appropriate to include in her pretty speech.
Mrs. Couric courteously rushed to provide a word for her amiable companion. “Did they mock you, my dear Governor Palin?”
“Yes, mocked. I suppose that is the word. Indeed.”
Mrs. Couric delicately cleared her throat and proceeded upon this line of questioning, the object of which, though pointed, had yet to reveal any definite danger to the fair respondent. “If you might explain to me why that position—of Alaska—enhances your refinement and credentials in the arena of foreign policy?”
Governor Palin’s smile drooped but little as she perceived the less-than-generous vein of her companion’s inquiry. “It most certainly does! Of course! Our neighbors—the very neighbors that adjoin to our state in the location next door—they are foreign countries. They are in the fair state that I am currently the executive of. And there, in Russia …”
“Have you, yourself, ever had the occasion to be personally involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?”
“Well, we have trade missions back and forth. We—, we do! It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as that rogue and ill-mannered scallywag, Mr. Putin, rears his head and enters the airspace of the fair United States of America—I ask you, where, where do they go? I tell you, good Mrs. Couric, it is Alaska. It is just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state.”
The fair governor had some difficulty in responding and hoped that some change of subject would avail. Mrs. Couric allowed herself to reflect for the briefest moment how the interlude may reflect fairly on her networking career. For in some aspect of her adept mind, she had recognized that this interview would in a fair way encourage the offer—to her—of broadcasting’s most honorable prizes. It put her in mind to retain quite a good temper.
D ID Y OU K NOW?
Although
Persuasion
was Jane Austen’s last completed novel, she did leave a fragment of another one. In January of 1817 she began working on a new book, and the last date on the manuscript is March 18, 1817. She died exactly four months later. While
Persuasion
is romantic and contains a good deal of melancholy,
Sanditon
is briskly comic. It is hard to believe it was written while the author’s health must have been declining rapidly. Neither the style nor the subject matter betray that fact.
One of the things Austen appears to be satirizing in
Sanditon
is, in sweeping terms, the spirit of change. Innovation and commercialization, the story
seems
to say, are ridiculous and wrong and bad for the country. Yet, although the satire frequently aims at those targets, Austen actually draws a picture in which they appear in a positive light at least as often, and it is not at all clear that she didn’t enjoy and welcome such change as much as she mistrusted it.
T he E ldest, the Y oungest & M atchmaker.com
T AMI A BSI
Elizabeth drew her favorite china teacup from her lips and rested it on the saucer. The delicate plate protected the articles on her drawing table: a quill pen, some ivory stationary, and a computer.
She searched for Matchmaker.com and scrolled through the competition first. The titles before the ladies’ names were impressive, but a reader learned little else past the maidens’ monikers. The comments posted revealed the ladies to be empty-headed with nothing worth saying. Elizabeth imagined those women received several invitations from equally unimpressive suitors, no less than knights.
Lydia sauntered into the room, hoping to search for the latest fashions, for which Elizabeth showed perfect unconcern. When Lydia saw the screen, she stopped dead and grew pale. “My dear sister, why are you looking at the women?” she said with an indelicate amount
Mrs. Couric courteously rushed to provide a word for her amiable companion. “Did they mock you, my dear Governor Palin?”
“Yes, mocked. I suppose that is the word. Indeed.”
Mrs. Couric delicately cleared her throat and proceeded upon this line of questioning, the object of which, though pointed, had yet to reveal any definite danger to the fair respondent. “If you might explain to me why that position—of Alaska—enhances your refinement and credentials in the arena of foreign policy?”
Governor Palin’s smile drooped but little as she perceived the less-than-generous vein of her companion’s inquiry. “It most certainly does! Of course! Our neighbors—the very neighbors that adjoin to our state in the location next door—they are foreign countries. They are in the fair state that I am currently the executive of. And there, in Russia …”
“Have you, yourself, ever had the occasion to be personally involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?”
“Well, we have trade missions back and forth. We—, we do! It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as that rogue and ill-mannered scallywag, Mr. Putin, rears his head and enters the airspace of the fair United States of America—I ask you, where, where do they go? I tell you, good Mrs. Couric, it is Alaska. It is just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state.”
The fair governor had some difficulty in responding and hoped that some change of subject would avail. Mrs. Couric allowed herself to reflect for the briefest moment how the interlude may reflect fairly on her networking career. For in some aspect of her adept mind, she had recognized that this interview would in a fair way encourage the offer—to her—of broadcasting’s most honorable prizes. It put her in mind to retain quite a good temper.
D ID Y OU K NOW?
Although
Persuasion
was Jane Austen’s last completed novel, she did leave a fragment of another one. In January of 1817 she began working on a new book, and the last date on the manuscript is March 18, 1817. She died exactly four months later. While
Persuasion
is romantic and contains a good deal of melancholy,
Sanditon
is briskly comic. It is hard to believe it was written while the author’s health must have been declining rapidly. Neither the style nor the subject matter betray that fact.
One of the things Austen appears to be satirizing in
Sanditon
is, in sweeping terms, the spirit of change. Innovation and commercialization, the story
seems
to say, are ridiculous and wrong and bad for the country. Yet, although the satire frequently aims at those targets, Austen actually draws a picture in which they appear in a positive light at least as often, and it is not at all clear that she didn’t enjoy and welcome such change as much as she mistrusted it.
T he E ldest, the Y oungest & M atchmaker.com
T AMI A BSI
Elizabeth drew her favorite china teacup from her lips and rested it on the saucer. The delicate plate protected the articles on her drawing table: a quill pen, some ivory stationary, and a computer.
She searched for Matchmaker.com and scrolled through the competition first. The titles before the ladies’ names were impressive, but a reader learned little else past the maidens’ monikers. The comments posted revealed the ladies to be empty-headed with nothing worth saying. Elizabeth imagined those women received several invitations from equally unimpressive suitors, no less than knights.
Lydia sauntered into the room, hoping to search for the latest fashions, for which Elizabeth showed perfect unconcern. When Lydia saw the screen, she stopped dead and grew pale. “My dear sister, why are you looking at the women?” she said with an indelicate amount
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