plus 1 beer ear. Get the Lamb Chops to do the measuring, maybe as part of someone’s Course II thesis.

    Would love to be at the talk, but Mrs. SFAW wants me to go out to dinner with her, her boyfriend is out of town or something.

  48. 48.

    superfly

    Wait, Hendrik Hertzberg isn’t a 17th Century German philosopher? He’s a real person, now?

    Seriously, Hendrik Hertzberg and Ta-Nehisi Coates have the best names ever.

  49. 49.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @superfly:

    Wait, Hendrik Hertzberg isn’t a 17th Century German philosopher?

    Minor Dutch painter. Contemporary of Rembrandt. Specialized in frozen canalscapes.

  50. 50.

    SFAW

    @superfly:

    Seriously, Hendrik Hertzberg and Ta-Nehisi Coates have the best names ever.

    Well, after Raymond Luxury Yacht, they do.

    And Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F’tang-F’tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel.

  53. 53.

    superfly

    @SFAW:

    Those names are silly, and while I appreciate a silly name (and a silly walk), they do not top Hendrik Hertzberg and Ta-Nehisi Coates, these names are magisterial.

    The only name that tops Hendrik Hertzberg and Ta-Nehisi Coates is “Shola Ameobi” (striker, Newcastle United) when spoken by Sean Connery, there are no words… try it, imagine it, it’s transcendent…

  57. 57.

    SFAW

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    No, no, no. He was a midfielder on that great Dutch World Cup team in ’74.

    No, he was the founder of the Heartz Mountain pet food company.

    @superfly:

    Those names are silly,

    Actually, I thought Tarquin etc. was Very Silly, but that’s neither here nor there.

    @superfly:

    No, no, I’m pretty sure you’re thinking of Heidegger

    Actually, I was thinking of this Heidegger.

  59. 59.

    chrome agnomen

    i drove 90 miles to boston, got tangled up in traffic (quelle surprise!), and returned, chagrined, to springfield this evening, after missing the talk. as the kidz like to say, i haz a sad. also: boston traffic sucks.

  61. 61.

    Belafon

    @chrome agnomen: Why would you drive in Boston? When I was in college in Worcester 25 years ago (I’m from Texas) we would park somewhere near Boston University and take the T everywhere. It was not meant for cars, it was meant for carriages.

  62. 62.

    currants

    @Belafon: Yeah, but getting close enough to park somewhere to take a T is the trick. If Chrome were driving in from Springfield, s/he probably couldn’t even take a train–there are trains from Worcester, but then there’s getting back home…

    Tom said the talk would be posted shortly, so you can see what you missed. (However, I’m not sure where it will be posted. I’m guessing somewhere on http://cmsw.mit.edu/events/? Not sure.)

  65. 65.

    SFAW

    @AnneW:

    Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.

    “Mike” Cuellar (may he RIP)? Great pitcher for the O’s, beat the Mets in Game 1 of The Only World Series That Ever Mattered.

    I thought we wuz talking about futbol?!?!

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