Scott Simon

The X-ray Vision Of Mothers

Scott Simon — Sat, 11 May 2013 12:54:00 +0000

Mothers have eyes in the back of their heads. They may not show up on X-rays, but they're there.

Like a lot of youngsters, I used to get my mother to turn her head so I could search through her hair for the eyeballs she claimed to have back there, telling her, "No you don't! No you don't!" But when I'd scamper off to another part of the apartment and pick up an ashtray or fiddle with the window blinds, I'd hear my mother's voice ring out, "I can see you!

A 'Tough, Smart, Proud Town' Meets Terror With Determination

Scott Simon — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:08:00 +0000

People in Boston can speak for themselves. And do. Loudly, bluntly and often with humor that bites.

It's a city that speaks with both its own broad, homebrew, local accent — although no one really pahks thea cah in Havahd Yahd — and dialects from around the world. It is home to some of America's oldest founding families, and fathers, mothers and children who have just arrived from Jamaica, Ireland, Bangladesh and Ghana.

There are people in Boston who dress in pinstripes and tweeds, and tattoos and spiked hair.

How Did All Those People Get Inside Jonathan Winters?

Scott Simon — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 09:07:00 +0000

You can call anyone but Einstein a genius and start an argument.

Well, maybe Einstein or Jonathan Winters. The comedian, who died Friday at the age of 87, was immediately hailed by Steve Martin, Robin Williams and others as a genius.

He made hit comedy albums, was a regular on the old Tonight Show, memorably knocked down a gas station in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World and co-starred with and inspired Robin Williams.

But Winters was best known for creating a repertory company of characters that he carried around in his head.

Roger Ebert: Elegance and Empathy

Scott Simon — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 09:11:00 +0000

Roger Ebert was a critic, not a blowtorch. He could be sharp if he thought a movie insulted the audience, but had a champ's disdain for a cheap shot.

Many critics ridiculed the film Deep Throat when it came out in 1973. Who couldn't mock its absurdities?

Back From Extinction: Brooding Frog Or Thank you Note?

Scott Simon — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 12:13:00 +0000

The gastric brooding frog may be coming back. Does that give us a lot to brood about, too?

This week scientists at the University of New South Wales' Lazarus Project announced they have reproduced the genome — that bit of biological material that carries our genetic structure — of a gastric brooding frog.

The gastric brooder once lived in the rainforests of Queensland, Australia, and was declared extinct in 1983. It was not so named because it had the temperament of a Russell Crowe character, but because it gave birth through its mouth.

Snowquester Fizzles, But We're Humbled Anyway

Scott Simon — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:18:00 +0000

Snowquester fizzled.

Wednesday was more or less canceled this week in official Washington, D.C. An enormous winter storm bore down on the region, threatening ice, a foot of snow in the city (more in the suburbs), and wind and misery throughout the region.

Most of the federal government was closed. I know, I know. How could they tell? Local governments and schools, too.

Pianist Van Cliburn, Warmed Russian Hearts During Cold War

Scott Simon — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 13:11:00 +0000

Van Cliburn thawed out the Cold War.

He went to Moscow in 1958 for the first International Tchaikovsky Competition. When he sat down to play, Russians saw a tall, 23-year-old Texan, rail thin and tousle-haired, with great, gangly fingers that grew evocative and eloquent when he played the music of the true Russian masters — Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and Borodin.

Cliburn died Wednesday at his home in Fort Worth, Texas. He was 78.

"Van looked and played like some kind of angel," the Russian pianist Andrei Gavrilov told a Cliburn biographer.

Is Honest Abe's Stovepipe Hat A Fake?

Scott Simon — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 10:20:00 +0000

Abraham Lincoln's black stovepipe hat is an icon. It seemed to enhance his height, emphasize his dignity and, I suppose, keep his head warm.

There is a stovepipe hat at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., soiled and slightly brown with age. Lincoln is said to have given it to William Waller, a farmer and political supporter in Jackson County, Ill., and kept by his family for decades.

But that veracity of Lincoln's hat has been questioned.

History Sometimes Rewards Those Who Are Sidelined

Scott Simon — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 10:12:00 +0000

You might look for a player along the sidelines in the Super Bowl on Sunday named Alex Smith and wonder, as he might, if he'll be the next Wally Pipp or Ken Mattingly.

Pipp was the Yankee first baseman in 1925 who had a headache and was told to take two aspirin and sit out the game. A young player named Lou Gehrig took his place — and stayed at first base for 14 years, becoming one of baseball's most storied players.

Pipp wound up working in a screw factory.

'Ebony' Editor Began Life Black In Nazi Germany

Scott Simon — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 10:28:00 +0000

The proudest moment of Hans Massaquoi's boyhood was when his babysitter sewed a swastika on his sweater. He was a 7-year-old boy in Hamburg who wanted to be part of the excitement of the times he saw. But when his mother got home, she snipped off the swastika.

