The Thin White Duke or the Sage of Klickitat Street? We can have a man who reinvented himself every five years, or a woman who did the same thing, very well, for fifty? The former David Jones or the former Beverly Bunn? Change or continuity? Either one would be amazing.
Past matchup
Ha, let’s hear what Dahl has to say about the recent alterations of his texts. Also, while Winkler is playing cool, Dahl is real deal being a fighter pilot and all.
Good point. Winkler’s competing in the Cool People category, but he’s out-cooled by his opponent. Zbicyclist follows up on the banned-books theme:
Dahl, because we’d all like to hear what he has to say about bowdlerizing his works.
“The term derives from Thomas Bowdler’s 1818 edition of William Shakespeare’s plays, which he reworked in ways that he felt were more suitable for women and children. He similarly edited Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” (Wikipedia, Expurgation)
Dahl might be OK with it, although probably not. There are new revenue streams to be had.
Jonathan points out that “Henry Winkler had to deal with censors as well” but then adds that “he is too nice to have ever said anything that could offend anyone.”
And one thing we don’t want is a speaker who’s too nice to offend.
Finally, Raghu offers a revenge narrative:
I’m still disappointed that Henry Winkler beat James Naismith in an earlier round, especially now that I’m halfway through the Naismith biography. It’s surprisingly interesting — Naismith seems one of those Victorian era types who do more before breakfast than I manage in a week. And (Chapter 15) he was obsessed with statistics — their collection, though not their analysis. We can’t let Winkler continue to profit from this.
That settles it. Mr. Fox it is.
By the way, I read a biography of James Michener once. It was kind of interesting. Not fascinating, but interesting. I bet it would’ve been more fun to read had it come out in the 1970s when Michener was a big deal.
I’ve been listening to Bowie a lot lately. i can give him another few hours for something new.
Bowie. Who else can claim to be the man who fell to Earth AND sold the world? Lots of interesting stuff to talk about.
I once rented a house in Southwest Harbor Maine whose two staircases featured in a Beverly Cleary story. Old (or old fashioned) enough to have no opinion about Winkler. So clearly Cleary for me.
This one is such a toss up as both have lots of good reasons to advance. I’ve voted for each one in the past but find a clear(y) choice a little more difficult this go around so it has to be Ziggy Stardust by the narrowest of margins.
It’s 100% got to be Beverly Cleary. Seminar speaking is nothing but applied storytelling, and no matter how many “concept albums” (what’s the concept? David Bowie singing?) Bowie made, the storytelling there is nothing compared to even one sentence on one page in one chapter of a book about a very relatable six-year-old.
It was in a Cleary book that I, at age seven, first encountered the phrase “Mind your own beeswax.” I laughed aloud in class.
But Bowie has a super-sharp sense of humor; just watch his interviews. And then he can plunge into pathos and take us to outer space. So for the range of experience that would fill a Bowie seminar, I vote for him.