I'm climbing on the bandwagon full of people who make a certain kind of post on certain days with this first "Weekly Reader" post - five things I've read on the web in the last week that I think are worth your time. The East Coast focus is accidental.
1. "The Boomtown Mirage," Samantha M. Shapiro; New York Times, April 6, 2008
A finely-grained look at the boom-and-bust "town" of Maricopa, Arizona, which has risen and now fallen in just over ten years. The story is focused on a hard-luck guy who's in way over his head, partly because he got really eager to make a killing in real estate and partly because others were eager to make a killing on people like him. Samantha Shapiro's writing is wonderfully transparent.
2. "Candid Camera: Trove of Videos Vexes Wal-Mart," Gary McWilliams; Wall Street Journal, April 9, 2008
For years, Wal-Mart used the same tiny film production company to record a huge variety of corporate goings-on, from high-level meetings and shareholder events to product presentations and regular old chitchat. In 2006, Wal-Mart fired the company, which nearly went out of business as a result. Wal-Mart didn't want to buy the collection of videos, so now the film company is selling the videos to researchers, journalists, and Wal-Mart haters. Bad move, Bentonville.
3. "The Duel," Hal Higdon, excerpted from Boston: A Century of Running by Hal Higdon (1995)
The engrossing story of the 1982 Boston Marathon, an epic duel between Minnesotan Dick Beardsley and Bostonian Alberto Salazar. This You Tube video shows the sharp end of the race (and includes a horrible soundtrack).
4. "Starbucks and 'Laissez Faire'," David Boaz; Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2008 (and the Cato Institute)
Starbucks won't print "laissez faire" on its personalized gift cards, apparently because the phrase is too political - although the company (or rather, its contractor) will print "Si, si puede" and "People Not Profits" on the cards. Though I think "laissez faire" is a silly slogan and a worse idea, Starbucks' double standard is rather mystifying.
5. "Trump Soho Is Not an Oxymoron," Michael Idov; New York Magazine, March 30, 2008.
How Donald Trump and his cohort of shady operators managed to ram a monstrous "condominium hotel" into New York's Soho neightborhood. Wait till you read about their clever scheme to effectively sell each condo twice. Diabolical.