tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905148013569924682024-03-13T23:16:43.245-04:00Thomas Maier BooksAuthor of "MAFIA SPIES" - New Spy Thriller.
ThomasMaierBooks@GMail.comThomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comBlogger499125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-12092759499820933362024-01-31T21:20:00.005-05:002024-01-31T21:27:15.745-05:00Jeopardy Quiz? MASTERS OF SEX, my 2009 bio of Masters and Johnson, is one of the answers in recent Jeopardy show.<p><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjHVLxFukWT5jcfp9YtuSOxwWLh7ZIMeKEs8Tlds0V56FeCq41jNH9ho4Exd61_lbMrNY2MYfeu3H6X3g-QbP_g5iT85h97QJsBw0EkbvmW4mkMqDFKpSWqF8AqxJD5d293IFirKWPAkOFetqzYNkx9SUys8JH3YEcqLJmH7n2F6TqTYt7RPqadfmZl11s" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="908" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjHVLxFukWT5jcfp9YtuSOxwWLh7ZIMeKEs8Tlds0V56FeCq41jNH9ho4Exd61_lbMrNY2MYfeu3H6X3g-QbP_g5iT85h97QJsBw0EkbvmW4mkMqDFKpSWqF8AqxJD5d293IFirKWPAkOFetqzYNkx9SUys8JH3YEcqLJmH7n2F6TqTYt7RPqadfmZl11s" width="248" /></a></span></div><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />One of my Newsday colleagues told me today that Jeopardy featured my 2009 Masters of Sex biography in a recent episode. It was quite a thrill to see, especially for someone who still remembers Art Fleming! The book was made famous after it was adapted into an Emmy-winning Showtime series that ran four years, 2013-16.</span><p></p><p>https://youtube.com/shorts/IGMcsZ_2Qfs?si=2mP6CKKPUDLR7dQr</p><p><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-32564044830605799202023-08-16T20:34:00.000-04:002023-08-16T20:34:03.557-04:00Column: In a sense, the forgotten women of the long-running Gilgo Beach murder case are a metaphor for the cruel misogyny in a male-dominated world that too often results in violence. <p> </p><p>Here's my latest column, please subscribe to Newsday.</p><div class="byline Byline_byline__7W6Ao" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4rem; line-height: 1.4; overflow: hidden;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; padding-top: 4px;">By Thomas Maier</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; padding-top: 4px;"><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 3.2rem; letter-spacing: -0.05em; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; max-width: 720px;">Give former police commish Hart some credit for Gilgo murders arrest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKxF15By0mXWojMFUYILFJDz43i7x2cQxf6Ta0J27M4A_XHjwqmcdbAt0lJjuO0FrAdkQzxEUATG4oU3kYC-eBCw_5qQLj4-LZoN690rnUOTGnG-nhjww6NZ1ShJzZC9nmc1fIUF9rr0bvRiYdGR9HKxVHmiDlhbUkVX6puytOw-Vx3vY32-Iy8vh1DI0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="770" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKxF15By0mXWojMFUYILFJDz43i7x2cQxf6Ta0J27M4A_XHjwqmcdbAt0lJjuO0FrAdkQzxEUATG4oU3kYC-eBCw_5qQLj4-LZoN690rnUOTGnG-nhjww6NZ1ShJzZC9nmc1fIUF9rr0bvRiYdGR9HKxVHmiDlhbUkVX6puytOw-Vx3vY32-Iy8vh1DI0" width="320" /></a></div><br /></h1></strong></div><div class="contentAccess" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; left: -100px; margin-bottom: 30px; max-width: 100vw; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 1000px;"><div class="continue-reading ContinueReading_continue-reading__uTArZ" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; max-height: 2717px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 100px; position: relative; transition: max-height 0.5s ease-in-out 0s;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65;">In a sense, the forgotten women of the long-running Gilgo Beach murder case are a metaphor for the cruel misogyny in a male-dominated world that too often results in violence. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;">The recent arrest of accused serial killer Rex Heuermann for the death of three female victims — he also was named as a “prime suspect” in a fourth woman’s murder — only emphasizes how this is so. Based on police accounts, Heuermann, who has pleaded not guilty, seems like a classic Hitchcockian psycho — married Massapequa architect by day, ruthless killer of women by night. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;">A decade ago, his alleged victims — Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, all in their twenties — went missing for months before their bodies were found amid the underbrush and disposable trash scattered along Ocean Parkway. </p><div class="ad ad_ad__OKN7W full-banner ad_full-banner__KM541 midPg ad_midPg__JES_M" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; flex: 0 0 100%; left: 400px; margin: 12px -50vw 4px; max-width: inherit; min-height: 296px; padding: 10px 0px 22px; position: relative; right: 400px; text-align: center; width: 100vw;"><div class="htlad-bb1-article" data-unit="/5819/nwsd.desktop/opinion/home" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="htl-ad" data-lazy-pixels="350" data-prebid="768x0:|1024x0:" data-refresh-max="20" data-refresh-secs="15" data-refresh="viewable" data-sizes="768x0:728x90|1024x0:970x250" data-targeting="{"pos":["bb1"]}" data-unit="/5819/nwsd.desktop/opinion/home" id="htlad-2" name="htlunit-bb1-article" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="htl-ad-gpt htl-size-970x250" data-google-query-id="CPOKr-u34oADFTERiAkd4K4JeQ" id="htlad-2-gpt" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/5819/nwsd.desktop/opinion/home_1__container__" style="border: 0pt none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: auto;"><iframe aria-label="Advertisement" data-google-container-id="7" data-load-complete="true" frameborder="0" height="250" id="google_ads_iframe_/5819/nwsd.desktop/opinion/home_1" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="google_ads_iframe_/5819/nwsd.desktop/opinion/home_1" role="region" scrolling="no" style="border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: bottom;" tabindex="0" title="3rd party ad content" width="970"></iframe></div></div></div></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65;">Despite ample clues, the disappearance and deaths of these women, like other Gilgo victims, remained unsolved for years. Police and some media seemed to dismiss them as “sex workers,” putting the focus on a derided occupation rather than their individual fates as vulnerable women selling their bodies to strangers to survive. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;">The search for their murderer was hampered by two headstrong men — former Suffolk County Chief of Police James Burke and former District Attorney Tom Spota — who refused the help of the FBI, far more experienced in hunting down serial killers. The Suffolk approach was like the old joke about the male driver lost in your neighborhood — why ask for directions when you can keep on wandering around? </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;">Given this past, it’s not a surprise now — in the rush by male politicians and law-enforcement figures jockeying to claim credit for Heuermann’s arrest — that a key woman in the investigation’s success has been forgotten, too. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;">Geraldine Hart, who became Suffolk’s first female police commissioner in 2018, made a crucial decision that helped steer the wayward murder probe toward Heuermann. A former agent in the FBI’s Long Island office, Hart dropped the old macho stance of going it alone and asked federal investigators for help. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;">“Coming in from the outside as the first female commissioner was a difficult thing,” recalled former Suffolk chief of department Stuart Cameron, now village police chief in Old Westbury, “but she was always very professional and dedicated to law enforcement.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;">In 2020, Hart set up a Gilgo-related website and released the image of a belt buckle previously found by police, a bold attempt to reinvigorate the stalled investigation. Under Hart, a cutting-edge DNA technique called genetic genealogy helped confirm one of the unidentified victims, Valerie Mack, considered a major breakthrough. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;">Hart made sure the Suffolk police’s attitude toward the female victims was far different from that of a senior detective who declared in 2011 that it was a “consolation” to the public that they were only prostitutes. Eventually in 2021, Hart left Suffolk to become Hofstra University’s director of public safety.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;"><span style="font-size: 1.6rem;">Since then, numerous other top Suffolk law-enforcement officials have followed through with Hart’s initiatives, leading to Heuermann’s remarkable capture last month. She has declined to speak about it publicly.</span><span style="font-size: 1.6rem;"> </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;">As often in such a complex, highly publicized probe, many are taking a bow, including those who should be properly credited like Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison and DA Ray Tierney, as well as FBI and New York State police investigators. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;">But in the recounting of how this murder mystery was solved, leading to Heuermann’s arrest, Hart should not be forgotten. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 1.6rem; line-height: 1.65; margin-top: 22px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Columnist Thomas Maier's opinions are his own.</em></p></div></div><p><br /></p>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-55353940739117284112023-07-29T13:43:00.002-04:002023-07-29T13:44:51.258-04:00"The Godfather" Story and Video Win Silurian Award<p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Newsday won several awards at the Silurians Awards dinner last night in Manhattan. I won a Merit Award for my arts and cultural writing for my piece about the 50th anniversary of “The Godfather”.