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Annals of Journalistic Awkwardness
The year is still young, but when the time comes to look back at 2010's media lowlights, the embarrassing demise of Sally Quinn's Washington Post column, "The Party," will almost certainly rank near the top of the list.

The year is still young, but when the time comes to look back at 2010's media lowlights, the embarrassing demise of Sally Quinn's Washington Post column, "The Party," will almost certainly rank near the top of the list.

Some quick background: Quinn is the wife of Ben Bradlee, the legendary former Post editor who presided over the paper's history-changing Watergate coverage. She and Bradlee have a son, Quinn, who's engaged to DC yoga instructor Pary Williamson. The two lovebirds were originally scheduled to tie the knot in October. But then, after Williamson learned she was pregnant, a decision was made to push the date earlier. (As the groom-to-be told politicsdaily.com, his fiancée "didn't want to be a big mama walking down the aisle.")

Here's where it gets juicy. The new Bradlee-Williamson date — April 10 — happens to be the same date that one of Ben Bradlee's grandaughters, Greta Bradlee, is getting hitched. (Greta is the child of former Globe deputy managing editor Ben Bradlee Jr. and his ex-wife, ABC newswoman and former WCVB-TV reporter Martha Raddatz; Bradlee Jr. is now married to Boston PR bigwig Jan Saragoni.)

Family dysfunction is always fascinating from the outside, and family dysfunction among the rich and famous is even more intriguing — so it's no wonder that Quinn's seeming decision to cut in on her step-granddaughter's big day garnered plenty of coverage. ("We've all experienced a Bridezilla or six in our day," snarked the Herald's "Inside Track." "But when did it become stylish for the step-grandmother of the bride to behave badly?")

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Brown biology professor attacked by Darwin-hating fundies and leftie atheists alike
What’s an honorable man to do?

Photo: Richard McCaffrey (taken at the Providence Athenaeum) DARWIN’S SPOKESMAN What happens when America’s top evolutionist goes to church?

Brown University biology professor Kenneth R. Miller is, perhaps, the nation's most important Darwinist.

He has spilled considerable ink in defense of evolution. Debated creationists in Rhode Island and Florida. He was the star witness in a high-profile Pennsylvania schools case that put creationism's latest iteration, intelligent design, on trial.

And when President George W. Bush suggested in 2005 that intelligent design make its way into the classroom, everyone from The O'Reilly Report to National Public Radio came calling.

But lately, there has been a curious turn in the tale. Miller has come under heavy attack from Darwin's fiercest acolytes: the New Atheists, a collection of sharp-elbowed intellectuals who have filled the New York Times best seller list in recent years with provocative broadsides against God.

A flush-faced Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, shook his finger at Miller during a tense panel discussion at New York University a few years ago. Christopher Hitchens, who wrote God Is Not Great, accused Miller of doing "damage to the good name of science" — and worse — in a recent on-line debate.

And Jerry Coyne, the University of Chicago biology professor who penned Why Evolution Is True, wrote a lengthy essay in The New Republic last year attempting to dismantle Miller and his intellectual ally Karl W. Giberson.

The source of their concern: Miller, a practicing Catholic, has made a very public bid in the last decade or so to square religion and science; to mix church and state, in their view. "It's an effort to reconcile a legitimate discipline," says biology professor and prominent atheist blogger PZ Myers, "with foolishness."

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Brown biology professor attacked by Darwin-hating fundies and leftie atheists alike
What’s an honorable man to do?

Photo: Richard McCaffrey (taken at the Providence Athenaeum) DARWIN’S SPOKESMAN What happens when America’s top evolutionist goes to church?

Brown University biology professor Kenneth R. Miller is, perhaps, the nation's most important Darwinist.

He has spilled considerable ink in defense of evolution. Debated creationists in Rhode Island and Florida. He was the star witness in a high-profile Pennsylvania schools case that put creationism's latest iteration, intelligent design, on trial.

And when President George W. Bush suggested in 2005 that intelligent design make its way into the classroom, everyone from The O'Reilly Report to National Public Radio came calling.

But lately, there has been a curious turn in the tale. Miller has come under heavy attack from Darwin's fiercest acolytes: the New Atheists, a collection of sharp-elbowed intellectuals who have filled the New York Times best seller list in recent years with provocative broadsides against God.

A flush-faced Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, shook his finger at Miller during a tense panel discussion at New York University a few years ago. Christopher Hitchens, who wrote God Is Not Great, accused Miller of doing "damage to the good name of science" — and worse — in a recent on-line debate.

And Jerry Coyne, the University of Chicago biology professor who penned Why Evolution Is True, wrote a lengthy essay in The New Republic last year attempting to dismantle Miller and his intellectual ally Karl W. Giberson.

The source of their concern: Miller, a practicing Catholic, has made a very public bid in the last decade or so to square religion and science; to mix church and state, in their view. "It's an effort to reconcile a legitimate discipline," says biology professor and prominent atheist blogger PZ Myers, "with foolishness."