He also wanted to join the Hitler Youth. "They had cool uniforms," Massaquoi wrote years later, "and they did exciting things — camping, parades, playing drums."

His teacher told him that he couldn't join, without quite saying why.

Cheating Might Buy Home Runs, But No Hall Of Fame

Scott Simon — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 15:29:00 +0000

The Baseball Hall of Fame is a tourist attraction, not a papal conclave. And the people who cast votes for the Hall are sportswriters, not the College of Cardinals.

But there was something momentous this week when the Baseball Writers Association elected no one to the Hall of Fame. Not Roger Clemens, who won a record seven Cy Young Awards. Not Barry Bonds, who hit a record 762 home runs. Not Sammy Sosa, who hit 60 or more home runs in a season three times.

But those glorious stats were amassed under suspicion of what's now known as the "Steroid Era" in baseball and possibly all sports.

Baseball Hall Of Fame Snub Draws The Line

Scott Simon — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:36:00 +0000

There was something momentous this week when the Baseball Writers Association elected no one to the Hall of Fame. Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon remarks on the rebuke, rare in a sport where bad behavior is routine.

The Mayan Apocalypse: Worthwhile, In Hindsight

Scott Simon — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Yesterday came and went, but I never finished Ulysses. I never took up skydiving. Come to think of it, I didn't even really finish cleaning up my closet before the "Mayan Apocalypse," which did not occur yesterday, Dec. 21.

I remember thinking,"Finally, I get a Friday off — but there's an apocalypse."

When I first heard that the Mayan Long Count calendar was coming to an end at the end of this year — which, we cannot repeat enough, even Mayans never meant was the end of the world — I began to mentally make a few plans.

Good Intentions, Complicated Results

Scott Simon — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 11:54:00 +0000

When news organizations, including ours, told of New York Police Officer Lawrence DePrimo buying boots for a barefoot man on the streets of Times Square one cold night last month, it seemed an irresistible holiday story: A kindly cop in a hard city helps a bedraggled man walking with blistered feet over some of the richest streets in the world.

The nameless, shoeless man became the best-known street person in America — just long enough to be recognized walking along the Upper West Side, where a New York Times reporter found him.

The man's name is Jeffrey Hillman.

Sexiest Man Alive Gets 'The Onion' Taken Seriously

Scott Simon — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 16:09:00 +0000

If satire had an Olympics, The Onion might have won a gold medal this week.

Making A Case For Closer Contact In Congress

Scott Simon — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 15:35:00 +0000

Gridlock is the term many use to describe what happens when legislation gets stalled in the U.S. Congress.

But gridlock suggests that people in Congress at least run into each other. I've had enough casual, personal conversations with representatives in both parties in recent years to begin to think a more critical problem might be that politicians of opposing parties are almost strangers to each other.

Evan Bayh — who left the Senate last year after two terms — is the son of former Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh.

Halloween Heroes In The Wake Of Sandy

Scott Simon — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 11:55:00 +0000

On Halloween night this week, millions of children tumbled into their neighborhoods dressed as Captain America, Spiderman, Batman, Bat Girl and Wonder Woman. But that night, true superheroes were at work in uniforms, not costumes.

They were firefighters, police officers, emergency workers and ordinary citizens in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and elsewhere who gave brave and extraordinary efforts to protect and rescue their families and neighbors.

The Political Middle: What Ohioans Have To Say

Scott Simon — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 11:55:00 +0000

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

It's already starting to rain over northern Ohio this past weekend as the outer whirls of Hurricane Sandy approached. Just a few days before the election, people in Reminderville, the village of about 3,000, were concerned about turnout.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Trick or treat.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Trick or treat.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Hey, what's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Hi.

SIMON: ...in the village Halloween party.

The Pirate Prince Of Sealand, Remembered

Scott Simon — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 12:44:00 +0000

Paddy Roy Bates, the self-proclaimed prince of Sealand, was almost 80 when I met him in the summer of 2000. He was silvery and straight-backed — very much the model of a modern major, which he was in the British Army during World War II, when he survived frostbite, malaria, snakebites and a German bomb that shattered his jaw so badly a surgeon told him no woman would ever love him.

Does Voting Early Prompt Hasty Choices?

Scott Simon — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 12:05:00 +0000

Nov. 6 is 32 days away, but for millions of Americans, there is no longer an Election Day.

Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia now have early voting, which is under way even now in eight states.

Searching For Jimmy Hoffa

Scott Simon — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 11:43:00 +0000

Police outside Detroit dug up a spot under a driveway yesterday and took some soil samples. No official findings have been announced.