</span><span style="font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0mUvDRxca4ozhIAteaOXCVsa9Hkp27qnMintypHawxajaj6CDHFzLtBRPd3BDHMCCOc1HGJfyD82L85DScGZcMAfTVwHzv1d5mDd8Q7DlzZStr-5WdODaLXeBDTVHUyJAHtRghLIDOGqbucDJzgiLBgPgEf398LGUfMk9zmQyiIvCkRezILl2_ZoW7A0/s843/355360503_6493618590694881_681760118843672812_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="843" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0mUvDRxca4ozhIAteaOXCVsa9Hkp27qnMintypHawxajaj6CDHFzLtBRPd3BDHMCCOc1HGJfyD82L85DScGZcMAfTVwHzv1d5mDd8Q7DlzZStr-5WdODaLXeBDTVHUyJAHtRghLIDOGqbucDJzgiLBgPgEf398LGUfMk9zmQyiIvCkRezILl2_ZoW7A0/w609-h385/355360503_6493618590694881_681760118843672812_n.jpg" width="609" /></a></div><p></p>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-42109564360552148742023-07-29T13:31:00.002-04:002023-08-24T10:36:05.379-04:00Up in The Tree House -- My First as a Newsday Columnist<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>In my 40th year, I've finally written my first column for Newsday. It's a fun change of pace. Since 1984, I put together more investigative stories, print and TV, than anyone in the history of the paper. But doing the unexpected is always the most pleasing.</i></span></span></p><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px;"><br />COMMENTARY</div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><a style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer;" tabindex="-1"></a>Everyone should have their own treehouse</b></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">By Thomas Maier</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">thomas.maier@newsday.com</span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDVTII0nN-SjgtaSKoh_gxoZbRdhgdT-NgqfEZvr4DhihLDH7Y29GusRwIeWh3zIcttJsruySQggPKnnm447_IdDkJYp9luhG2XF79wtjZPeGHmf4YUDQj9TKsC3i-GgPZlyorWtP-2DeLkFzs0ukhrZ_PiTvcWzuQQzQvXAr5JaxpYazUHa-cd5BQBAE/s395/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-29%20at%201.32.36%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="395" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDVTII0nN-SjgtaSKoh_gxoZbRdhgdT-NgqfEZvr4DhihLDH7Y29GusRwIeWh3zIcttJsruySQggPKnnm447_IdDkJYp9luhG2XF79wtjZPeGHmf4YUDQj9TKsC3i-GgPZlyorWtP-2DeLkFzs0ukhrZ_PiTvcWzuQQzQvXAr5JaxpYazUHa-cd5BQBAE/s320/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-29%20at%201.32.36%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div>If life was fair, everyone would have a treehouse. A place where you can get away from the congestion of the daily rat race, let your mind wander, and look up at the stars.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Having your own treehouse is such a wonderfully impractical idea that we adults reserve it mainly for children. Unfortunately, the adult world usually intrudes. For instance, a parent might call you for dinner when you’re up there enjoying the view. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrPEwavmdX-xXq5VDvfZXigkJ1wsQBcxIvX2QfJXhSd_rSPRHaaK9ldbwgfDbcKmzL2-aa1wOGXXkVZCt07UCQ93m0pwQasMYwLWI8S361JhlsBPDCO6QlvruZOtJDxpugaB2c5khxCVsaSLJ3L--rng2lqFDXRmUD34k07NW08YzeFIA1bUGx63TUuFc/s770/c_NWU5MDliZTItNjg2NS00_MGRmMzlj.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="770" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrPEwavmdX-xXq5VDvfZXigkJ1wsQBcxIvX2QfJXhSd_rSPRHaaK9ldbwgfDbcKmzL2-aa1wOGXXkVZCt07UCQ93m0pwQasMYwLWI8S361JhlsBPDCO6QlvruZOtJDxpugaB2c5khxCVsaSLJ3L--rng2lqFDXRmUD34k07NW08YzeFIA1bUGx63TUuFc/s320/c_NWU5MDliZTItNjg2NS00_MGRmMzlj.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Or in Babylon, the village regulators may object entirely to the wooden structure affixed to your backyard’s pine tree and tell you to tear it down. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">After a five-year battle, a federal appeals court recently determined that a treehouse built by firefighter John Lepper for his two children was illegal. In the eyes of the village elders, the family treehouse needed a permit, a survey and even architectural drawings. Lepper fought their decision in court but lost.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">There’s a natural sympathy in parts of the suburbs for the Lepper clan. A photo of their impressive Cape Cod-style treehouse has an appealing “Our Gang” ambience. Above its open-air window hangs a “Members Only” sign, misspelled in a childish way, reminiscent of Hollywood’s little rascals from the sandlot. It certainly brings back memories of my own treehouse past.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Growing up on Long Island in the 1960s, when plenty of real homes were being carved out of former potato fields, our brazen band of neighborhood pals would “borrow” scraps of plywood and two-by-fours from local construction sites to build our treehouses in the nearby woods. One day, after I stepped on a rusted nail in one of those houses, my mother came to rescue me. But somehow, the need for regulation or reform with our illegal dwellings never came up.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">As a parent in the 1990s, I carried on this grand tradition by building a treehouse with my three little sons. We nailed planks and plywood from a local store into four swamp maples in the far end of the backyard. But I never thought of first calling an architect or seeking approval from the zoning board of appeals. </span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">For a few years, the kids climbed up into the treehouse and swung down from a rope. Its homemade quality was the hit of a few backyard parties, particularly among “play date” friends accustomed to having their fun managed by adults. As my kids grew older, our treehouse fell apart of its own accord, with the rubble eventually sent to the dump. Somehow it all seemed worth it, though, like shooting off fireworks on the Fourth of July, an All-American experience also against the law.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Unfortunately, no happy ending seems to await the Leppers and their treehouse. Their cry of being treated unfairly by Babylon Village was dismissed in court. The village, concerned about the structure’s safety, said it tried to come to some compromise but the Leppers refused. Now their home appears up for sale.</span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Their magical treehouse, in violation of the village's building code, was still standing recently but probably not for long. Instead of letting their imaginations soar, the kids have gotten a hard lesson in adult life — a place where rules and regulations sometimes prevail over common sense. </span></div></div><div class="x11i5rnm xat24cr x1mh8g0r x1vvkbs xtlvy1s x126k92a" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Columnist Thomas Maier's opinions are his own.</span></div></div>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-80745048972224621172023-07-29T13:23:00.000-04:002023-07-29T13:23:16.125-04:00Lizzy Caplan Gives "Masters of Sex" Shoutout to the Book<p> <span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Masters of Sex and yours truly as the author gets a big shoutout from Lizzy Caplan on Armchair Expert on Spotify! She’s a wonderful actress enjoying a great career. Stay tuned for Mafia Spies, the new Paramount docuseries based on my 2019 book, which debuts early next year!</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGpNmA7Ggb1_nmlxcNhaRsci2VMa5Hy4l4IV_Vbmc6a39YDsgIhPwk8oKk1vwrwapHrv1-pWfwC-xxFOvEGAWhj-NMssdK9kmh4g-lRTaTzs1Z21ecMkaj6iiJw9yftQ0freFW8eFWZIoo7JKVAwl20VYvMWpQqvzcVZs8xysCNJqiF3bpafiyl4Eee8w/s576/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-29%20at%201.19.59%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="576" height="409" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGpNmA7Ggb1_nmlxcNhaRsci2VMa5Hy4l4IV_Vbmc6a39YDsgIhPwk8oKk1vwrwapHrv1-pWfwC-xxFOvEGAWhj-NMssdK9kmh4g-lRTaTzs1Z21ecMkaj6iiJw9yftQ0freFW8eFWZIoo7JKVAwl20VYvMWpQqvzcVZs8xysCNJqiF3bpafiyl4Eee8w/w614-h409/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-29%20at%201.19.59%20PM.png" width="614" /></a></div><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, .SFNSText-Regular, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span><p></p>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-72122815851119819802023-07-29T13:10:00.007-04:002023-07-29T13:17:29.871-04:00Teddy Snored, But "Sleepy Joe" Relies on Breathing Machine for Good Night's Rest; Leader of CPAP Nation?<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxj7fwclQZdrdOl8iHI_-183aRIJfIeFEwhgNL53-lgGYEfAVFTFOQfxgvIdIVp4h1XXqDOtLrBk5bNga1tbhWEbZJyaT8RnK5zjo-cYypiZsnawkRdqER3HMOw0Ac9GRQgWxoruJ1xHzZeBeBNbY9AnCPqa9IaZFovNmxPA5hj9EUZuWYAhcUKdvaRa8/s500/8140704048491948955.jpeg" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxj7fwclQZdrdOl8iHI_-183aRIJfIeFEwhgNL53-lgGYEfAVFTFOQfxgvIdIVp4h1XXqDOtLrBk5bNga1tbhWEbZJyaT8RnK5zjo-cYypiZsnawkRdqER3HMOw0Ac9GRQgWxoruJ1xHzZeBeBNbY9AnCPqa9IaZFovNmxPA5hj9EUZuWYAhcUKdvaRa8/s400/8140704048491948955.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
By Thomas Maier, Newsday column. Teddy Roosevelt, Long Island’s only U.S. president, inspired the “teddy bear” doll that little tykes once snuggled with for a good night’s sleep. At bedtime, though, you wouldn't want to be near the real Teddy.
The overweight chief executive snored so loudly that historians believe TR suffered from sleep apnea, a condition that affects about 30 million Americans today.
Recently, the White House acknowledged President Joe Biden, who also has sleep apnea, now goes to bed with a CPAP machine — a huffing-and-puffing mechanical device with a long air hose connecting a mask strapped to his face. Critics jumped on this news about the 80-year-old Biden, saying it’s another sign that “Sleepy Joe” shouldn’t get reelected.
But Americans might breathe easier about their president if they knew more about sleep apnea and these “Continuous Positive Airway Pressure” devices, which are often paid for by Medicare.
By using his machine, Biden is likely saving the government money from more costly future care and could very well be extending his life. By admitting it publicly, Biden has become, in effect, the poster boy for CPAP Nation.
Millions of Americans ignore their untreated sleep apnea — when a person stops breathing partially or completely during slumber — which can lead to a host of serious and very costly health problems, including heart attacks. Using CPAPs at home is a much cheaper preventative for Medicare than expensive hospital stays.
A 2016 study by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine said untreated apnea among some 23.5 million Americans cost the U.S. $150 billion in 2015, including health care costs, lost productivity, workplace injuries and motor vehicles accidents. But treatment for sleep apnea among 5.9 million Americans using CPAPs and other breathing devices only cost $12.4 billion — quite a savings in tax dollars as well as human misery.
Several medical studies suggest that snuggling up with a CPAP machine at night can extend your days, especially if you're a couch potato. The heavier and older you are — especially if your sleeping sounds like a buzz saw at night — the more you’re likely to benefit.
