News is old in hours these days.

I spent yesterday morning on a slow bus from Massachusetts to New York City (in my Midwestern ignorance, I had believed Sunday's Amtrak train would be on time and I would make it to class Monday morning) and managed to miss David Remnick, the Editor-in-Chief of The New Yorker, talking to us on the very morning the controversial cover hit the newsstand.

Is the New Yorker so out of touch that they don't realize that much of America, or at least too much of America, harbors these very concerns about Obama and his wife?

Um, the last time I talked to my McCain-lovin' conservative friends, they weren't blowing up New Yorker covers and pasting them on billboards over churches in the Bible Belt. There's been too much written about this already, but I do find the "terrorist fist jab" funny. And there's no reason magazines shouldn't publish controversial covers - on the contrary, I love the stir. You can't say magazines are "dying" or "irrelevant" when they cause this kind of chaos. This is the perfect time for Obama to confront these misconceptions head-on, especially on national TV. I can't say I love the image of Michelle Obama, because I feel she's rather sacred. But good for The New Yorker for finding ways to shock and spark debate.

Okay, it's been almost forty-eight hours. Let's talk about something else. How about this link from Green Grown and Sexy, a site for women to sell jewelry from ex-boyfriends? Why didn't anyone think of this before?

Barack is even ready to move on. He's quoted this morning talking about his affection for Wilco.

But seriously. Maybe it's just the tone of the magazine workshop, but I'm feeling impatient for entertainment over politics. After a stack of free magazines from CondeNast last night, and a visit this morning by Christopher Kimball, the President and Publisher of Cook's Illustrated, I want to try recipes and read fashion magazines all day long. Kimball told us all morning long that nobody intelligent wants to buy more intelligent magazines - after frying our brains last week in the book workshop, I'm afraid most of us had to agree.

We had a great panel tonight with Vibe Magazine and Rolling Stone. I will do my best to type up the notes tomorrow. It's harder to keep up each day we're here - last week we were working until five or even eight AM before another day of meetings and work, and I'm afraid I've deserted you for my imaginary press. Don't you worry. I'll be back.

Finally, here's a video from the lovely Feist, with her adapted version of "1 2 3 4" on Sesame Street. Watch her, love her.