David Brooks has an interesting column today remembering William F. Buckley with a special U of C connection.
The entire column revolves around a column Brooks wrote as a college student at the U of C. For those of you not in the know, Brooks worked for the Maroon back in the day. But, instead of giving the Maroon some big time attention, Brooks chooses to divulge that the column was published in the “school newspaper.”
Give me a break.
The column wasn’t published in some nameless school paper that has since faded into the ether.
It was published in the Chicago Maroon. Now, the Maroon might not carry the cache of the Crimson or Yale Daily News, but its not like anyone is going to think less of Brooks for having columns published in the lowly Maroon.
This would have been a pretty big get for the Maroon. Since 1981, the Times has referenced the Maroon a grand total of four times. One was a wedding announcement, another was a correction after the Times said that Vita (the campus sex magazine) was the most popular campus publication. So that brings us down to just two real references, and the third was just in a letter to the editor.
So essentially the Maroon has been referenced once in the Times in the last 27 years (by Brooks and he just cited an ad for egg donors). Brooks had an opportunity to give the Maroon a 100% increase in Times citations today, but he choose not to.
Thanks for helping out the paper that gave you your start Brooks!
Grow up and stop being so dramatic. So nobody reads the Maroon or takes it seriously. So what?
What is a meaningless name drop in the Trib anyways?
This is stupid.
Yes: David Brooks is an ass. And he is ashamed not to have gone to Harvard or Yale, which makes him even more of an ass. But, come on. If the Maroon wants national attention, it should do some things to get it. Go on out there and set new standards for investigative journalism; do some things that pique the interest of national and international news outlets. Win a frigging pulitzer. Then it won’t matter at all what David Brooks (the ass who is ashamed of his alma mater) does.
Guys: look the fuck around you. This was published five years ago. It’s obviously kind of a joke. Do you think this is the Maroon’s motto or something?
And @ Rega: Brooks writes for the NY Times, not the Trib.
Hi all,
Over the last five years I’ve had the chance to really reflect on this issue and I’d like to add a few more justifications to my original post:
1. David Brooks’s columns aren’t very good.
2. His writing for the Maroon wasn’t great. Terrifying: http://chicagomaroon.com/2009/3/10/from-the-vault-david-brooks/
3. He’s kind of a hack.
4. Reading the NYTimes op-ed page is kind of a waste of time.
Can’t wait to check back in with y’all in 2018!
Best,
Alec