Aging Baby Boomers, obsessed with beating back the clock, are often reluctant to put on a CPAP mask along with their pajamas. I certainly was. Not until my eye doctors insisted did I put on the mask and enter CPAP Nation. The first night felt like I was wearing a catcher’s mask to bed. The hose connected to my mask made me think of an aardvark. The CPAP machine on my night table unleashed a steady rush of air into my lungs.
Like riding a bike, being tethered to a CPAP device takes some getting used to. In the morning, though, I did feel more refreshed than usual — something I’ve heard others say is the reason they keep putting on the mask, night after night. Wearing a mask to bed might seem frightful. Yet think of all those celebrated figures — Batman, Zorro, even Yogi Berra — who have worn masks. Putting one on to improve your health might not seem so bad.
Other famous leaders have reportedly suffered from sleep apnea, like Winston Churchill, Napoleon and TR’s distant cousin Franklin Roosevelt. But they didn’t have the wonders of today’s medicine. By relying on a CPAP machine, Biden is able to do something about his condition and finally get a good night’s sleep.
Columnist Thomas Maier's opinions are his own.Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-30519207903747533592023-07-29T13:05:00.001-04:002023-07-29T13:05:51.355-04:00Emmys noms for former 'Masters of Sex' stars In Season Four of Masters of Sex, actors Jeremy Strong, Annaleigh Ashford and Lizzy Caplan all appeared together. And today in Hollywood, all three won Primetime Emmy nominations for their acting.
This is the second Leading Actress nom for Lizzy, who got one for playing Virginia Johnson in Masters of Sex.
Hey Paramount/Showtime/Sony, how about a fifth season to tell us what happened to Masters and Johnson after they got married?? It's quite a story and now can only be told by reading my book.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCAWdQjYosYCR5Vuut9snnDnrLlATx6P4c_tNWP2i09kMx_tvZEAb6u0R8AznspMNoQRc6pN4kY4FS-UJol5588Mfrm18RaLbKDzMvvZzCuBOOnrpNIq9MdBDkGa5uvhJK19rUYe6DIAHcRw3MrvnQavMKq2jLXhNo8ddT_mptWET9vmH2evP7wfCHhPM/s583/18364799191972887473.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="583" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCAWdQjYosYCR5Vuut9snnDnrLlATx6P4c_tNWP2i09kMx_tvZEAb6u0R8AznspMNoQRc6pN4kY4FS-UJol5588Mfrm18RaLbKDzMvvZzCuBOOnrpNIq9MdBDkGa5uvhJK19rUYe6DIAHcRw3MrvnQavMKq2jLXhNo8ddT_mptWET9vmH2evP7wfCHhPM/s600/18364799191972887473.png"/></a></div>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-90797129403241485542023-07-29T07:54:00.003-04:002023-07-29T07:54:51.374-04:00Mafia Spies Book, on Paramount Soon, Features JFK Documents Newly Released by White House My book MAFIA SPIES relied on some of these <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/us/politics/biden-jfk-assassination-papers.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&fbclid=IwAR1B_hSpPtS78upTeqxMtzDxZe4HfXPC5fz_HZetr6Mb42D9z2peVtlQaBo" target="_blank">recently released JFK papers.</a> Paramount+ is finishing up a six-part docuseries that will be shown in early 2024, along with an updated TV tie-in version of my book. Stay tuned kids!<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/16/us/politics/biden-jfk-assassination-papers.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&fbclid=IwAR1B_hSpPtS78upTeqxMtzDxZe4HfXPC5fz_HZetr6Mb42D9z2peVtlQaBo" target="_blank"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6fD8DsihbCVpYe1HnBe8jMFCuivPK1nYVp5SguPS6ZiAVH1cos15H8Z83mWkb95p-TxCpONsPnhzDHbQ-Ngn8vY7HbQYJQjglu_pWcKX7SEc8hf-VILfZp_7KzJzvSqcqBi4VERGCT1INDj8A9NkhchMGfiPTkplx-Y44MnvYQ3sNYPTFXjcIAtR9Yg/s1024/16dc-biden-jfk-jumbo.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd6fD8DsihbCVpYe1HnBe8jMFCuivPK1nYVp5SguPS6ZiAVH1cos15H8Z83mWkb95p-TxCpONsPnhzDHbQ-Ngn8vY7HbQYJQjglu_pWcKX7SEc8hf-VILfZp_7KzJzvSqcqBi4VERGCT1INDj8A9NkhchMGfiPTkplx-Y44MnvYQ3sNYPTFXjcIAtR9Yg/s400/16dc-biden-jfk-jumbo.jpg"/></a></div></a>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-85485429607231285232023-07-29T07:43:00.004-04:002023-07-29T07:46:21.111-04:00NY Emmy Nomination for 'The Godfather' in Newsday - Thomas Maier
Newsday grabs 12 Emmy noms, including one for my doc <a href="https://www.newsday.com/video/new-york-emmys-godfather-storms-dunia-img8jzdl?utm_campaign=nyemmynom2023&utm_source=email&utm_medium=header" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">THE GODFATHER:50 Year Retrospective <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4DE-v0UbrOH91RS1wX4raPSeXG0wT6mqihr8N9SVyM4W7SxJbQ3rCpm23VjNltDilnEnycK1hmLvgwoAKQxZQDbCvfc455Q0AbuqtFpb_GISjxyzUMJbL4eeTz2VQuxMunKjh1qivPsY0YKxLz0yhg4H7J5GjNjSh_uWXL4ZVOFxserXc0T6oDYWEyv0/s577/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-29%20at%207.40.17%20AM.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="577" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4DE-v0UbrOH91RS1wX4raPSeXG0wT6mqihr8N9SVyM4W7SxJbQ3rCpm23VjNltDilnEnycK1hmLvgwoAKQxZQDbCvfc455Q0AbuqtFpb_GISjxyzUMJbL4eeTz2VQuxMunKjh1qivPsY0YKxLz0yhg4H7J5GjNjSh_uWXL4ZVOFxserXc0T6oDYWEyv0/s400/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-29%20at%207.40.17%20AM.png"/></a></div></a>looking at the NY/Long Island roots of its creators. That’s 4 Emmy noms for the kid in the past 4 years. But who’s counting, right?
Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-35235598254695483092023-05-14T09:09:00.001-04:002023-05-14T09:09:16.709-04:00One lucky ride as a Newsday reporter<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh11OOQJQA5On-ZXIEFkuC5rCg5m8UJ2Wzq6TCbvKdYcJv3oikx4RGTwKHUKUxkubz6nDNshLQrl4P-DmlLM9tEGLfGxYivXjcAjQWSnP47wRu1zaqn_ghy6wfgyku2CkNSvrTwzooZaTWCmhn5Ati2SDoLbWF96MIHHpBzJWm5vcpDswyhK6YKBdZ/s475/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-14%20at%207.08.24%20AM.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh11OOQJQA5On-ZXIEFkuC5rCg5m8UJ2Wzq6TCbvKdYcJv3oikx4RGTwKHUKUxkubz6nDNshLQrl4P-DmlLM9tEGLfGxYivXjcAjQWSnP47wRu1zaqn_ghy6wfgyku2CkNSvrTwzooZaTWCmhn5Ati2SDoLbWF96MIHHpBzJWm5vcpDswyhK6YKBdZ/s400/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-14%20at%207.08.24%20AM.png"/></a></div>
Today is my last news article for Newsday, a print-TV investigation about the high cost of police misconduct. It's on the front page, ironically just like my first in 1984. This month, I began my 40th year by joining Newsday's editorial board, and next year, I look forward to a new Paramount TV show based on my last book, a brand new nonfiction book coming out in the spring and also a new novel next summer. But today it is fun to look back at my time as a reporter at Newsday, where I did more investigations of all sorts and sizes than anyone in the paper's history, and realize how fortunate I've been. Back in 1984, Bob Greene recruited me from the Chicago Sun-Times and I wound up the last member of Bob's famous investigations "Greene Team" before he retired in 1992. Along the way, I worked on many other investigations for New York Newsday, and the Long Island, business, national, Health and science desks. Generally, I preferred to do multi-part investigations by myself, but I was part of Newsday's investigative teams four separate times in my career. Newsday sent me to such places as Rome (abducted children), Berlin (return of WWII German Jews, thanks to a Columbia fellowship Tony Marro allowed me to do on Newsday's time), London, El Salvador (immigration), and the Marshall Islands in the Pacific (H-bomb victims mishandled by Brookhaven national lab). Working with Rich Galant, I did several multi-part series, including the 1986 Suffolk homicide series with Rex Smith that indicted a top crime lab official and won the national Sigma Delta Chi Award, and a 2001 five-day series about the NY immigrants getting killed on the job that won the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists top prize. (Rich even signed the expense forms when I picked up the $20,000 check in London). I enjoyed doing a wide range of in-depth stories like the five cover stories for the Newsday Sunday magazine (including one that became my first book), an investigation for the LI History project of how Montauk Native-American lands were stolen, and as a lead reporter on the 20-member "garbage team" that resulted in a TWO-week Newsday series and eventually a Newsday book "The Rush to Burn"! That project began after I broke the story of the wandering Long Island garbage barge out in the Atlantic that wound up in a Johnny Carson monologue a few days later. Newsday ran excerpts from my seven books as well, including the exclusive about the Jesuit priest who counseled Jackie after JFK's assassination (which wound up with my appearance on the Today show and the CBS Evening News). Under the health and desk overseen by Les Payne, I went to Michigan to examine all of the autopsy records involving Dr. Kevorkian for a front-page investigation. And since 2010, I've done 10 separate TV-print projects for Pat Dolan at News 12 and Newsday. Pat sent me to Buffalo to interview a convicted body snatcher as part of our investigation with the ICIJ that also won a national Sigma Delta Chi Award, and to Colorado for a 4/20 pot convention, part of our probe of the emerging marijuana industry (I didn't inhale). There's some investigations I'm proud of that didn't win major awards or indict someone. Like the 1997 five-day series about the underwater land speculation and building along Long Island's fragile shoreline. Not many people paid attention. But when Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012, destroying millions in coastal properties, we looked like geniuses, lol! I feel the same way about our series about coma and head injuries that help push President Clinton to sign legislation, and the five-day series about immigrant worker deaths where I wound up testifying before the US Senate about our findings. For a kid who delivered Newsday starting in 1968 at age 12, I've been incredibly fortunate to have such fun as a reporter for the past 40 years, always trying to be at the cutting edge. One series was Newsday's first computer-assisted investigation, and another in 2009 became Newsday's first NY Emmy nominee. Most importantly, I've worked with wonderfully talented people like Brian Donovan, Kathy Kerr, Mark Harrington, Allan Sloan, Laurie Garrett, Jim Dwyer, John Williams (our Emmy winner on 2019's Innocent Man story) and many other members of Newsday's investigative team. Of course, that includes the super talented Sandra Peddie, who fittingly shares her byline credit with me on my last story for Newsday. For a variety of reasons, I was planning on retiring this month to devote myself full-time to my outside projects, but editorial page editor Rita Ciolli offered this new job opining for Newsday. So the ride continues, with more fun to come, lol!Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-87248239869976454792023-05-04T23:22:00.000-04:002023-05-04T23:22:12.091-04:00Paramount to Produce New "MAFIA SPIES" series Based on BookParamount today announced a new TV doc series based on my 2019 book <a href="https://deadline.com/2023/05/mafia-spies-doc-series-ordered-at-paramount-1235355496/" rel="nofollow">MAFIA SPIES<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuO6PfSOiHoR89E_P06sxlTSR2QvCX-SzfOkXV1nJZROqFmMExVJfpqfXsIA2qGtEbBnyiUofuxZ6egh1w92hwGmbvrd4e8u3TdMaxtLq0Ps8M2UFjDQ48Da2xvOA5JDdPuVhahCKPJXVXCIGvlKXB1GCrjZym3_oZsTP8ujXQkt0ZgVe01LK764sF/s5400/MAFIA%20SPIES%20final%20cover%20copy.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="5400" data-original-width="3600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuO6PfSOiHoR89E_P06sxlTSR2QvCX-SzfOkXV1nJZROqFmMExVJfpqfXsIA2qGtEbBnyiUofuxZ6egh1w92hwGmbvrd4e8u3TdMaxtLq0Ps8M2UFjDQ48Da2xvOA5JDdPuVhahCKPJXVXCIGvlKXB1GCrjZym3_oZsTP8ujXQkt0ZgVe01LK764sF/s400/MAFIA%20SPIES%20final%20cover%20copy.jpg"/></a></div></a>. Paramount is the parent of Showtime, which produced my Emmy-winning drama MASTERS OF SEX, which ran for four seasons. With MAFIA SPIES, I'm a producer and on-air commentator for this new Paramount six-part docuseries which features a load of well-known people as well. Much more to come. Look for it in early 2024!
Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-24206453308733781022023-03-23T04:57:00.001-04:002023-03-23T04:57:30.308-04:00What Would Dr. Spock Say Today?<b>What Would Dr. Spock Say About the State of Babies Today? by Thomas Maier<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrJp66ipcNgbQ7ERbHMdBk79fcgLx5nv-YHru7TVb337WlE4H-2cPBXww_RNmdfJNAtLhAZ2EAVt6LIcSKISc-ipH5KYq0b3nw2Zbq9djjhjY79dv-26A_TgFj_8LsvsXqbIVUI-J-Y5n2MXItWUOoakTGfzTX4hBkiwPq7eK6_UUf10_ZEjAPD7Of/s1600/s-l1600.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrJp66ipcNgbQ7ERbHMdBk79fcgLx5nv-YHru7TVb337WlE4H-2cPBXww_RNmdfJNAtLhAZ2EAVt6LIcSKISc-ipH5KYq0b3nw2Zbq9djjhjY79dv-26A_TgFj_8LsvsXqbIVUI-J-Y5n2MXItWUOoakTGfzTX4hBkiwPq7eK6_UUf10_ZEjAPD7Of/s400/s-l1600.jpg"/></a></div></b>
Babies are on our mind these days, for all the wrong reasons. It makes you wonder what America’s famous pediatrician, Dr. Benjamin Spock, who died 25 years ago today, would say to us now?
Bad news about babies can be found everywhere. America’s birth rate is down nearly 20 percent since 2007, following more than a decade of economic woes, a deadly Covid pandemic and reports of declining sexual activity among adults.
An even more drastic dropoff in fertility can be found in Western Europe and particularly China, where experts wonder if the world’s most populous country faces an irreversible decline without producing more children.
The U.S. baby crisis goes far beyond last year’s nationwide shortage in baby formula, causing a panic among parents.
Studies show Black infants are far more likely to die from childbirth than whites, regardless of family income. Birth defects still affect one of every 33 newborns, the leading cause of infant deaths. And despite attempts at improvement, the nationwide child poverty rate is still 17 percent, impacting each poor infant’s health, education and future prospects.
This troubling news is in sharp contrast to a different time when America obsessed about babies for optimistic reasons and was far more hopeful about the future.
After World War II, many turned to Spock for advice as military men and women returned home, intent on marrying and starting a family in the suburbs. Spock’s “Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care”, published in 1946, became a huge bestseller, second only to the Bible.
Spock revolutionized American child-rearing by advising parents to rely more on a loving “common sense” approach rather than the traditional mix of punishment and fear. “Trust yourself,” he told newbie Moms and Dads. “You know more than you think you do.”
Spock’s wildly popular book rode a huge demographic wave of babies born during the 1950s and early 1960s. On TV, “I Love Lucy” and Jackie Kennedy praised him. As the proverbial father of this “Baby Boom” generation, Spock became one of the most beloved figures in postwar America. (He later used his pediatric fame to oppose the Vietnam war, where young people brought up with his advice were getting killed).
At first glance, Spock’s book was filled with practical tips, borne of his experience as a baby doctor in New York. For millions of parents, he became the calm voice in the middle of the night when parents didn’t know what to do with a colically baby – or bed-wetting, diaper rash, “spitting and vomiting” and dozens of other childhood dilemmas – and relied on his book for answers.
With his words, Spock struck a chord with parents, expressing the love and deep bond they felt towards their baby.
“Every time you pick your baby up, even if you do it a little awkwardly at first, every time you change him, bathe him, feed him, smile at him, he’s getting a feeling that he belongs to you and that you belong to him,” he wrote, using the preferred pronoun of that time. “Nobody else in the world, no matter how skillful, can give that to him.”
But most significantly, Spock’s book provided a new emotional framework for raising babies. Unlike the Calvinists and behaviorists who dominated child-rearing advice before him, Spock infused his book with Freudian psychology – carefully camouflaged in optimistic all-American lingo and good humor – to explain many insights about children, like a baby’s need to suckle.
In the eternal Nature vs. Nurture debate about how human beings are formed, Spock planted himself firmly in the Nurture camp. At its heart, his book’s appeal sprang from telling parents that they could make a difference. The future of a baby, your baby, was not pre-determined by heredity but could be made better through parental love.
“The child who is appreciated for what he is, even if he is homely, or clumsy, or slow, will grow up with confidence in himself, happy,” he assured. “He will have a spirit that will make the best of all the capacities that he has, and of all the opportunities that come his way.”
By the late 1960s, Spock’s critics challenged his views, now so deeply ingrained into the American psyche. Conservatives claimed his “permissiveness”, particularly frowning on corporal punishment, had created hordes of spoiled kids. Feminists objected to the inherent sexism of Freud’s views reflected in the book and cast doubt on Spock’s claim to be a champion of working mothers.
“I hope you understand that you are considered a symbol of male oppression – just like Freud,” feminist Gloria Steinem told him during one dramatic encounter.
But over time, through several updated editions of his famous book, Spock adapted to many changes in society and in parenting needs. By the 1970s, he revised the book to squeeze out any sexism and make sure baby references weren’t exclusively masculine. By the 1990s, it reflected more diverse family life, such as a gay and lesbian parents.
Spock was among the first to raise concerns about child obesity, linked to future heart disease among adults. Relying on new knowledge about nutrition, he recommended a “low-fat, plant-based diet” for children. Dairy farmers providing milk for bottle-fed babies howled, but Spock persisted. As he told another doctor, Spock always wanted his book “to be in the forefront of this awareness as it has been in many other respects.”
Today, some argue that a new Dr. Spock is needed to help sort through the clutter of so many baby-advice books. Last year’s slight “baby bump” in new births is a hopeful sign, but plenty of problems and disinformation still reign.
Given the current crises, what is needed most is someone with Spock’s moral authority to be an advocate for babies and their prospects for the future. Someone trusted to stand up for vaccines – the kind that saved many children from polio in Spock’s heyday – and alert us to medical improvements and doing things a better way.
Since his death in 1998, many have praised Spock as one of the most influential figures of the 20th Century with lasting impact. Indeed, when Apple computers started running its first ads, they chose an iconic photo of Spock holding up a baby with their catch phrase ‘Think Different’.
No one in this century has quite replaced Spock as a champion of children. Babies don’t have lobbyists and they don’t vote as a bloc. But they are the key to our survival as a nation and perhaps as a species.
