I'M JUST SAYING, WHY NOT HAVE TWO GENIUSES IN THE FAMILY? SORT OF A SPARE IN CASE BART'S BRAIN BLOWS UP: The NYT has leaked the names of this year's John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellows, and once again both Marilyn vos Savant and I have been denied recognition. Instead, honorees receiving the $100K x 5yrs include author Junot Diaz, mandolinist/composer Chris Thile, WaPo reporter David Finkel, historian Dylan Penningroth, and economist Raj Chetty.
[Our 2006-11 discussions can be found here.]
I don't know most of these people but Junot Diaz is a rock star and Dinaw Mengestu is also a hell of a writer and a SUPER nice guy. I haven't read his second novel yet but The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears was just wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI have a number of friends who are huge Chris Thile fans, so they'll be happy. I give him credit for simultaneously being very traditional and very modern and pursuing unorthodox fusions like his Goat Rodeo stuff with Yo Yo Ma.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I love is how randomly googling the non-arts names you've never heard comes up with amazingness.
ReplyDeleteHere's Certified Genius Dr. Warf:
http://vectorblog.org/2011/02/building-neurosurgical-care-in-the-heart-of-africa-one-doctor%E2%80%99s-story/
I saw Chris Thile play an outdoor bluegrass festival in Colorado when he was 15. I can't even describe the audience's reactions -- awe, respect, exhilaration. He looked truly humbled when all 3,000 of us stood and cheered. He is incredible in concert. I am thrilled that he has been recognized.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to all, you rock stars! Now one of you genius can explain to me why the New York Times categorizes Mr. Penningroth, a historian, as part of the arts category.
ReplyDeleteThere the hard sciences, right? Physics, chemistry. There are soft sciences, psychology and such. Well, I like to think of history as Hard Art.
ReplyDeleteI am SO EXCITED that Dylan Penningroth won - his work is fantastic, and he's one of the nicest, smartest people out there.
ReplyDeleteI think we call that "social science."
ReplyDeleteit's certainly more of a science than psychology, which is about as soft as it gets before you start descending into psychotherapy. (There are exceptions within the discipline, of course, such as behavioral psychology.)
ReplyDeleteBut what about Scientology?
ReplyDeleteSo Sara Watkins next year?
ReplyDelete