Re: Has Chris Lydon Lost His Cotton-picking Mind?

[Mark Laurence <mlaurence@mindspring.com>]

>I just read the latest salvo in the Chris Lydon-Jane
>Christo wars in today's Herald (02/24 pg 12 also
>available on www.bostonherald.com).  With the theme
>from "I was high and mighty" playing in the background,
>C.L. averred that he would no longer pick cotton for
>Jane.

Funny how two people can read the same words and reach quite 
different conclusions.  Lydon said he and his producer have "known 
all along that we were not picking Jane Christo's cotton."  There's 
nothing that says he will no longer be doing something he has done 
before.

Lydon is saying The Connection is his and his staff's creation, they 
should not be seen as employees doing the bidding of WBUR management, 
and that has been the way they've always felt about the show.  That's 
consistent with his earlier position that he deserves ownership of 
the show.

>D.F.
>exacted the same kind of revenge that I think Jane will
>do metaphorically, offing the head of the recondite
>rhetorician.

That may happen, but look what happened to Hitler afterwards.  WBUR 
needs Christopher Lydon if they want The Connection to succeed on a 
national level.  Whatever clearances they've gotten from NPR stations 
so far are on the basis of Christopher Lydon's talk show, not WBUR 
management's concept of a talk show with an unnamed host.

>  The reply in Dean Johnson's article to
>Chris's statement: "we have reviewed Chris's statement
>and he is a terrific WRITER and communicator".
>Translation?  Try to get a job in print...the Tab
>newspapers peut-etre, where he could rub shoulders
>(but nothing else) with David Brudnoy.

Again, I didn't see the words as having the same meaning at all. 
WBUR's response is that Christopher Lydon has written another 
creative and colorful description of the world as he sees it, but as 
a writer he might just as well be creating fiction as fact.  WBUR is 
not saying Chris needs to find different work, they're just not 
convinced that his world is the real world.

It's interesting that both statements could be interpreted so 
differently.  I think Chris should use some of his quarter million 
dollar paycheck to hire an agent.

Mark Laurence
mlaurence@mindspring.com