Word: ruined
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Toward the end of James Dickey's life, after his liver had sent in its formal resignation (in the form of alcoholic hepatitis), he quit drinking and--though a ruin of a man, hardly able to take 10 steps without collapsing into a chair--blossomed forth with an extraordinary intellectual radiance and simplicity. He displayed as never before a splendid gift for conversation, for friendship (I knew him a little), for teaching (he was a professor for years at the University of South Carolina) and for fatherhood. It was in that last period--his once massive and muscular body shrunken...
Unfortunately, what sounds good in theory has been useless in practice. When I go home and visit the mall, I still get stares, hear people whispering about my origins and run into little kids speaking Sam Brownback-style to me. Names and stereotypes won't ruin my good moods, because I figure the people who use them don't know any better. I'm used to this, but, as my world opens up more and more, home in Topeka feels increasingly distant and unpleasant...
Your story about the use of crank, or methamphetamine, in Billings, Mont., was very personal for me [NATION, June 22]. I am the father of "Paula," a young former addict whom you included in your report. Not only does crank ruin the users, it can also devastate everyone around them. Paula's mother and I spent nearly every waking moment for more than a year seeking help everywhere we could think of. Schools, hospitals and the police told us to go elsewhere. Paula finally realized that her addiction was eventually going to kill...
...this marvelously complex, wickedly comic adaptation of Honore de Balzac's schoolroom classic, she has brought them all to ruin--the philandering father (Hugh Laurie), the spoiled daughter (Kelly MacDonald), the clueless son (Toby Stephens) and, for good measure, a self-absorbed young sculptor (Aden Young) who takes her generosity for granted, not realizing that she loves him. She spares only Elisabeth Shue's actress-courtesan, partly because she too is socially unacceptable, partly because she is so useful as the seductress Bette needs to bring off her schemes...
Parents who are aware of this cultural revolution seem mostly torn between two approaches: preaching abstinence or suggesting prophylactics--and thus condoning sex. Says Cory Hollis, 37, a father of three in the Salt Lake City area: "I don't want to see my teenage son ruin his life. But if he's going to do it, I told him that I'd go out and get him the condoms myself." Most parents seem too squeamish to get into the subtleties of instilling sexual ethics. Nor are schools up to the job of moralizing. Kids say they accept their teachers...