Electric Literature's Recommended Reading Ben Smith: Political News and Analysis From our report on today's Pulitzer Prize announcement: Edward Snowden didn’t win a Pulitzer on Monday, but he might as well have. In a move certain to be interpreted as a vindication of the former government contractor’s efforts, the Pulitzer Prize Board on Monday awarded The Guardian US and The Washington Post its coveted Public Service award for reporting on the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance practices. The award was given for the “revelation of widespread secret surveillance by the National Security Agency, marked by authoritative and insightful reports that helped the public understand how the disclosures fit into the larger framework of national security,” the committee said in its release. Snowden immediately declared the decision “a vindication.” “Today’s decision is a vindication for everyone who believes that the public has a role in government,” he said in a statement to The Guardian. “There are times when a nominee is bigger than a prize.
Talking Points Memo The Travel PR Blog Balloon Juice 20 Obsolete English Words that Should Make a Comeback Photo: Katherine Hodgson If we all start using them, these words can be resurrected. DURING MY UNDERGRADUATE studies as a Linguistics major, one of the things that struck me most is the amazing fluidity of language. New words are created; older words go out of style. Words can change meaning over time, vowel sounds shift, consonants are lost or added and one word becomes another. Living languages refuse to be static. The following words have sadly disappeared from modern English, but it’s easy to see how they could be incorporated into everyday conversation. Words are from Erin McKean’s two-volume series: Weird and Wonderful Words and Totally Weird and Wonderful Words. 1. Verb trans. – “To confuse, jumble” – First of all this word is just fun to say in its various forms. 2. 3. Verb trans. – “To scrape together; to gather together from various sources” – I’m sure this wasn’t the original meaning of the word, but when I read the definition I immediately thought of copy-pasting. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Wonkette Journalistics Hullabaloo Rooms Illustrated Using Their Descriptive Words Modern Mantra is a highly unusual series of 18 drawings from Swedish artist Thomas Broomé. Using Indian ink on white paper he creates home interiors completely from written words describing the objects he draws. In this way the words simultaneously describe what they visually depict. In the case of his piece called Bedroom, the flowing sheet covering the bed is built up of repeating versions of the work “BED,” while the pillows are similarly created using only the word “PILLOW.” Each repeated word is distorted and placed in perspective to accurately represent the object it symbolizes, and besides those found in the words, no lines are used. See Also Cramped Hong Kong Apartments from Above Broomé’s drawings could be described as bringing out the ‘spirit’ of each word and showing it in reality – as if simply speaking the word itself brought the object into being. Broomé’s execution of each piece is brilliantly realized.