Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder

19 Nov 2001, 8:47 a.m.

Leonard loved this analogy, so maybe you will, too: …

Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2001 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.

Leonard loved this analogy, so maybe you will, too: Giving humorists Pulitzers for their serious work (cf. Dave Barry, who received a Pulitzer for his column on his mother's suicide) is like the habit of some schools and parents in giving their wards sex education, but wrapping it in a bunch of less necessary non-sex ed. It's as though people won't believe it's a pearl if it's not in an oyster.