This Can't Be Broccoli

As Oprah Winfrey counts down to her final show, she's been settling old scores with the likes of Jonathan Franzen, former talk show hosts, and other notable guests. Only one of these memorable people, however, gets a two-episode spread: That distinction (honor? not so much) goes to James Frey, the author of A Million Little Pieces , the memoir-turned-fiction-controversial-novel-of-the-decade and Oprah Book Club selection that turned the literary world on its head five years ago. Watching the first part of the Winfrey/Frey interview, I was surprised at how many different feelings came over me, including nostalgia. I was a Creative Writing major in college when the "Million Pieces" scandal occurred, and I remember it instigating many heated discussions in my college classes. Questions arose about writing, writers, and marketing what you write. Winfrey went from being a push-over who went on Larry King to defend James Frey to the leader of the mob holding a torch i...

It's now become a fact of life that when a major news event happens, you can stroll through public opinion simply by scrolling down on your Facebook feed. As I saw my friends react to the Osama Bin Laden's death, it seemed more and more that the overall feeling was confusion as to how to feel. I shared in that confusion. I'm happy that this may help the families of the victims of 9/11 feel some sense of peace, but I also find it alarming that this man has basically become the bogeyman and now everyone feels that we're safe. If anything, I worry that we're in more danger now that we've killed a symbol. Then again, I also worried when we started making him a symbol ten years ago. I worry that people are cheering for bloodlust, but I understand that many feel it's retribution for what happened on that day in September. Still, I feel like asking people--"Do you really think one person was the cause behind all of that? Do you really think we'...