Thomas Maier is the author of “Dr. Spock: An American Life”, a 1998 New York Times Notable Book, and last year was a recipient of the Columbia Journalism School Alumni Award
Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-68890388892622321312022-12-22T18:00:00.004-05:002022-12-22T18:00:35.850-05:00Writing and You
As a high school student many years ago, I went a forum about journalism and still remember its inspiring impact. So of course, I said yes when asked to speak with several classes at Hicksville High School for Career Day, a BOCES program. Newsday sanctioned my recent visit. In each of four different classes, I handed out this one-pager about "Writing and You". I was delighted to see how many wanted to be journalists and writers. Here's my talking points.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8PBju5gTwk2rNgmw-oLY9dxRsob-XFEwKiPvVnv6YPiaLc686kcnDc2FtdKVxjdOqZZFt57itpn8vU8JuxmZfYuZWZ7sPjetZC57dtOURUjC607lOwXwp-1gFN8qhjSFxGSBbmAYY6fIy7vX4FGhF1yxJHtl-t9RMxQ5Kfi6P4jjVsZVKd9a7g5ue/s206/CD-Logo-White.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8PBju5gTwk2rNgmw-oLY9dxRsob-XFEwKiPvVnv6YPiaLc686kcnDc2FtdKVxjdOqZZFt57itpn8vU8JuxmZfYuZWZ7sPjetZC57dtOURUjC607lOwXwp-1gFN8qhjSFxGSBbmAYY6fIy7vX4FGhF1yxJHtl-t9RMxQ5Kfi6P4jjVsZVKd9a7g5ue/s320/CD-Logo-White.png"/></a></div>
Writing and You
by Thomas Maier author, TV producer and Newsday special writer.
Thomas.Maier@Newsday.com
<b>Personal Writing: How to Express Yourself? Walk Before Running.</b>
– Master the Basics: SVO – (Subject, “active” Verb, Object).
– Simple Sentences, Complex Sentences and Transitions
– Look up Writing Books for Style, Ideas. – “On Writing Well” William Zinsser
– Keep a Personal Journal.
– Social Media, Blog, School Websites.
<b>Personal Reading: What Do You Have to Say?</b>
– Read daily papers and websites.-- Newsday for Long Island, NYT for the World.
– Subscribe to magazines/websites, from genres to The New Yorker and the Atlantic.
– Great Books, classic (Hamlet) to modern classics like To Kill A Mockingbird or Beloved.
– Bios, Ben Franklin, “Team of Rivals” ( Lincoln), “Hidden Figures” black women in space.
– Cultural Literacy – understanding touchstones and context.
<b>Writing- Print and Digital.</b>
– News – “Inverted Pyramid” – What’s most important.
– Narrative Story-Telling.
<b>Writing for Television News and Podcasts.</b>
– Writing for the Ear. Scripts for Public Radio, Podcasts, TV News Features
– Writing to Visuals – Script writing to motion, sequences, natural sound.
<b>Writing for Drama– Streaming, Theater, Films.</b>
– Writing a Treatment, Pitch Memo.
– 100 page scripts, playwriting.
<b>Writing Experience and Lessons:</b>
– Liberal Arts College.
– Summer Internship.
– Journalism School, Film School, Graduate degrees.
– First Jobs.
<b>Lost Art of Letter-Writing</b>
– Write a long email to a friend about what’s up and what you’re thinking about.Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-55908115554146692862022-11-23T15:56:00.018-05:002023-01-07T17:33:00.631-05:00Video-Columbia Journalism Alumni Award -Thomas Maier, 2022There were many gifts to be grateful for this year, including the Columbia Journalism School Alumni Award. The ceremony in April reminded me of how fortunate I have been, and how much more I'd like to do in the future.
<iframe class="BLOG_video_class" allowfullscreen="" youtube-src-id="kGveLddfNic" width="600" height="498" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kGveLddfNic"></iframe>http://www.thomasmaierbooks.com/2022/03/maier-receiving-columbia-journalism.html
Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-63751066359190860532022-06-30T20:18:00.002-04:002022-06-30T20:28:21.452-04:00The Gift Interrupted Wins NY Emmy Nomination<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-tqo_CGfy8-J-O-9EyKMQn8DeqrUqIW4AeQNIU8VoovkKJGhavlQuh3c4QrYmD0ERaaze0duZZedxOCB_mCgjyq_uprm8-fzP7i-RFUHfji55Fs6vMamEYcH1glcD9SzyJXWWtjlrtGcOAAcTp63lSs7xjzrSgQRIZtvLritbzoWyu4_9XXlU7caw/s681/New-York-Emmy-Awards.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="600" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="681" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-tqo_CGfy8-J-O-9EyKMQn8DeqrUqIW4AeQNIU8VoovkKJGhavlQuh3c4QrYmD0ERaaze0duZZedxOCB_mCgjyq_uprm8-fzP7i-RFUHfji55Fs6vMamEYcH1glcD9SzyJXWWtjlrtGcOAAcTp63lSs7xjzrSgQRIZtvLritbzoWyu4_9XXlU7caw/s600/New-York-Emmy-Awards.jpg"/></a></div>
Today I'm delighted to hear my story "The Gift Interrupted" has won a NY Emmy nomination. Here's the summary:
A powerful investigation of the two-month shutdown of New York’s organ transplant system during the height of Covid in early 2020 and its devastating impact on a highly-vulnerable population who couldn't get life-saving surgery. Newsday learned “several hundred patients” died or had their health severely impacted when transplant operations stopped and several organs had to be discarded because of the virus. Newsday contacted every organ transplant program in the NY metro area, many dialysis centers, and "gift of life" support groups. Despite great reluctance due to privacy concerns, Newsday convinced doctors, patients, and survivors of the dead to be interviewed for this deeply-felt story.Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-87540534229830637582022-03-12T22:01:00.009-05:002022-03-12T22:08:37.134-05:00Maier Receiving Columbia Journalism School Alumni Award Adds to Newsday's Previous List of WinnersNext month, I’ll receive a 2022 Columbia Journalism School Alumni Award, joining several Newsday journalists from the past on the School’s list of winners including Dele Olojede, Anthony Marro, Howard Schneider, Allan Sloan, Susan Page, Jim Toedtman , Emily Genauer, Stanley Asimov, Josh Friedman, Gail Collins, Tom Goldstein, Heidi Evans and Martin Gottlieb. My small Columbia class from 1982 had five graduates who eventually joined Newsday.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgl7OpsdjFUQmODSBsnAVLq1-6XLdmsb_EUU9_kPmA3r7_Nk10oFY_dOZJcPH6h3oFOeHjbPW9dV2dbsARM0FXwyHuxLNvSctOcOMo9c_HU31Lzvetvu7lk_xyrpyVWalcCZNEf2PDf9qN5sfeQSEvCiOXqAvIZSRTEQweWyFyLG_OC5NiYzDdOqWgN=s5646" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="5646" data-original-width="5274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgl7OpsdjFUQmODSBsnAVLq1-6XLdmsb_EUU9_kPmA3r7_Nk10oFY_dOZJcPH6h3oFOeHjbPW9dV2dbsARM0FXwyHuxLNvSctOcOMo9c_HU31Lzvetvu7lk_xyrpyVWalcCZNEf2PDf9qN5sfeQSEvCiOXqAvIZSRTEQweWyFyLG_OC5NiYzDdOqWgN=s400"/></a></div>
Here's an interview published by the Columbia Journalism School:
<b>Thomas Maier, '82 M.S., investigative journalist at Newsday and author of several books of American history and biography</b>
<b>What is your favorite memory of the J-School?</b>
It was thrilling on the first day to walk through the J-School’s entrance, full of hope and ambitions, and then ascend the stairs to a place aptly called “The World Room.” I am the first in my family to go to college, so entering Columbia, the world’s most renowned journalism school, felt like an unforgettable dream come true.
But my most memorable time was in filming a documentary about organized crime at the old Fulton Fish Market. It was both fun and a bit dangerous. Our motley crew Columbia would meet at dawn, drive my old 1975 Chevy to the cobblestoned streets around the market and then ask the fishmongers about the wise guys who controlled their corrupt market. The sights, the smells, the drama! At graduation, I won the John M. Patterson Award for that documentary, which we sold to Joan Konner, then at Channel 13 and later dean of the J-School. I came to Columbia as a print reporter from a small paper in Nyack, NY, without any television experience, and I wound up learning a whole new set of skills that influenced my career for the next 40 years.
<b>Which story or project are you most proud of and why?</b>
While I’m very proud of my Newsday investigative reporting, the biggest challenge has been to write six books about America and our times. This includes biographies of Dr. Benjamin Spock, the pediatrician and popularizer of Freud through his famous baby book; the Newhouse family’s Conde Nast media empire and the impact of the celebrity culture on our politics, notably the rise of Donald Trump; and a biography of sex researchers Masters and Johnson, adapted into an Emmy-winning Showtime television series. But I’m most proud of my trilogy of books about the Kennedy era. The first book, in 2003, explored how the Kennedy family’s Irish Catholic immigrant background impacted their public and private lives. The second in 2014, When Lions Roar, explored the little-known relationship of the Kennedys and Churchills, and was excerpted in Time.com and featured at a JFK Library seminar. And the third, a 2019 book called Mafia Spies , looked at the CIA during the Kennedy administration and its undeclared war run out of Florida against Castro’s Cuba, which included the use of organized crime figures. I traveled to Ireland, England and Cuba with these Kennedy books. Overall, I think these books redefine our understanding of the Kennedy story – not as a “Camelot” fantasy but rather as very influenced by their minority background, as JFK defined in his little-known book A Nation of Immigrants. That book led to the passage of the 1965 Immigration Act, which greatly changed the America we live in today and is the Kennedy family’s greatest legacy.
<b>What advice would you give to the next generation of J-Schoolers?</b>
Two words: character and fluency. First, be able to translate your work into as many diverse platforms as possible – a multimedia “fluency” if you will – which is essential to the future. Today, I think being able to edit video and know the grammar of visual storytelling is as important as being able to type on a computer (or a manual typewriter!) was back in the 20th century. However, the importance of character transcends skills. It is crucial to intellectual honesty and a fearless presentation of facts. As an investigative reporter, you learn quickly how important character is to truth-telling – exploring the world as you find it without preconceived bias or ideology – and how things can go terribly wrong without it. Character teaches you to stand up to personal threats or legal challenges, to champion the rights of those less fortunate without power or money, and to force your news organization to publish when the cowardice of editors and publishers prefers that your story go away. Character isn’t something you’ll see in your paycheck but rather in the mirror. Character is essential to good journalism and a world in desperate need of it. Being a journalist – a witness to the world – is arguably the most noble calling of all.
Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-36774383753677597292022-02-26T00:22:00.003-05:002022-02-26T00:26:38.074-05:00Columbia Journalism School Alumni Newsletter -- Interview with 2022 Alumni Award Winner Thomas Maier<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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<b>Alumni Newsletter February 2022 SPOTLIGHT </b>
We are highlighting three of the recipients of the 2022 Alumni Awards in this
newsletter. (You heard from three in the January newsletter) Meet
<b
>Thomas Maier, `82 M.S., investigative journalist at Newsday and author of
several books of American history and biography, </b
>and the winners of the First Decade Award, Wendy Lu, `16 M.S., editor, reporter
and producer at HuffPost and contributing writer at The New York Times, and
Mukhtar Ibrahim, `17 M.S. Stabile, editor and executive director of Sahan
Journal
<b>Thomas Maier `82</b>
1<b>: What is your favorite memory of the J-School?</b>
It was thrilling on the first day to walk through the J-School’s entrance, full
of hope and ambitions, and then ascend the stairs to a place aptly called “The
World Room.” I am the first in my family to go to college, so entering Columbia,
the world’s most renowned journalism school, felt like an unforgettable dream
come true. But my most memorable time was in filming a documentary about
organized crime at the old Fulton Fish Market. It was both fun and a bit
dangerous. Our motley crew Columbia would meet at dawn, drive my old 1975 Chevy
to the cobblestoned streets around the market and then ask the fishmongers about
the wise guys who controlled their corrupt market. The sights, the smells, the
drama! At graduation, I won the John M. Patterson Award for that documentary,
which we sold to Joan Konner, then at Channel 13 and later dean of the J-School.
I came to Columbia as a print reporter from a small paper in Nyack, NY, without
any television experience, and I wound up learning a whole new set of skills
that influenced my career for the next 40 years.
<b>2. Which story or project are you most proud of and why?</b>
While I’m very proud of my Newsday investigative reporting, the biggest
challenge has been to write six books about America and our times. This includes
biographies of Dr. Benjamin Spock, the pediatrician and popularizer of Freud
through his famous baby book; the Newhouse family’s Conde Nast media empire and
the impact of the celebrity culture on our politics, notably the rise of Donald
Trump; and a biography of sex researchers Masters and Johnson, adapted into an
Emmy-winning Showtime television series. But I’m most proud of my trilogy of
books about the Kennedy era. The first book, in 2003, explored how the Kennedy
family’s Irish Catholic immigrant background impacted their public and private
lives. The second in 2014, When Lions Roar, explored the little-known
relationship of the Kennedys and Churchills, and was excerpted in Time.com and
featured at a JFK Library seminar. And the third, a 2019 book called Mafia Spies
, looked at the CIA during the Kennedy administration and its undeclared war run
out of Florida against Castro’s Cuba, which included the use of organized crime
figures. I traveled to Ireland, England and Cuba with these Kennedy books.
Overall, I think these books redefine our understanding of the Kennedy story –
not as a “Camelot” fantasy but rather as very influenced by their minority
background, as JFK defined in his little-known book A Nation of Immigrants. That
book led to the passage of the1965 Immigration Act, which greatly changed the
America we live in today and is the Kennedy family’s greatest legacy. 3<b
>. What advice would you give to the next generation of J-Schoolers?</b
>
Two words: character and fluency. First, be able to translate your work into as
many diverse platforms as possible – a multimedia “fluency” if you will – which
is essential to the future. Today, I think being able to edit video and know the
grammar of visual storytelling is as important as being able to type on a
computer (or a manual typewriter!) was back in the 20th century. However, the
importance of character transcends skills. It is crucial to intellectual honesty
and a fearless presentation of facts. As an investigative reporter, you learn
quickly how important character is to truth-telling – exploring the world as you
find it without preconceived bias or ideology – and how things can go terribly
wrong without it. Character teaches you to stand up to personal threats or legal
challenges, to champion the rights of those less fortunate without power or
money, and to force your news organization to publish when the cowardice of
editors and publishers prefers that your story go away. Character isn’t
something you’ll see in your paycheck but rather in the mirror. Character is
essential to good journalism and a world in desperate need of it. Being a
journalist – a witness to the world – is arguably the most noble calling of all.
Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-46013547308100888132022-02-24T17:39:00.013-05:002022-02-24T17:46:18.293-05:00The Godfather 50th Anniversary -- A documentary and 5,000-word Newsday story about the classic film's NY rootsComing this Sunday, I've written a 5,000-word story and put together a narrated documentary about the Long Island roots of The Godfather, the classic 1972 film celebrating its 50th anniversary next month. You can see it online now:
https://www.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/godfather-movie-long-island-1.50513526
My story focuses on how Mario Puzo, a Long Island novelist, put together the fictional saga of Don Vito Corleone and his family, and how director Francis Ford Coppola first learned to direct by putting on shows at Hofstra University. Their unique collaboration -- translating a book into a film -- is what fascinated me. Two years ago, I wrote MAFIA SPIES -- the true story about two gansters hired by CIA to kill Cuba's Fidel Castro during the Cold War -- and it inspired my thought to do this piece about THE GODFATHER.
There's, of course, an "investigative" finding that reveals something most people dont know about the infamous horse head scene. And a little-known piece of Newsday's own history too!
It was a lot of fun to research and film with our Newsday team. Hope you enjoy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgLy3OARG8mf5PqKsxJWqTmAOZ-23OVoFqdi-rMdYOK6h7rHkIAiOx5dybszzvztO6Pg36dWh7KBJLIV1K740VdSrJEJrUH3YgcjZ_YEoq0ujjs71d5JXsYF8i2ahx7r5QOT319F4CFrNv00ZOj7BhKJodwIOVwKMNaymQwenRQ8EDWgc9QoiqGDK7-=s663" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgLy3OARG8mf5PqKsxJWqTmAOZ-23OVoFqdi-rMdYOK6h7rHkIAiOx5dybszzvztO6Pg36dWh7KBJLIV1K740VdSrJEJrUH3YgcjZ_YEoq0ujjs71d5JXsYF8i2ahx7r5QOT319F4CFrNv00ZOj7BhKJodwIOVwKMNaymQwenRQ8EDWgc9QoiqGDK7-=s400"/></a></div>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-33604330676685257062021-12-14T13:34:00.004-05:002022-02-07T07:32:42.146-05:00Thomas Maier, Author and Newsday Journalist, Among Columbia Journalism School Alumni Winners for 2022
<b>Columbia Journalism School Names 2022 Alumni Award Winners</b>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA4s2o9DAPSFSJNdR5RoZgkCiHqViRfBiUozSpxvC40xeh1CkGhYVx2GZdJpwj0g943uhlsfc1ZsdDA2gB5inLtcCL-ojay0ERfLARMN1iJ5mPlaa_E9XxUeVApBHhK6SdqG7LpN_fjVKajhOj9OZe9Ok2IteEVmNOfL_bTGmTMMoc2ENGqffPqtrd=s1030" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="400" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1030" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA4s2o9DAPSFSJNdR5RoZgkCiHqViRfBiUozSpxvC40xeh1CkGhYVx2GZdJpwj0g943uhlsfc1ZsdDA2gB5inLtcCL-ojay0ERfLARMN1iJ5mPlaa_E9XxUeVApBHhK6SdqG7LpN_fjVKajhOj9OZe9Ok2IteEVmNOfL_bTGmTMMoc2ENGqffPqtrd=s400"/></a></div>
Columbia Journalism School Office of Alumni and Development is proud to announce the recipients of the 2022 Alumni Awards.
The winners are Malini Parthasarathy, ‘82 M.S., chairperson of The Hindu Group Publishing Ltd.; Eric Marcus, ‘84 M.S., founder and host of the “Making Gay History” podcast; Stuart Schear, ‘84 M.S., vice president for Communications and Marketing at American Jewish World Service; and Thomas Maier, ‘82 M.S., investigative journalist at Newsday and author of several books of American history and biography.
The winners of the First Decade Award, for graduates within the last 10 years, are Wendy Lu, ‘16 M.S., Editor, reporter and producer at HuffPost and contributing writer at The New York Times, and Mukhtar Ibrahim, ‘17 M.S. Stabile, editor and executive director of Sahan Journal.
<b>Thomas Maier, '82, Author and Investigative Reporter at Newsday, Long Island, New York</b>
Maier is a longtime Newsday investigative reporter and author of six books, including “When Lions Roar: The Churchills and The Kennedys,” “Dr. Spock: An American Life,” and a dual biography of William Masters and Virginia Johnson (link is external) that was adapted into the Showtime television series “Masters of Sex (link is external).” At Newsday since 1984, Maier’s investigative work has twice won the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the National Society of Professional Journalists and many other awards. In 2002, Maier won the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ top prize, the Daniel Pearl Award, (link is external) for a Newsday series about New York immigrant workers getting killed (link is external) on the job at the highest rate in the nation and later testified about it before the U.S. Senate. More recently, his 2019 investigation about one of the longest “innocent man” murder cases in U.S. history (link is external) won both a NY Emmy and the NY Press Club's award for best newspaper documentary. In September 2021, Maier produced “The Gift, Interrupted (link is external),” a print/video project about the little-known but devastating impact of New York’s two-month shutdown of organ transplants during the height of 2020’s Covid crisis.
Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-72069192519555130792021-09-23T08:45:00.002-04:002021-09-23T08:49:18.784-04:00The Gift, Interrupted: The Deadly Impact of Covid-19 on NY's Transplant System.<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/organ-transplants-covid/ " target="_blank">THE GIFT, INTERRUPTED.</a> At the height of the pandemic last year, New York's organ transplant system shut down for two months, causing life-and-death dilemmas for hundreds of patients, many from Long Island. </span></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu9GhB_RetSlM1wkvIYt40j6bebS6o9l6rJnE-8arB54Cc87q2XJD-YdWtnPKFQ7-aexHUIfE2Tu126iYaL6S_hITJd6ryn33xw45KjP_DglX_1jFF2uA1DBnZQVi9s1BEUUNTPR4dcwA/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="510" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu9GhB_RetSlM1wkvIYt40j6bebS6o9l6rJnE-8arB54Cc87q2XJD-YdWtnPKFQ7-aexHUIfE2Tu126iYaL6S_hITJd6ryn33xw45KjP_DglX_1jFF2uA1DBnZQVi9s1BEUUNTPR4dcwA/w640-h446/Screen+Shot+2021-09-23+at+8.48.02+AM.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><div data-block="true" data-editor="dpv6b" data-offset-key="4f4td-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4f4td-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span class="py34i1dx" color="var(--blue-link)" style="font-family: inherit;">https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/organ-transplants-covid/</span><span data-offset-key="4f4td-1-0" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4f4td-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4f4td-1-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-57743235019451651532021-09-19T23:27:00.005-04:002021-09-21T23:30:05.345-04:00Masters Alums getting Emmy honors<div class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl" role="button" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0"><span style="color: #f1765e; font-family: inherit; font-weight: bold;">Congrats <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98tvjXkQfhol2Xn1bLVBiaLuaT2zl3yt6CQsPC97ZCLNOABUVxGnL-0ERFu0BSrzxp9tQaIvJWwj1U-rYECjggbtaZ612RHz3x1n0OBqWdIETtjAMO4g1cEHFu3ge_qodzB7lQUg1ffc/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="261" data-original-width="500" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98tvjXkQfhol2Xn1bLVBiaLuaT2zl3yt6CQsPC97ZCLNOABUVxGnL-0ERFu0BSrzxp9tQaIvJWwj1U-rYECjggbtaZ612RHz3x1n0OBqWdIETtjAMO4g1cEHFu3ge_qodzB7lQUg1ffc/" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">to Julianne Nicholson who was wonderful on MASTERS OF SEX and won the Emmy tonight for her role in MARE OF EASTTOWN. Ann Dowd and Allison Janney, also alums of Masters, were nominees tonight.</span><p><br /> </p>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-17087247850914218642021-09-17T23:31:00.010-04:002021-09-21T23:35:41.865-04:00AOC 'Glitters' at Anna Wintour MET Gala with "Tax the Rich' Dress<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo4ALCHlrI6OQlYI9g4V7YOfs6bYe4BXqyHGHigvv6B6_L-EG0f3aVV5Zk5zX9sX__nphKdDOpSTbFA-GUqcAtfdpf4ubKI-5cjP5nja01IjqFbWdQqw7BRHAxYp4Nz0Xb73saWPns25w/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="512" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo4ALCHlrI6OQlYI9g4V7YOfs6bYe4BXqyHGHigvv6B6_L-EG0f3aVV5Zk5zX9sX__nphKdDOpSTbFA-GUqcAtfdpf4ubKI-5cjP5nja01IjqFbWdQqw7BRHAxYp4Nz0Xb73saWPns25w/" width="192" /></a></div><br /> <span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">AOC might want to check out who she’s partying with. Tax the Rich? You mean like the Newhouses — the longtime employer of Anna Wintour— who managed to beat the IRS in a nearly $1 billion dispute during the 1980s over their taxes? Check out my book ALL THAT GLITTERS about Wintour and the Impact of the Newhouses on our media culture, enabling the rise of Donald Trump. In their tax battle against the IRS (which they won), the Newhouses managed to call upon then Australian immigrant Rupert Murdoch to testify on their behalf. And lawyer Roy Cohn, Si Newhouses best friend, gave advice how to dodge taxes writing for the Newhouse papers’ Parade magazine. “How to Beat the IRS” by Roy Cohn, appeared a few years before he was disbarred. All the details are in ALL THAT GLITTERS, the updated version of my award-winning 1994 book about the Newhouse media empire.</span><p></p>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-9558980205180030912021-09-16T23:46:00.006-04:002021-09-21T23:49:12.131-04:00Masters of Sex -- Chapter One Excerpted in The New York Times<p> </p><p>Read "MASTERS OF SEX", Chapter One excerpted by The New York Times</p><p>https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/books/excerpt-masters-of-sex.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR1J9O7kMo6F8JdVsGyZtBnNCguo76j5TeLFVv862xF8gJn0yNCyhf_qRkI</p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #121212; font-family: nyt-franklin, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.05em; text-transform: uppercase;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #121212; font-family: nyt-franklin, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.05em; text-transform: uppercase;">EXCERPT</span></p><header class="css-ky4dag e12qa4dv0" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 3.75rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="css-9u9xp4 ehdk2mb0" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 class="css-139djpt e1h9rw200" data-testid="headline" id="link-547175f5" style="border: 0px; color: #121212; font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 2.75rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 200; line-height: 3.125rem; margin: 0px auto 20px; max-width: 600px; 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font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto 20px; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);"><div class="css-1tyn5zp" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="css-f11ndi epjyd6m1" style="-webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; border: 0px; display: flex; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;"><div class="css-233int epjyd6m0" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="css-aknsld e1jsehar1" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; font-family: nyt-franklin, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.25rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="byline-prefix" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By </span><span class="css-1baulvz last-byline" itemprop="name" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thomas Maier</span></p></div></div><ul class="css-1u1psjv epjyd6m3" style="-webkit-box-align: center; -webkit-box-pack: justify; align-items: center; border: 0px; display: flex; flex-wrap: nowrap; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; justify-content: space-between; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li class="css-ccw2r3 epjyd6m2" style="border: 0px; flex-shrink: 1; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 1rem 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><time class="css-129k401 e16638kd0" datetime="2009-06-25T18:51:30-04:00" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline-block; font-family: nyt-franklin, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8125rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">June 25, 2009</time></li></ul></div></div></header><section class="meteredContent css-1r7ky0e" name="articleBody" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="border: 0px; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1016px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto 0.9375rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);"><span class="css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chapter 1: Golden Girl</span></p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto 0.9375rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);"><span class="css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"It often begins in the back seat of a parked car. It's hurry up and get the job done. The back seat of a car hardly provides an opportunity for the expression of personality."</span> — William H. Masters </p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto 0.9375rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);">Into the dark, two beams of light showed the way. The piercing headlights from a Plymouth automobile cut a path through the unrelenting blackness of the Missouri countryside. Slowly the car carrying Mary Virginia Eshelman and her high school boyfriend, Gordon Garrett, rumbled down Route 160, a vast asphalt stretch without street lamps, where only the stars and moon lit the evening sky. </p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto 0.9375rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);">For his date with Mary Virginia, Gordon borrowed the brand new Garrett family car — a green 1941 sedan with a shiny chrome grill, protruding hood ornament, muscular fenders, and an ample backseat. They motored past rows of homesteads and crops, carved from the tall grass prairie. That evening, they joined friends at The Palace, the town's only theater, where the melodies and dancing of Hollywood musicals let them escape Golden City's dullness. Newsreels made them aware of another larger world outside their tiny hometown of eight hundred people. Bordering the Ozark Mountains, Golden City seemed closer to rural Oklahoma than big-city St. Louis — both in dirt miles and in Bible-thumping spirit. Before heading home, Gordon turned the Plymouth off the road and dimmed its lights. Noise from the tires, pressing loudly against the gravel stones, suddenly came to a halt, followed by a palpable hush. Snuggled beside each other, Mary Virginia and her boyfriend parked in a secluded area where they would not be spotted. </p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);">In the front seat of the car, Gordon opened her blouse, loosened her skirt, and pressed himself against her skin. She didn't move or resist, just stared at him in wonderment. Mary Virginia never had seen a penis before except, as she later remembered it, when her mother changed her baby brother's diaper. On that night, shortly after her fifteenth birthday, Mary Virginia Eshelman — later known to the world as Virginia E. Johnson — was introduced to the mysteries of human intimacy. "I didn't know anything about anything," confessed the woman whose landmark partnership with Dr. William H. Masters would someday become synonymous with sex and love in America. </p></div></div><div class="css-zz666k" id="story-ad-1-wrapper" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(243, 243, 243); border-bottom-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(243, 243, 243); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 43px auto; min-height: 280px; padding: 12px 0px 30px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1016px;"><div class="css-l9onyx" id="story-ad-1-slug" style="border: 0px; color: #cccccc; font-family: nyt-franklin, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.5625rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.05rem; line-height: 0.5625rem; margin: 0px 0px 9px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ADVERTISEMENT</p></div><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/books/excerpt-masters-of-sex.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR1J9O7kMo6F8JdVsGyZtBnNCguo76j5TeLFVv862xF8gJn0yNCyhf_qRkI#after-story-ad-1" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; height: 1px; line-height: inherit; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1px;">Continue reading the main story</a><div class="ad story-ad-1-wrapper" data-google-query-id="CPb6xJnWkfMCFdfxyAodo2YIhw" id="story-ad-1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; height: 600px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/29390238/nyt/books_3__container__" style="border: 0pt none; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1016px;"><iframe data-google-container-id="3" data-is-safeframe="true" data-load-complete="true" frameborder="0" height="600" id="google_ads_iframe_/29390238/nyt/books_3" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" scrolling="no" src="https://c627522c04e98d8ef8d8a490dbc3c879.