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Gene Weingarten

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Gene Weingarten
Gene Weingarten in 2019
Weingarten in 2019
Born
New York City, New York,U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materNew York University
OccupationWriter
Years active1972–present
EmployerFormerlyThe Washington Post
Children2

Gene Norman Weingartenis an American journalist, and former syndicated humor columnist forThe Washington Post.[1][2]He is the only two-time winner of thePulitzer PrizeforFeature Writing.[3][4]Weingarten is known for both his serious andhumorouswork.[5]Through September 2021, Weingarten's column, "Below the Beltway," was published weekly inThe Washington Postmagazine and syndicated nationally byThe Washington Post Writers Group.Weingarten also writesBarney & Clyde,a comic strip with illustrations byDavid Clark.[6]

Early life and education[edit]

Gene Norman Weingarten was born in New York City. He grew up in the southwestBronx,the son of an accountant who worked as anInternal Revenue Serviceagent and a schoolteacher.[5]In 1968, Weingarten graduated fromThe Bronx High School of Science[7]and attendedNew York University,where he started as a pre-med student but ended up majoring in psychology. He was editor of the NYU daily student newspaper,The Heights Daily News.Weingarten left college three credits short of a degree.[5]

Career[edit]

In 1972, while still in college, Weingarten's story about gangs in the South Bronx was published as a cover story inNew York Magazine.[1][8]

Weingarten's first newspaper job was with theAlbany, New York,Knickerbocker News,an afternoon daily.[9]

In 1977, he went to work at theDetroit Free Press.Weingarten then moved back to New York City to work atThe National Law Journal.[1]

From 1981 to 1990, Weingarten was editor of theMiami HeraldSunday magazine,Tropic.In 1984, he hiredDave Barry,giving one of America's best-known humor columnists his big break.[1]Tropicwon twoPulitzer Prizes,including Barry's, during Weingarten's tenure.[10]In 1984 he created theHerald Hunt,along with Barry and his current editor at the Washington Post,Tom Shroder,whom he refers to frequently in his online chats as "Tom the Butcher".

The Washington Post[edit]

In 1990, Weingarten was hired byThe Washington Post.[1]

Weingarten wrote "Below the Beltway," a weekly humor column forThe Washington Postthat was nationally syndicated.[11][12]IllustratorEric Shansbycontributed drawings to the column, which has been a long-term collaboration over 10 years.[13]

Weingarten created and, until 2003, editedThe Style Invitationalhumor contest forThe Washington Post.As part of the contest, he often hid his connection to the Invitational, using the pseudonym "The Czar." However, Weingarten admitted responsibility in 1999, writing, "I run a reader-participation contest every Sunday inThe Post.It is called The Style Invitational. "[14]He claimed credit again in 2001, acknowledging that he was editor of The Style Invitational.[15]

In 2005, one of Weingarten's in-house critiques was leaked online, where he saidThe Postwas suffering a failure of imagination.[16]Selected passages were later re-posted on his column.[17]

Weingarten hosted a popularWashington Postonline chat called "Chatological Humor," formerly known as "Tuesdays with Moron." Common topics in his online chat include the art ofcomic strips,analysis of humor, politics, philosophy, medicine, and gender differences. Many of his columns addressing gender differences have been written in a he-said, she-said style in collaboration with humoristGina Barreca,his co-author forI'm with Stupid.It was during one of these chats he coined the phrase "Marrying Irving.".[18]Hislast chatat thePostwas November 3, 2020, where he revealed that Chatalogical Humor had been cancelled, partially or wholly due to his public criticism of thePost's rollout of their new online chat software the previous week.

In 2007, for one of his "Below the Beltway" columns, he humorously enhanced his Wikipedia entry until he was caught and the edits reverted.[19]

In his live online chat on June 22, 2009, Weingarten disclosed that he had accepted a buyout offer fromThe Washington Post,which meant he was retiring as a longer-form feature writer.[1]The frequency of his online chat was reduced from weekly to monthly. His column continued under a contract withThe Post,but he stopped contributing feature-length articles. As of 2011,he was semi-retired from the paper, working on other projects.[20]

In the September 26, 2021Washington Post Magazine,he wrote his last humor column titled “The Short Goodbye.”,[21]and in a followup comment, stated that he was not retiring, just discontinuing his regular column.[22]However, Weingarten announced via Twitter on December 8, 2021, that he and thePostcould not come to terms on a new contract, and he was no longer writing for them.[23]His final story was "A Dog’s Life: Why are so many people so cruel to their dogs? My search to understand a hidden scourge".[24]

