Harvard Students: Stop Whatever You're Doing and Register for Peggy Noonan's Class, NOW

[Are_grits_groceries]

For some ungodly reason, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government saw fit to make Noonan a fellow this year. As part of the application process, candidates are asked to write up a syllabus of the course they will enlighten impressionable young undergrads with. Noonan wrote hers like she writes her column: She poured a glass of white wine, put on some Commodores, curled up in a big comfy chair with a Snuggie, and turned on the crazy.

Herewith, annotated selections from the syllabus for "CREATIVITY IN JOURNALISM, IN POLITICS AND IN LIFE: A Writer's Perspective, a study group led by IOP fellow Peggy Noonan, Tuesdays 4:00-5:30 p.m., Faculty Dining Room."

A writer tries to make clarity out of confusion, to capture reality, to see what is. A good writer is trying to be alive. A columnist says, "I think this is true, I want to tell you about it, please listen to me, let's think about it together."

http://gawker.com/5367203/harvard-students-stop-whatever-youre-doing-and-register-for-peggy-noonans-class-now

Harvard must not be boorish.

[annabanana]

1. "CREATIVITY IN JOURNALISM". . . . . Since when has she had an

interest in Journalism?... Surely she means, "creative with the facts", right?

[surrealAmerican]

10. It's a euphemism.

"Creative journalism" is like "creative accounting".

[surrealAmerican]

11. It's a euphemism.

"Creative journalism" is like "creative accounting".

[SpiralHawk]

2. Hey, how about Truth in Journalism

That would be a welcome change for this Republicon Stoogette

[T Wolf]

3. Liberal students should register en masse, then drop it on the last day so no one can then get in.

Noonan has less connection to journalism than my daughter's African Grey who drops shit on the liner in her cage.

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. Your African Grey gave an appropriate opinion on this. nt

[Captain Hilts]

4. She's a total tool, but just about the ONLY woman to be a major prez speechwriter. nt

[gratuitous]

6. Is there a section on magic dolphins?

Let's think about it together . . .

Thinking.

Thinking.

Thinking.

Okay, I've thought about it: You're a loon, Professor Noonan.

But Harvard is cutting you a paycheck, so I guess you're not completely stupid.

[Cetacea]

8. She got part of it right. But there's nothing magical about what they did.

"...the dolphins who surrounded him like a contingent of angels pushed him upward". They do that with each other when one is sick.

I could not bare to hear her talk for even five minutes.

[TexasObserver]

7. She's a loon.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

9. I'm always hoping she'll do a one woman show combining interpretive dance to her commentary

It's what I'm always secretly picturing when I see her at a pundit table.

She is a living Jules Feiffer cartoon.

[Brickbat]

12. So...she's going to teach people how to write about their foot fetishes? Because that is just what

she likes to write about:

"I first saw him as a foot, a highly polished brown cordovan wagging merrily on a hassock. I spied it through the door. It was a beautiful foot, sleek, perfectly shaped. Such casual elegance and clean lines! But not a big foot, not formidable, maybe even a little . . . frail. I imagined cradling it in my arms, protecting it from un-smooth roads."

And whose foot, pray, is that? Reagan's.