Thursday, June 22, 2006

"my eyes start to get heavy"

An environmental journalist named Lou Bendrick wrote a piece for Orion (apparently she also writes for Gristmill) in which she says
Let me cultivate my personal female mystique by disclosing that I am the environmental media and I also loathe the environmental media. Just say “photovoltaic” and my eyes start to get heavy; start in about polar bears drowning and I have to go to the happy place in my head that involves ponies, chocolate, and George Clooney.
I see this kind of attitude on a science writer's list I'm on--science journalists who admit they're math phobia. If I were afraid of mathematics, or if I were an environmental journalist who can't deal with photovoltaics, I would at least be ashamed enough not to admit it. And people wonder why science journalism isn't all it should be.

(Via Gristmill)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, that piece is in Orion magazine, not The Onion.

Whew.

For a moment there, I was afraid that one of my favorite science writers had mistaken satire for earnest reportage. Hey -- it happens (comment #1).

David Appell said...

Fixed, thanks.