And While That Publicist is on the Phone....
The Denver Post reports on the first "Aspen Ideas Festival" (i.e., pointless junket) that's about to take place.
I quote: "The first Aspen Ideas Festival kicks into gear for six sold-out days of brainstorming July 5-10. Brainiac Walter Isaacson of the Aspen Institute organized the think party in a move to jazz up the joint. Speakers at the fest will include Queen Noor, Gen. Wesley Clark, Dr. Jane Goodall, Rick Warren ("Purpose Driven Life"), Chris Matthews, Colin Powell, Toni Morrison, Cokie Roberts, Jim Lehrer, Charlie Rose, Arthur Schlesinger,
controversial Harvard boss Lawrence Summers, Mort Zuckerman, NPR prexy Kevin Klose, AOL's Stephen Case, Kurt Anderson, William Bennett, Amazon founder Jeffrey Bezos, David Brooks, Patricia Hannaway ("Shrek" animator), Nina Totenberg, Ken Auletta..."
Controversial Harvard president Lawrence Summers.
Other than Rick Warren, whose book is mentioned, Summers is the only person described—and the description is probably not the one he wants. I think we can safely assume that "controversial Harvard president" is now the implicit description of Summers even where it's not explicit....
A side note: Summers loves to go to these celebrity—pardon the langugage—clusterfucks. He is received less critically than he is by academics, and he likes these media-ready intellectuals-lite more than he does professors. If he had made his remarks on women in science with this group, they would have come away genuflecting....
