is on its way out,” according to Anna Quindlen, in a wonderful optimistic piece in this week’s Newsweek that could apply just as readily to the US Congress as to Quindlen’s media targets. Here’s what she says, in a nutshell:

If, as many suspect, this is either a moment for the United States to prevail or to implode, a radio program, a column or a TV talk show really matters. It’s a valuable piece of public real estate that should be earned every day, by engaging rather than interrupting, by reasoning rather than rabble-rousing. Maybe even by doing the really unthinkable in the civic auditorium and trying to move the conversation in fruitful directions. 

On another front, it’s an old and odd expression, funeralize, as in ‘We funeralized my daddy yesterday’; and of course it means what you think it means. I’ve not heard it for a long time, but I thought of it today when I read Bill McClellan’s take on the Thomas Eagleton funeral.

I had a dear friend named Joe whom we funeralized back in 2002. Like Eagleton he had left elaborate instructions for the celebration of his departure. The service included lots of New Orleans music as well as the singing of his (and my) old school song: “Oh, we see the varsiteee . . . .” I’ve always thought Joe planned his funeral because he wanted to be there, and he didn’t want a whole lot of talk about what a fine gent he was.