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Like his homeboy Scott Brown, Boston's elephant in the room is poised to make noise beyond Massachusetts
Like his homeboy Scott Brown, Boston's elephant in the room is poised to make noise beyond Massachusetts

EAT AT JOE’S: Ligotti is a force of nature on the airwaves, but the plus-size gadfly truly gets loose over a plate — or several plates — of food.

Even in a world of Howie Carrs and Jay Severins, Joe Ligotti might be the most bizarre broadcast talent working in New England talk radio. And not just because the weekend WTKK host is a foul-mouthed mountain of a man weighing in at 400-plus pounds.

The 44-year-old Ligotti — better known as The Guy from Boston from a series of YouTube tirades he began detonating four years ago — has a growing following among conservatives and so-called moderates who worship cultural anomalies. His popularity is no surprise; for three hours on Saturday afternoons, Ligotti and his co-host Lawrence "Huggy" Bergman enliven — or, depending on your perspective, pollute — the airwaves with artful rhetoric that ranges from the familiar to the phenomenal.

For now, Ligotti occupies a small slice of the Hub's talk ozone. But the recurring Fox News contributor and onetime Tonight Show guest has the potential to surpass his yapper contemporaries and tread nationally. Anything is possible in the Scott Brown era — especially for Ligotti, who campaigned alongside the Wrentham Republican, and who often raps with the senator on and off the air.

To appreciate the girth of his personality — from amiable Everyguy to seething hatemonger — it is best to catch Ligotti off the microphone and over a plate, or several plates, of food. That's what I did over spicy tuna rolls and much more at Jae's in the South End.

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On the front lines of Obama's campaign in Afghanistan
Major Jim Contreras was awaiting his marching orders. Literally.

Major Jim Contreras was awaiting his marching orders. Literally. Stuck in Lashkar Gah, the capital of the Afghan province of Helmand, he was supposed to take his troops, along with a unit of an elite Afghan police force known as ANCOP, to secure the area around Nawa, so the people there could vote. It was part of the past year's biggest US offensive against the Taliban. But he couldn't leave, because his Afghan counterparts hadn't gotten their official order from the Ministry of Interior. The order had been signed five days earlier, but it had to be delivered to the commander, Colonel Gulam Sakhi Gahfori, by courier, with its seal intact. Then again, Colonel Sakhi had also not gotten basic supplies like fuel, ammunition, and radios. Contreras and Sakhi spent a fair amount of time discussing how the Afghans were to refuel at Nawa. Nobody knew if there were any gas stations there.

Contreras is a small man with a big grin who served in Bosnia, Haiti, and the first Gulf War. He was excited about his work in Afghanistan. He believed he was fighting to protect the American way of life. His wife had been working near the Pentagon when it was hit on 9/11. "This is in its infancy," he said. "We're beginning to see the military might that we as a nation can bring."

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Barack's Best Buddy
Speakers rarely get as warm a welcome as President Barack Obama's senior advisor Valerie Jarrett received last Thursday at Harvard Kennedy School.

Speakers rarely get as warm a welcome as President Barack Obama's senior advisor Valerie Jarrett received last Thursday at Harvard Kennedy School. But just weeks after Scott Brown assumed his US Senate seat — a victory that proved even the bluest of states could deliver a red-letter day to frustrated national conservatives — evidence of the contentious political environment was nowhere in sight.

Instead, Jarrett — who has been painted as a "slumlord" by some and called a left-wing extremist by teapartiers — was greeted with a standing ovation and, in keeping with the theme of amity surrounding her public conversation with former presidential advisor and current Harvard professor David Gergen, referred to as the president's "First Friend."

A long-time mentor to Obama who first introduced him and his wife to Chicago power players, Jarrett vacillated between her professional and personal roles, referring to the president by his first name when discussing the time they spend together outside of work. "Of course he's Barack then," she told Gergen, who appeared shocked by the informality.

Though she maintained her composure under the bright lights when talking about creating jobs and moving health-care reform forward, Jarrett's professionalism was superseded by a broad smile when talking about her decades-old companion. "I don't brag about him too much," Jarrett said, "but he is pretty terrific."

Stressing Obama's ability to listen and his even-keeled temperament, Jarrett explained that the president does not fight back against Republicans, teapartiers, and birthers in the way many of his supporters wish he would — though of all his critics, "the birthers really do annoy him."

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Jungle Fever
In the corner of the lab of Shire Human Genetic Therapies in Cambridge, you’ll find a guy with DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST written across his lab coat, unassumingly purifying proteins.

In the corner of the lab of Shire Human Genetic Therapies in Cambridge, you’ll find a guy with DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST written across his lab coat, unassumingly purifying proteins. But if you wanted to find this science guy two months ago, you would’ve needed an extensive GPS system and a boatload of courage. And even then, you may not have tracked him down — after all, the jungles and deserted roads of the Amazon aren’t exactly tourist-friendly.

For 10 weeks last fall, Somerville resident Douglas Gunzelmann trekked the TransAmazonica, a 3700-mile highway through South America, on a bicycle — something only a handful of people have accomplished. Here’s an added Digital Age novelty: he blogged about it the whole time, at amazonpilgrim.com. The blog chronicles his journey in nine chapters, with photos and an interactive map that tracked his progress from Lima, Peru, to the mouth of the river in Belem. Not only is Gunzelmann a survivor, then; he’s also resourceful enough to find an Internet connection in the middle of Brazilian boonies.