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html" style="border-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" title="3rd party ad content" width="0"></iframe></div></div><div id="after-story-ad-1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="border: 0px; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1016px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto 0.9375rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);">In her puritanical Midwest home, Mary Virginia learned sex was sinful, something far removed from the breathless tales of storybook romance she imbibed at the movies before World War II. Like many women of her generation, she learned that sex, at best, was a thankless chore, better left for the confines of marriage and bearing a family. Years afterward, she'd refer to Gordon Garrett anonymously as the "boy with fiery red hair." She masked his identity just as she concealed any unpleasant truth about her life, any memory of love that eluded her. As she admitted decades later, "I never married the men I really cared about." But she would never forget Gordon Garrett, or that night outside of Golden City, when the two teens lost their innocence. </p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto 0.9375rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);">Along the roadside, the young couple huddled in shadows, necking in the front seat until they slid into the back. Heavy breathing fogged the windows. Automobiles, still new to a place like Golden City, provided a relatively private place to be alone. Gordon pulled the clutch brake to make sure the family's parked car didn't roll away while their attention wandered elsewhere. Throughout high school, Mary Virginia shared many moments growing up with Gordon. About six feet tall with a farm boy's physique, he was rugged enough to play on the school's football team but sensitive to Mary Virginia's finer interest in music. They were a steady couple during senior year, constantly seen together. Gordon was her beau. </p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto 0.9375rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);">After skipping two grades, Mary Virginia found herself considerably younger than the rest of her Golden City High School class, including the redheaded Garrett boy, already turned seventeen. Eager to please, she possessed light-brown hair bundled in corkscrew curls, empathetic gray-blue eyes, and demure, slightly pursed lips. She usually wore an enigmatic Mona Lisa–like grin, which could easily burst into an engaging smile. Like other Eshelmans, she had the distinctive bone structure of high cheekbones, an upright posture, and perfectly poised shoulders. Mary Virginia's willowy frame suggested enough of a bosom to make her seem mature, though in their assessment some boys could be downright mean. "She was a tall, slim, flat-chested girl," remembered Phil Lollar, then a slightly younger fellow who lived near her farm. "Just an average-looking girl." But most teenagers in Golden City admired Mary Virginia's sense of style in a place sorely in need of it. In this small-town world, she talked, dressed, and acted like a young lady, enough so that even friends in Golden City's class of 1941 didn't guess her true age. Her most memorable attribute was her voice — a captivating, finely nuanced instrument she developed as a singer. Gordon's older sister, Isabel, said Mary Virginia's clothes never seemed ragged or disheveled, the sorry way some farm kids appeared during the throes of the 1930s Dust Bowl. Her brother's girlfriend "always kept herself clean and neat and feminine-looking," Isabel recalled. "She was pretty." </p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto 0.9375rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);">Driving in Daddy Garrett's brand-new Plymouth seemed right and proper, as close to a royal carriage as Gordon could muster for his prairie princess. Unlike other Depression-era youth, Mary Virginia always acted confident in her tomorrows, perhaps because her mother, Edna Eshelman, wouldn't have it any other way. "I think Gordon liked her a lot," recalled his other sister, Carolyn. "Her mother was 'the best is none too good' and Mary Virginia was like that too." The Garrett sisters perceived Mary Virginia as a good girl, the kind a boy like Gordon could proudly escort to the graduation dance and might someday contemplate marrying. Certainly, they assumed, she wouldn't be found frolicking in the backseat of the Garrett family car. </p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);">At this tender age, Mary Virginia already understood the duplicities of modern life for young American girls like herself. She knew the right words to say, the customs to observe, the dishonesty among the moral zealots and fundamentalists insistent on a woman's lot in life. Yet she resolved never to lose that independent part of herself. She would embrace life on her own terms, regardless of what her mother or anyone else said. Earnestly, she played the part of a "good girl" — both in school and at home — though in her heart she knew she was not. "I always lived the facade of mother's little lady but I always did exactly what I wanted to do," she explained. "I just never let it be known." </p></div></div><div class="css-zz666k" id="story-ad-2-wrapper" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; border-bottom-color: rgb(243, 243, 243); border-bottom-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(243, 243, 243); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 43px auto; min-height: 280px; padding: 12px 0px 30px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1016px;"><div class="css-l9onyx" id="story-ad-2-slug" style="border: 0px; color: #cccccc; font-family: nyt-franklin, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.5625rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.05rem; line-height: 0.5625rem; margin: 0px 0px 9px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ADVERTISEMENT</p></div><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/books/excerpt-masters-of-sex.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR1J9O7kMo6F8JdVsGyZtBnNCguo76j5TeLFVv862xF8gJn0yNCyhf_qRkI#after-story-ad-2" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; height: 1px; line-height: inherit; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1px;">Continue reading the main story</a><div class="ad story-ad-2-wrapper" data-google-query-id="CJ_xtpvWkfMCFVPNyAodjCYISA" id="story-ad-2" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; height: 270px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="google_ads_iframe_/29390238/nyt/books_4__container__" style="border: 0pt none; display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1016px;"><iframe data-google-container-id="4" data-is-safeframe="true" data-load-complete="true" frameborder="0" height="270" id="google_ads_iframe_/29390238/nyt/books_4" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" scrolling="no" src="https://c627522c04e98d8ef8d8a490dbc3c879.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html" style="border-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" title="3rd party ad content" width="0"></iframe></div></div><div id="after-story-ad-2" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="border: 0px; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1016px;"><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto 0.9375rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);">On the night she lost her virginity, Mary Virginia's experience wasn't forced, sweaty, or profane. The simple act finished within minutes. Sex felt pleasant enough for her, though far from familiar. Any thoughts of orgasm, sexual performance, or mutual satisfaction — the stuff of her intense, lifelong scientific studies with Masters — were then the furthest thing from her mind. Instead she trusted her boyfriend to know what he was doing. Only later in life did she realize it was probably Gordon's first time too. </p><p class="css-axufdj evys1bk0" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.25rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);">"It just evolved and was very natural," she said, both wistfully and amused, of their backseat encounter. "It would have shocked my mother to death."</p></div></div></section><div class="bottom-of-article" style="border: 0px; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: #333333; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="css-1ubp8k9" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 1.1875rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem; margin: 1rem auto 1.25rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);"></div><div class="css-1yif149" style="border: 0px; font-family: nyt-franklin, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.375rem; margin: 2rem auto 1rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);"><p style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">From the book "Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love" by Thomas Maier. Excerpted by arrangement with Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2009.</p></div><div class="css-i29ckm" data-testid="share-toolbar" style="-webkit-box-align: center; -webkit-box-pack: justify; align-items: center; border: 0px; display: flex; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; justify-content: space-between; line-height: inherit; margin: 1.5rem auto 2rem; max-width: 600px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: calc(100% - 40px);"><div aria-label="Social Media Share buttons, Save button, and Comments Panel with current comment count" class="css-d8bdto" data-testid="share-tools" role="toolbar" style="border: 0px; color: #999999; display: flex; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: nyt-franklin, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><ul class="css-y8aj3r" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; 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font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span class="css-1iabc1h" style="background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: url("https://www.nytimes.com/vi-assets/static-assets/icon-whatsapp-17x17-000-b100d38495ee541e2e4f30bcaf9bfe0c.svg"); background-position: center center; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 15px; border-bottom-left-radius: 100%; border-bottom-right-radius: 100%; border-top-left-radius: 100%; border-top-right-radius: 100%; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); display: inline-block; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; height: 15px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; vertical-align: middle; width: 15px;"></span></a></li></ul></div></div></div><p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></p>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-62385369036549046332021-08-15T23:36:00.005-04:002021-09-21T23:44:02.888-04:00Meeting Robert Caro<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWKS-LaRXlLpuCM0TC_iJ8sYZ_BTLmB75SCgfQTCt5vebxHlHkCcqhnK6BIl6mpd55qr1OMx7B2hSs6gzQs3DNjJ8n-Acj1EOD78Djux-mrTQL4HPcsPuDJZFD2eqERRH2_jeI3e0hVNs/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWKS-LaRXlLpuCM0TC_iJ8sYZ_BTLmB75SCgfQTCt5vebxHlHkCcqhnK6BIl6mpd55qr1OMx7B2hSs6gzQs3DNjJ8n-Acj1EOD78Djux-mrTQL4HPcsPuDJZFD2eqERRH2_jeI3e0hVNs/w400-h300/image.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Caro and Thomas Maier</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <span face="system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I chatted with Robert Caro, the Pulitzer-winning biographer, at yesterday’s East Hampton Authors Night and said how much I enjoyed his memoir which mentions his time at Newsday. A few years ago, we talked about how we both worked with the legendary Newsday editor Bob Greene at different times. I still remember reading and marveling at Caro’s The Power Broker in the 1970s and his subsequent LBJ biographies. Caro is a tremendous inspiration for those of us who write nonfiction investigative books. It’s always nice to see your heroes.</span><p></p>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3890514801356992468.post-40481473785517927502021-08-14T23:40:00.010-04:002021-09-21T23:43:24.159-04:00All That Glitters by Thomas Maier at East Hampton Authors Night<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZmvC2XmBege3wMyJe9F9luDcS4kLXOPIAbkaSSkxgl3TTK6TGRcOBrGVxrBTQrFXo9aOzOJIjnytAibrAKoLMUWOHSWIM5pF5rVSBJYRmILTiHYmJWVjaP_gzMTFIUdv1f_otuOo0M3k/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZmvC2XmBege3wMyJe9F9luDcS4kLXOPIAbkaSSkxgl3TTK6TGRcOBrGVxrBTQrFXo9aOzOJIjnytAibrAKoLMUWOHSWIM5pF5rVSBJYRmILTiHYmJWVjaP_gzMTFIUdv1f_otuOo0M3k/" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomas Maier</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">My newly updated media book, ALL THAT GLITTERS, was featured tonight among 20 authors at the East Hampton Library’s Authors Night. The glitzy Condé Nast world sounds like old Hollywood and rivals it with lead characters such as Anna Wintour, Tina Brown, The Newhouses, lawyer Roy Cohn and young Donald Trump. What happened to America’s media? This award-winning book helps tell the story.</span></p>Thomas Maierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05340940045223306423noreply@blogger.com