The Secret Life of Bobby Ryan
Hockey star Bobby Ryan’s difficult past:
“Bob Stevenson took on an alias, Shane Ryan. Ryan was his wife’s maiden name, so it was no stretch for Melody to use it again when she drove across the country with Bobby to rejoin her husband and try to stitch the family back together. The newly minted Mr. and Mrs. Ryan told Bobby that going forward his last name was Ryan too, that the other name was never to be mentioned. ”They were serious, so I only had to be told once,” Bobby says.
“Given the risks he was taking, it was fitting that Shane Ryan supported his family as a professional gambler. He had to beat the odds and live one step ahead of the law every day. Bobby was home-schooled, an only child isolated from other kids except at the arena. Hockey was the only constant from the Ryans’ previous life. Bobby landed in the L.A. Jr. Kings program and thrived there. ”The game was always my saving grace,” he says.”
Reading List: The Writing Life vs. The Blinking Cursor
This week’s picks from Emily includes stories from Rookie, Brain Pickings, The Millions, and The New York Times.
We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better
New fiction from Dave Eggers, adapted from his new novel The Circle, about a woman hired to work for a social network:
“Dan winced. ‘No, it’s not that. You handle your workload just fine. But we missed you at the Industrial Revolution party last Thursday night, which was a pretty crucial team-building event, centered on a product we’re all very proud of. You missed at least two newbie events, and at the circus the other night, it looked like you couldn’t wait to leave. I think you were out of there in 20 minutes. Those things might be understandable if your Participation Rank wasn’t so low. Do you know what it is?'”
Friends Without Benefits
The writer talks to teenage girls and boys to get an understanding of the effect that social media and dating apps have had on teens and their views on sex:
“‘The thing with social media is, if a guy doesn’t respond to you or doesn’t, like, stalk you back, then you’re gonna feel rejected,’ said Melissa.
“‘And rejection hurts,’ said Padma.
“‘And then you’re gonna go, like, look for another person to fill that void and you’re gonna move on to stalking someone else,’ Melissa said.
“‘That’s how men become such whores,’ said Greta.”
Caught Up in the Cult Wars: Confessions of a New Religious Movement Researcher
Palmer reflects on the difficulties studying NRMs (New Religious Movements)—not just how to get inside, but how to not be forced into taking sides or having one’s credibility questioned:
“As a mature researcher, somewhat scarred from my forays into that embattled terrain known as the cult wars, I am now ready to make a confession. I do see myself as a connoisseur. For me, NRMs are beautiful life forms, mysterious and pulsating with charisma. Each ‘cult’ is a mini-culture, a protocivilization. Prophets and heretics generate fantasy worlds that rival those of Philip K. Dick or L. Frank Baum. When I venture into the thickets of wild home-grown spirituality, and explore the rich undergrowth of what society rejects as its ‘weed’ religions, I sometimes think of Dorothy’s adventures in The Emerald City of Oz. Dorothy follows the yellow brick road that leads her through Utensia, a city whose inhabitants are kitchen utensils. Managing to escape King Kleaver (who threatens to chop her), she wanders into Bunbury where houses are made of crackers with bread-stick porches and wafer-shingles and are inhabited by living buns with currant eyes. She ventures on to meet the evil headless Scoodles, then continues on down the yellow brick road.”
Easy Money
The writer on his experience being on the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”:
“Did I mention on my questionnaire that I could perform a serviceable impression of Chewbacca? Did I offer that up to them as proof of my willingness to give them whatever they wanted in exchange for a chance at their money? Yes. Yes, I did. The rest of my interview in the cramped bowels of the Apollo Theatre was merely a formality. I would be good on the show because of X, Y, and Z. When I was twelve, I was an actor in a sex-ed video starring Bill Nye the Science Guy. I would spend a million dollars on the world’s greatest first-anniversary present for my wife. Can I do the Chewbacca now? Of course I can. It is a great and unholy sound, and for several seconds all talk in that room came to an end. A guy who recognized the noise for what it was clapped from somewhere back in the line. I boarded the train back to Brooklyn, uncertain that I had succeeded, though I needn’t have doubted the Wookiee’s allure. Two weeks later, I received a postcard informing me that I was part of the ‘contestant pool,’ and a week after that a producer called to tell me that my episode would shoot in seven days’ time.”
Reading List: Required Reading from Journalism Professors
Six syllabi from journalism professors on what you should be reading. Are you teaching a course? Share yours in the comments.
Ramona Pierson Spent 18 Months in a Coma and Woke Up Blind. She’s Now a CEO in Silicon Valley
Pierson, nearly killed by a drunk driver, has recovered to become the head of a new tech company called Declara:
“Over time, and more than 100 surgeries, Pierson’s body improved. She had procedures to fix her eye socket, nose, and teeth. ‘One of my doctors did Wilt Chamberlain’s nose,’ Pierson says. ‘My face seemed to come together well. Part of my butt is in my face.’ Her skills improved, too, and she realized it was time to try and leave the home. ‘I just kept moving forward,’ she says.
“We’ve all met people who seem to make more of their years than the rest of us. They become experts at whatever they try and collect friends wherever they go. Driven, in part, by a maniacal fear that she had fallen behind the world, Pierson became one of those people.”
The Sin of Height
Ballooning in the 19th century. Adapted from Levels of Life, a book by Julian Barnes about love, loss and ballooning:
“Aeronauts were the new Argonauts, their adventures instantly chronicled. A balloon flight linked town and country, England and France, France and Germany. Landing provoked pure excitement: a balloon brought no evil. By the Normandy fireside of M. Barthélemy Delanray, the village doctor proposed a toast to universal brotherhood. Burnaby and his new friends clinked glasses. At which point, being British, he explained to them the superiority of a monarchy over a republic. But then, the president of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain was His Grace the Duke of Argyll, and its three vice presidents were His Grace the Duke of Sutherland, the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Dufferin, and the Rt. Hon. Lord Richard Grosvenor MP. The equivalent French body, the Société des Aéronautes, founded by Tournachon, was more democratic and intellectual. Its aristocrats were writers and artists: George Sand, Dumas père et fils, Offenbach.”
‘Chivo’s Favorite Phrase Was “This Is a Disaster”‘
Dan P. Lee profiles director Alfonso Cuarón and the difficult journey making his new film Gravity:
“When Cuarón first dreamed up Gravity, he thought that he’d essentially hacked the Hollywood system: Here was a potentially audience-friendly adventure movie, and as long as they landed an A-list actor, production would fall into place. He and Jonas wrote the screenplay at lightning speed. They attracted immediate interest from studios, and, crucially, Angelina Jolie. They began preparing for a shoot. ‘And then very soon we find out that the film was not going to be achievable with the existing technology,’ Cuarón said.
“So, I wondered, what did he do next?
“He laughed, smiled broadly. ‘Waste four years of my life.'”
You must be logged in to post a comment.