Even more incredible: this Bostonian had almost zero background in long-distance cycling and minimal Portuguese-language skills. But he wasn’t completely unprepared. “My research was googling,” Gunzelmann offers, adding, “Training didn’t consist of much.”

Confessedly a man who is prone to conjuring up far-fetched plans, Gunzelmann was this time decisive about his trek, inspired by a National Geographic article. “I said, ‘I’m going to do this.”

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Governor's Council
As if Democrats don't have enough problems with attacks from tea-bagging circus clowns, now one local pol is being targeted by fellow donkeys.

As if Democrats don't have enough problems with attacks from tea-bagging circus clowns, now one local pol is being targeted by fellow donkeys. In the Massachusetts Governor's Council race for the second district — a slice of the commonwealth comprising parts of Bristol, Norfolk, Middlesex, and Suffolk counties — incumbent and political legacy Kelly Timilty has come under fire by party activists intent on her not seeking another two-year term.

Collectively, the assailants call themselves the District 2 Dems Against Another K. Timilty Campaign, and are led by Plainville Democratic Town Committee Chair Mary-Ann Greanier (who is acting independent of that position). "Trust me, there are things I'd rather be doing," says Greanier. "There's the governor's race, and because of Scott Brown we have a special [State Senate] election here in, like, 10 minutes. . . . [But] the least that we can do is get the word out there about her."

Despite threats posed to Bay State Dems by Republicans and so-called independent voters, Greanier and a reported 35 of her allies have mobilized to roust Timilty from office. Their gripe: in 2008, Timilty admitted to using Governor Deval Patrick's endorsement in campaign literature without consent and forging his signature. For the farce, she was fined $8000 by the attorney general's office.

The group has called upon other operatives to rally troops against Timilty. In response, the councilor's brother and adviser, Greg Timilty, says that though his sister has not yet decided to run, "she will not be bullied out of the race by two dozen people." Timilty herself did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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Tooting Our Own Horn Dept.
Was 2009 a good year for newspapers?

Was 2009 a good year for newspapers? Considering that many disappeared forever last year, and that the rest of us ink-stained kvetches fought for our lives, the answer might seem to be a resounding "no." But, as the New England Newspaper & Press Association (NENPA) demonstrated this past weekend in its annual Better Newspaper Contest, the year also produced a staggering amount of quality journalism.

And the judges of said contest clearly thought that much of the quality journalism was produced by the Boston Phoenix, which made another strong showing in the six-state news-off: we took home 18 prizes altogether, 11 of them first-place trophies.

Most notable of our fresh mantle-ware was former Phoenix staff writer Mike Miliard securing the Journalist of the Year (Weekly) prize. That now makes two straight contests that the Phoenix took the Journalist of the Year prize: our David S. Bernstein won it last year.

The Phoenix also showcased the diversity of our talents, winning awards for editorial (for arts, news, editorials, and features), design (for overall design, photos, illustrations, and photo illustrations), and multimedia (a convergence award for the best melding of edit and Internet sensibilities).

The contest was previously staged by NEPA (the New England Press Association), which transmuted this year into the slightly more awkward acronym NENPA when it merged with the New England Newspaper Association. There are more than 550 member newspapers in NENPA.

Congrats to all winners, both here and at other papers.

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Operation Ceasefire brought peace to the streets, and then let it all slip away
In its five years from conception to unraveling, the Boston Gun Project's Operation Ceasefire became one of the most respected urban defensives in American history.

The war over peace: A decade removed from the 'Boston Miracle,' violent crime once again has parts of the city under siege. Can the miracle makers usher in another period of peace without shooting themselves in the foot? By Chris Faraone.

In its five years from conception to unraveling, the Boston Gun Project's Operation Ceasefire became one of the most respected urban defensives in American history. Though primarily fronted by the BPD and its Harvard architects, the strategy is perceived to have worked on the strength of remarkable cooperation between various municipal forces and resources, from streetworkers and probation officers to ordinary citizens and ministers.

Starting on May 15, 1996, Boston gangbangers were addressed directly by detectives, who made no secret of heightened scrutiny and severe penalties for violent convictions. Those who committed crimes discovered that cops and prosecutors were serious; one youth was sentenced to 19 years for possessing one unfired bullet, while 23 members of Roxbury's notorious Intervale Posse were arrested in a single sweep. There were an unprecedented number of federal cases being made for such crimes, and authorities advertised that new reality with a massive press, poster, and literature campaign.

According to a US Department of Justice report analyzing Operation Ceasefire, the project helped downtrend monthly violent crime to the tune of: a 63 percent decrease in youth homicides; a 25 percent decrease in gun assaults; and a 44 percent decrease in the number of youth gun assaults in the highest-risk district, Roxbury. Those measures are impressive by any standards and earned many media and academic accolades. But now, the consensus among scholars, pols, and those in between is that Boston let a good thing slip away.

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