IN THESE TIMESPlease consider subscribing to the print edition and supporting independent media: http://www.inthesetimes.com/subscribe/ Irascible Mentor
Email exchange, 3/10/05: Me to him: "I think of you every day as I look at the Chalmers Johnson book on my bedside table that I am too tired to read." Jimmy replies: "Read the book … and push mine [The Long Detour]." How apt. Right to the end, a dear and irascible mentor. Jimmy instructed all new ITT staff to read The Corporate Ideal in the Liberal State. Having become a charter subscriber in 1976 because of reading Corporate Ideal, I came to my 1990 interview for a job at "the paper" as associate publisher (or, in Jimmy's lexicon, a "beggar") unwittingly over-prepared. To my continuing astonishment, I landed the job largely because I had long since reorganized my understanding of contemporary American history around his analysis of the Progressive Era. Fifteen years hence, I am still stunned: He hired me because I could articulate historical arguments. I had raised money before, but not the boatloads we needed. Could I have raised as much money from thoughtful ITT readers over the years if I had understood more about direct mail technique than I did about corporate liberalism? Wily Weinstein thought not. His impulsive decision reshaped my life. Yet our relationship stayed focused on the essentials: When I saw him on May 28, he made me promise again to "push the book" and did not relax against the pillows until I recorded his instructions in my notebook. Beth Schulman is both a former associate publisher and publisher of In These Times. |