The Morning Dump: Medical Drama For Realsies, Canadian politician refuses to read, Is white the black? and a 90s blast of Aaliyah and Krakauer

Posted on 10. Apr, 2010 by theashcan in Morning Dump

Would you care if your real-life doctor was just like Gregory House — the fictional M.D. with a television show named after him? Well, you should, because if House was really looking after you, you’d probably be dead. TIME investigated the affect of medical shows such as House and Grey’s Anatomy on actual medical personnel, as well as patients who frequent facilities. I found this to be a particularly enlightening article because I had heard about “The CSI: Effect,” which manifested itself increasingly in criminal cases; judges, juries and even law enforcement officers are starting to blur the value and veracity of forensics data. Is something similar happening in hospitals? Long story short, no. Maybe. They don’t think. Lupus?

In the longest article you will probably read this week (from the New Yorker, obvs), Kelefa Sanneh talks race and asks the question, “is white the new black?” In this five-webpage-long piece, Salleh runs through myriad cultural references—from Glenn Beck to Stuff With People Like (forgot about that one, eh?) to “The Blind Side”—to talk about what it means to be “white” and how that translates to American society and politics. One of the most interesting New Yorker pieces I’ve read in a while. And it’s long.

I’ve been away most of the week so my reading has been limited to nothing at all over 100 words. That said, I found it really interesting that Yann Martel, the Canadian author of the hit book and soon to be movie, Life of Pi, in a thinly veiled shot at the Prime Minister’s ignorance, has been sending him an important book every other week. The responses he has received have been formulaic and written by staffers, showing that it’s quite likely the PM is totally ignoring every letter. Maybe he won’t after this.

Two 90s-related bits: First, Ta-Nehisi Coates learns to appreciate Aaliyah, which isn’t so remarkable in and of itself, but still a great excuse to go digging through Aaliyah Youtube clips. And of course, the comments section goes off. Also, this, “…my sojourn into the annals of white music has taught me to appreciate other kinds of singing,” which I think happened to me as well but I never noticed. Second, TOTALLY unrelated to that but also totally awesome is John Krakauer’s 1996 “Into Thin Air” O.G. new-new-journo piece for Outside magazine, which I’ve just read for the first time. Full of disaster and death and awesome writing and all that.

Share this:

1 Comment to “The Morning Dump: Medical Drama For Realsies, Canadian politician refuses to read, Is white the black? and a 90s blast of Aaliyah and Krakauer”