Nikhil Swaminathan
Reporter, Writer, Critic (and Hopefully More …)Remembering JR Minkel
A charcoal drawing of JR by his Aunt Nancy.
Exactly a year ago, I lost a close friend. JR was among the most brilliant, most engaging, and most enigmatic people I’ve met in my life. Though we were friends for only four years and change, he had a profound effect on my worldview—as he did on most people who spent any time exchanging ideas with him.
I wasn’t really able to write about JR initially after he passed. In fact, it was an email from me that informed several of his friends that he’d taken his own life last winter. Obviously, losing a friend is traumatic, but being the bearer of such awful news was among one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I spent a lot of time, especially early last year thinking and talking about JR, but I couldn’t really focus my thoughts long enough to write anything about my friend.
In late-November, a colleague of mine forwarded me an email from an editor at NPR’s This American Life. The producers of the radio show were going to curate The New York Times Magazine‘s “The Lives They Lived” issue and wanted it to focus not on the most famous people who passed, but on “people who haven’t gotten a lot of press attention but have extraordinary stories nonetheless.” My colleague thought JR qualified and suggested I submit something. So, I thought about it throughout Thanksgiving and cobbled something together, largely in JR’s words (which are far superior to my own).
As it turns out, they were actually looking for well known people, just maybe not Amy Winehouse-level well known. (No matter, the piece I submitted was way too long for their purposes anyway.) Still, the exercise was greatly beneficial for me. I got to spend a lot of time thinking about my friend. I got to spend a lot of time reading his thoughts, via his brainy, extemporaneous blog A Fistful of Science. I got to know JR better.
Below is what I submitted to the editors for their consideration.
Education Blogging at GOOD
It’s 2010. After a year of some soul-searching, unemployment-collecting and taking every possible opportunity handed to me, I have finally put together a reasonably solid base for a freelance career. I suppose that was my 2009 accomplishment.
Moving With Heavy Heart, R.I.P. Jerry Fuchs
Tonight, in Brooklyn, friends of Jerry Fuchs are gathering to share their grief, but also to share stories and celebrate the life of an extraordinary person. I count myself as a friend of Jerry’s and am both deeply saddened by his passing, as well as the fact that I cannot attend his memorial and be a physical part of the community he built in New York City. So, I’ve decided to write my thoughts and share my stories here:
Life just isn’t fair. If it were, people like Jerry Fuchs would live forever.
Teaming Up with My Pops
So, my dad and I now have a joint web venture. It’s not going to be the next Gawker or ScienceBlogs or anything, but it’s surprisingly of-the-moment, especially for peanut butter fiends. We just launched a blog dedicated to food safety. It’s called Food Safety Policy. (Sexy, right? My dad’s a former academic, so go easy.)
Anyway, we’re combining my ability to post things to a weblog with his ability to know what he’s talking about–as long as it’s about food safety–to bring news and analysis on our increasingly worrisome food supply. (Pet food, spinach, jalapenoes, oh my!)
Back on the Blog
So, I started this site back in July, during a mental health week from Scientific American. Writing a story a day (or thereabouts) on neuroscience, stem cells, or whatever was shooting me toward burnout and I needed to clear my head. I didn’t get very far, really. (I still need to fix up the banner. It’s kind of ugly.)
Well, my dance card is suddenly wide open, and I’ve got tons of time now. GOOD, which hired me away from SciAm in September, gave me my walking papers. I’m not sure entirely what to do now–the job market is a disaster. I can take a shot at freelancing, which I guess is what I am right now if any attractive ladies are asking. (“I’m Nikhil, I’m a freelance writer. I’m waiting on checks; wanna buy me a drink?” Sexy right?)
So, if for some reason you’ve been here before, expect to see some changes over the next couple weeks.
nikhil
Bill Gates Must Die*
Yesterday, I bought an iPhone. I think that officially makes me an Apple fanboy. My watershed purchase occurred just two weeks after Steve Job’s chief rival—Bill Gates—departed as CEO of Microsoft.
Gates is probably the most famous person I have ever interviewed, so I thought I would take this moment—a little late, I know—to link to a video that videographer John Pavlus made of my interview at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. (As a bonus, I am also including a short of me getting my ass kicked by a vest that translates a gunshot wound from a first-person shooter onto the gamer’s body.)
Sorry about the scaffolding …
Clearly this page is under construction. Still, there are some clips for you to peruse, as well as an email address and phone number to aid you in stalking me.
I’ll fix this place up over the next couple of weeks and start posting thoughts from time to time–hopefully building up to a reliable frequency you can base your life around.
Anyway, thanks for dropping by.
nikhil
