A Nomination for Queen Mensch
When I was a little girl a mensch was someone who put their foot up on the next step of the escalator. That's all it started out as. Not sure where that came from, but it was clear a good connotation associated with the word, so every time we changed levels at Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington, I never forgot to put one foot up on the next step.
As I got older I learned that a mensch is a person who does the right thing, even when it's hard. It's someone with grace under pressure. It's Brandon Walsh. (Some people wonder 'What would Jesus do?' I wonder 'What would Brandon do?')
Over the last month or so, each time I have opened a magazine, the same name has jumped out at me: MeganMcCafferty
In case you don't feel like researching it, here's what I'm rambling about: Megan wrote some books. They've been published. She has a blog. She doesn't write about her current life, but instead posts from diaries she kept as she was growing up. Such a cool idea! You may be wondering if I'm going to start doing that. I'm not.
There's a 19 year-old Harvard student named Kaavya Viswanathan. She wrote a book. According to my very reliable source (also known to some as People magazine) it came out that she took over 40 different fragments from Megan for her book. Huh. Smart enough to get into Harvard, but not smart enough to know that:
A. plagiarizing is illegal
B. if you do it too often, chances are good you'll get caught, especially if what you stole gets published
C. even if the legality of it was not an issue, isn't there a MORAL problem with it?
Shit, I only went to a community college and even I know it's wrong to take something from someone else and claim it as my own! Maybe I could get into Harvard...
Here's why I think Megan should be nominated for Queen Mensch status: in a People interview she is quoted as saying, "... I hope she's not defined by this. Who would want to be defined by the mistakes we make at 19?"
What I find ironic is that Kaavya probably started out HOPING to be defined by what she was able to accomplish at the age of 19. Wonder how well known her name will be in the literary world in 10 years.
** Per Newsweek, Kaavya's book was pulled by her publisher, and her contract for a second novel was canceled.
As I got older I learned that a mensch is a person who does the right thing, even when it's hard. It's someone with grace under pressure. It's Brandon Walsh. (Some people wonder 'What would Jesus do?' I wonder 'What would Brandon do?')
Over the last month or so, each time I have opened a magazine, the same name has jumped out at me: MeganMcCafferty
In case you don't feel like researching it, here's what I'm rambling about: Megan wrote some books. They've been published. She has a blog. She doesn't write about her current life, but instead posts from diaries she kept as she was growing up. Such a cool idea! You may be wondering if I'm going to start doing that. I'm not.
There's a 19 year-old Harvard student named Kaavya Viswanathan. She wrote a book. According to my very reliable source (also known to some as People magazine) it came out that she took over 40 different fragments from Megan for her book. Huh. Smart enough to get into Harvard, but not smart enough to know that:
A. plagiarizing is illegal
B. if you do it too often, chances are good you'll get caught, especially if what you stole gets published
C. even if the legality of it was not an issue, isn't there a MORAL problem with it?
Shit, I only went to a community college and even I know it's wrong to take something from someone else and claim it as my own! Maybe I could get into Harvard...
Here's why I think Megan should be nominated for Queen Mensch status: in a People interview she is quoted as saying, "... I hope she's not defined by this. Who would want to be defined by the mistakes we make at 19?"
What I find ironic is that Kaavya probably started out HOPING to be defined by what she was able to accomplish at the age of 19. Wonder how well known her name will be in the literary world in 10 years.
** Per Newsweek, Kaavya's book was pulled by her publisher, and her contract for a second novel was canceled.
posted by Green at 5/15/2006 07:30:00 PM
1 Comments:
if interested, there is a big article on this in Newsday!
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