NEWS
By Jay Merwin | March 16, 1992
BAD: Or the Dumbing of America. By Paul Fussell. Summit Books. 201 pages. $19. WHAT is it that unnerves us in an expensive restaurant when a blow-dried person in an apron presumes intimacy by saying: "My name is Sandy and I'll be your server tonight"? Why does the recitation of the "specials" -- bloated with adjectives about the sauce slathered on them and the sensuous pliability of their fibers -- make us worry we're being taken?Finally, Paul Fussell explains this experience, and many others like it, in his new book, "BAD: Or the Dumbing of America."
NEWS
By Susan Reimer | July 19, 2010
It has been a busy few weeks for those of us in the Glass House Club who keep track of the bad behavior of others. Almost before we finished shaking our heads and tsk-tsking at Al Gore's purported bad massage table behavior, we had Lindsay Lohan's bad nail polish behavior and Mel Gibson's bad telephone behavior. Anyone concerned about the coarsening of the cultural conversation has got to admit that that horse has left the barn. We are now hip-deep in I-can't-believe-anyone-would-actually- do -that.
SPORTS
By Ross Peddicord and Ross Peddicord,Sun Staff Writer | June 18, 1995
On the surface, it seems as if the stewards at Laurel Park received an unmistakably harsh message from their employer -- the Maryland Racing Commission -- last week:Wake up, and stop making bad calls.No one spoke those words publicly, but it seemed the board gave a pretty strong indication of how it felt about some of the stewards' recent decisions when it overturned three of their judgement calls.But that's not so, said Allan Levey, a member of the commission, who added that the other board members also felt that what happened was "an anomaly.
NEWS
By Elise Armacost | December 15, 1996
LOU DEPAZZO'S quietness has been very loud lately, which, if you haven't actually seen him, might make you wonder if the 63-year-old Democratic councilman from Dundalk is all right.Lou DePazzo -- he of the hair-trigger temper, the ill-advised quote, the crude aside and the firebrand speech -- hasn't said or done anything controversial in months.Last spring the Lou we thought we knew showed up at that big community meeting about the ACLU's lawsuit on behalf of Baltimore public-housing families, but even there he was pretty restrained, offering no repeat of his embarrassing 1994 performance at meetings on the Moving to Opportunity program.
FEATURES
By ROGER SIMON t | December 29, 1991
GOOD ROGER SAT AT HIS WRITING TABLE early in the morning of New Year's Eve. He was dressed in white silk pajamas and a plum smoking jacket."Let me guess," Bad Roger said to him. "You're entering a Hugh Hefner look-alike contest."Good Roger didn't say a thing. Good Roger believes that if you can't say something nice about a person, you shouldn't say anything at all.That is only one reason Good Roger is such a pill."I suppose," Good Roger said, turning from the writing table and looking at Bad Roger, "that your garb is supposed to reflect your keen sense of savoir-faire?"
NEWS
By ROGER SIMON | November 13, 1994
Bad Roger took a final glance at his notes, cleared his throat and looked directly into the TV camera."Attention!" he said. "Under the new rules of Republican America, you will stand up when I am speaking to you!"All over the country, Americans stood up.Good Roger remained flat on his back in bed, moaning softly to himself, something he has been doing ever since Tuesday night."Woe is us," he kept saying, "woe is us. The Bad Rogers everywhere have taken over the country."Good Roger is the decent, honest, compassionate side of me, the side that cares about the poor, the tired, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.