'Footprints made long ago'

In today's paper I wrote about Robert Gates, the former secretary of defense who publishes his memoir "Duty" tomorrow. It's rare to receive a positive e-mail from a reader, and even rarer to get one that recognizes exactly what I was trying to do with a specific piece (the Gates piece hinges on the sentence about a glacier). So pardon this indulgence, but I want to submit for the record a lovely e-mail from a reader named John:

I read your article about Robert Gates online. Didn't intend to read the whole thing but I found there something that we all have been missing for a long time. There was an expression of civility, of honesty, of an understanding that we see footprints made long ago, now part of the rock, or cement, that forms our nation's capitol [sic].  Memories float on the cold wind reminding us of dreams other people left to us to fulfill. There is a vacuum there now.  We need to talk. We need as a nation to quit screaming and shouting at each other and sit down and talk about our problems. Your article is a start in that direction. Thank you. I will remember it.

And just as meaningful, but in a different way, from a reader named Joseph:

I read your article on Robert Gates in today's Washington Post and am very glad you wrote it. Robert Gates was an enigma to me during his years as Secretary of Defense, and now I see him as a thoughtful, feeling person who led our Defense Department well. I am a retired military officer and defense engineer a few years older than Mr. Gates, and I share his anguish over the human cost of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I also believe we have not been served well by our elected leaders since the 9/11 attack. I don't expect everyone to agree with Mr. Gates, but I think I understand his thinking since I'm doing something similar in examining my own life. Its a very personal process.

Megyn

There was a range of prickly reaction to my Megyn Kelly profile, which was published last week at the exact same time she was broadcasting that dumb segment on Santa (it's made her the butt of jokes, though I do believe the joke will ultimately be on us). Gawker and NewsBusters linked to the piece, which meant that I got e-mails from people who know more than I do, about everything, especially Megyn Kelly. Here are two such e-mails:

"Get a life!! You can't stand it that there are actually smart and attractive women out there who don't agree with your liberal agenda."

"I didn't think those right-wing celebrity puff pieces in the Style section could get any more nauseating until I read your little pile of cat sick this morning."

Then this from a fellow reporter who seemed to get what I was doing:

"That lead today was so excellent, and then it just kept getting better."

And, despite its use of the inaccurate word "praise," the most substantive criticism I received via e-mail was this:

"I do think that some of the methods you used in the article were too clever by half. ... positive elements of Megyn Kelly were portrayed with explicit and succinct statements of praise ('telling'), whereas negative elements were portrayed indirectly ('showing')."

But my favorite critical e-mail said much more in fewer words:

"I guess if 2.5 million watch her, 317.5 million don't, right?"

A man possessed

On Tuesday I had lunch with the man who is responsible for giving me one of the greatest scares of my life: William Peter Blatty, author of "The Exorcist" and the screenwriter-producer of the film version, which traumatized me (truly) in 7th grade. My piece on him tries to arrive subtly at the intersection of exorcism and abortion -- not to compare the procedures, obviously, but to consider spiritual horror alongside earthly horror (the former made his career long ago, the latter motivates his current activism). I recognize that it's politically dangerous to say that abortion is a horror, but let's all just admit that it's an element of a free society that isn't pleasing to anyone, no matter his or her stance. For Blatty, there are demons still to chase, even at age 85, and I found this fascinating. Anyway, before I get too deep into it, I'd like to excerpt the novel, which is actually one of my favorites. It's an unabashed page-turner, and demands to be read in one sitting, lest the demon remain at large in your mind between reading sessions. This is a quotation from Fr. Lankester Merrin, the titular priest who has battled this demon before, to his apprentice. It's a beautiful, gentle indictment of ourselves, and anchors this supernatural, Catholic tale in the secular, real world. 

 ... I tend to see possession most often in the little things, Damien: in the senseless, petty spites and misunderstandings; the cruel and cutting word that leaps unbidden to the tongue between friends. Between lovers. Between husbands and wives. Enough of these and we have no need of Satan to manage our wars; these we manage for ourselves ...

And how delicious was the pairing of this headline and photo in the paper itself?