An unidentified man recently told police he saw a guy bury something there in the summer of 1975 shortly after Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, and after he was supposed to have lunch with Tony Provenzano, a Teamster officer, and Tony Jack Giacalone, a Detroit mobster, at the Machus Red Fox restaurant.

"What happened to Jimmy Hoffa?" is one of the great persisting questions of the past generation.

The Emoticon Turns 30, Seems Happy About It :-)

Scott Simon — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 14:35:00 +0000

The emoticon, punctuation to depict a facial expression, began 30 years ago this week. Using three keystrokes, the colon, dash and parenthesis, to suggest a smile may not be a great scientific advance, like the coronary stent or computer chip. But the emoticon has been simple, useful and enduring.

There had been previous hints of emoticons.

Our Work, Our Identity

Scott Simon — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 21:58:00 +0000

Are we what we do?

A lot of Americans identify themselves by their work. It's often how we introduce ourselves or describe our friends and parents: "I'm a police officer." "I'm a spot-welder." "My dad was a druggist." "My mom was a teacher." "My wife is a pilot." "My friend is a firefighter." "I sell insurance."

Our work has been a kind of identity stamp, defining us as much as our last name or place of birth.

Phyllis Diller: Showing, And Celebrating, Her Age

Scott Simon — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 14:08:00 +0000

When Phyllis Diller died this week at the age of 95, much was made of the way she burst open doors for women in comedy. But she also showed a way for people to make a midlife crisis into a breakthrough.

Diller was an Eisenhower-era housewife in the smokestack-and-factory-whistle suburbs of Oakland, Calif., whose husband worked at the naval air base. They had five children and could use some extra income. Phyllis, who had been an art and music student in her youth, also had extra, unfulfilled ambitions to entertain.

If Politicians Went On Vacation, We'd All Get A Break

Scott Simon — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 10:31:00 +0000

If you toss a corn dog at a state or county fair this summer, you may bonk a politician.

Congress is in recess, but for politicians, it's not recess of the kind they have in grade school. Many pols, especially in a close election year, spend the summer shaking hands at meet-and-greets. They cock their heads to pay rapt attention during listening tours and community meetings, raise money, make speeches, hurl charges, countercharges and ask for votes.

Does that sound refreshing?

I wonder if voters and candidates might benefit if more politicians took real vacations.

Gang Violence Smoulders On Hot Chicago Streets

Scott Simon — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 10:21:00 +0000

This has been a summer of blood, sweat and tears in Chicago. The city has been scorched by historic heat, and the homicide rate has soared. When the sun goes down behind the glimmering lakeshore skyline, blocks on the South and West Side of the city can ring with shots and sirens.

The streets of neighborhoods like Englewood, Grand Crossing and Garfield Park are empty, even during the day.

Behind A Wave Of Asian Immigration, Stories Of Struggle

Scott Simon — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:09:00 +0000

The Pew Research Center says Asian-Americans are now the fastest-growing ethnic and immigrant group in the United States: 18 million Americans, almost 6 percent of the population. Pew says Asian-Americans also tend to be the most educated and prosperous.

But most Asians didn't arrive in the United States as grad students or tech execs. The first Chinese immigrants built railroads and dug coal with their hands under oppressive, treacherous conditions.

When A Job Interview Turns Into Psychoanalysis

Scott Simon — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 14:58:00 +0000

What is your greatest weakness? And is that really any of my business?

Dear Lucy, the workplace advice column written by Lucy Kellaway in the Financial Times, ran a letter this week from a 52-year-old unemployed male.

"I've just been asked in a job interview to name my greatest weakness," he said. "I hummed and hawed for a bit and then said something like, 'Why don't you ask my wife?' I didn't get the job."

"What's your greatest weakness?" has become an accepted, common question in corporate interviews.

Just Deserts Follow Attempted Pastie Tax

Scott Simon — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:35:00 +0000

Sometimes, politicians eat their words. This week, the British government reversed course on a plan to place a 20 percent tax on all foods sold hot — with no exemption for pasties.

Pasties are hand food, baked for Cornish miners to eat when they could put aside their pickaxes. People eat pasties today as they sit on a bench for a few minutes' respite or walk along the street between chores.

Can Change Of Heart Beat The Flip-Flop Charge?

Scott Simon — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:17:00 +0000

Most Americans give politicians low marks for sincerity and see every decision they reach as a cold, poll-driven calculation. Often enough, it is. Politicians, after all, have asked pollsters where they should spend their summer vacations.

Yet when pundits and interest groups urge politicians to change their minds and they do, they're assailed for flip-flopping.

Both President Obama and Mitt Romney have faced that charge several times, on several issues, including the president's new support for gay marriage, and Romney's current opposition to abortion.