Weather Writing Romney Religion

It was 60 degrees today in Boston and close to that or the same yesterday. And I LOVE IT. I am really hating cold weather more and more. In Charleston over Christmas it was somewhere between 55 and 75 the whole time and it was glorious. I had to go do errands outside the office and was wearing my winter coat and I was roasting. If it could be like this in New England from November through late April, I’d be so very happy.

I think this nice weather here is supposed to last a few more days at least. I do feel sorry for the bulbs though, because their little pea brains (heh heh) are going to be all confused by this and starting making their journeys to the air beyond the dirt. And then it will get cold again and they’ll turn downward again. This messes things up for the real blooming time.

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So now let’s talk about me. I was accepted into a class I really wanted to get in to, “Writing for The Daily Show,” which will start in a few weeks in New York. It’s pretty hard to get in–the teacher, J.R. Havlan (who is one of the show’s writers), only gives it once or twice a year and he requires a writing sample, which consists of a “headlines” section based on some current event in the news (that’s the first third of the show: what Jon does when he’s sitting by himself at the desk at the beginning), in the style of the show and, most importantly, which sounds like Jon. And then he decides among all the samples who he’s going to accept into the class. And I got in! I was fairly surprised because I’m sure they get many great applications, and the waiting list was over a year long. I requested yesterday with my boss and other relevant people the time off and it’s all set so I’m starting it on Feb. 5. Plus, a good friend of mine also got in and I’m looking forward to being in there with her: it’s really helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of when doing this kind of writing. She gave me some good suggestions on ways to make my sample pop; things that were obvious after she pointed them out but which I hadn’t thought of beforehand. So you see how it’s good to have someone else’s eye to review things.I wrote my piece on Mike Huckabee’s recent ads, one of which rather prominently displayed a cross in the background (they were actually the edges of bookshelves) and the other a large “Jesus fish” (it was the logo for the group to which he was speaking). People sort of accused him of trying to send “subliminal messages” that he’s the best Christian or the most Christian or the most religious. I’m still not sure what the controversy was: everyone knows he’s a minister. Seemed kind of weird to accuse him of being subliminal about the subject. And it’s on his Web site plain as day. Anyway I tried to come up with something funny and “Jon-like” and it must have at least not been the worst one they got.

Point of interest: the first and possibly still only woman writer on The Daily Show was hired directly as a result of taking this class. Of course many more people than her have taken it before and since she did, so it’s not like you’re gonna get a job out of it. But it’s fun and interesting and there’s bound to be lots of talented people in there.

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