The Hypochondriac's Guide To Life. And Death[edit]

Weingarten is a self-acknowledgedhypochondriac.He was diagnosed with what was then a near-fatal infection ofHepatitis C,which led to the publication his first book, 1998'sThe Hypochondriac's Guide To Life. And Death.[1][25]

I'm with Stupid: One Man, One Woman[edit]

Weingarten cowrote a series of humor columns inThe Washington Postwith feminist writerGina Barrecaabout the differences between men and women. These became the basis of the 2004 book she and Weingarten collaborated on calledI'm with Stupid: One Man. One Woman. 10,000 Years Of Misunderstandings Between The Sexes Cleared Right Up.The two wrote for over two years via email and on the phone without having met in person. They eventually met for the first time while doing publicity for the book.[26]The book is illustrated by cartoonistRichard Thompson.

Old Dogs: Are the Best Dogs[edit]

In fall of 2008, Weingarten publishedOld Dogs: Are the Best Dogsin collaboration with photographer Michael S. Williamson. Together they profiled and photographed 63 dogs between the ages of 10 and 17 years old over the course of two and a half years. In response to the inevitable question of which dogs remained alive, Weingarten has asserted that the answer will always be "all of them."[27]Weingarten's inspiration forOld Dogscame shortly after the death of his dog, Harry S Truman, who is also featured in the book.[28]

Barney & Clyde[edit]

In June 2010, Weingarten and his son Dan began publishing the syndicated comic stripBarney & Clyde,illustrated byDavid Clark.[29][30]The comic is about the friendship between billionaire, J. Barnard Pillsbury, and a homeless man named Clyde Finster.[31]The comic took over five years to develop, with theMiami Herald,The Washington Post,and theChicago Tribuneearly supporters.[32]

Me & Dog[edit]

In September 2014, Weingarten publishedMe & Dog,a picture book, in collaboration with illustratorEric Shansby.The book is about a young boy Sid and his dog, Murphy.[13]It is said to be the first atheist-themed children's book. Weingarten said he wrote the book in response to the lack of literature geared towards children and atheism − and a counterbalance to the prevalence of books likeHeaven Is for Real.[33]

One Day[edit]

In October 2019 Weingarten publishedOne Day,an exhaustive look into a random day in American history. The date was chosen by children picking numbers out of a hat: It was December 28, 1986. The premise was that if you dig deeply enough, there is no such thing as an ordinary day. In 2019, it was ranked bySlateas one of the 50 best nonfiction books of the past 25 years.[34]

Substack[edit]

In January 2023, Gene resumed his chat (now twice-weekly, on Tuesdays and Thursdays) on theSubstackpublishing website, now entitled "The Gene Pool".It is free to read, but participation requires a subscription ($50 per year).

Other work[edit]

Weingarten has written three screenplays, one in collaboration with humoristDave Barryand two in collaboration withDavid Simon,includingB Major,about a piano marathon conducted inScrantonin 1970. None of the screenplays has yet been produced.[35]

Awards[edit]

From 1987 to 1988, Weingarten was a fellow at theNieman Foundation for JournalismatHarvard University.[36]

In 2006, Weingarten won theMissouri Lifestyle Journalism Awardfor Multicultural Journalism for his Washington Post Magazine feature articleSnowbound.

In 2008, Weingarten was awarded thePulitzer Prize for Feature Writingfor hisWashington Poststory, "Pearls Before Breakfast,"[37]"his chronicling of a world-class violinist (Joshua Bell) who, as an experiment, played beautiful music in a subway station filled with unheeding commuters. "[3][38]The night Weingarten returned from accepting his Pulitzer Prize, he received an email from a librarian named Paul Musgrave from theRichard Nixon Presidential Library,who told him that he had recently seen an article about a similar experiment that theChicago Evening Postdid in May 1930 where they had the virtuoso Jacques Gordon play hisStradivariusviolin outside a subway station to see if commuters would notice the music. The article, entitled "Famous Fiddler in Disguise Gets $5.61 in Curb Concerts," showed commuters displaying the same disinterest as Weingarten described in his article. It turns out Joshua Bell had owned that sameStradivariusviolin for over 10 years.[12][39]

In 2010, Weingarten was awarded a secondPulitzer Prize for Feature Writingfor hisWashington Poststory, "Fatal Distraction,"[40]"his haunting story about parents, from varying walks of life, who accidentally kill their children by forgetting them in cars."[4]Weingarten said he had a lucky break when his daughter was younger when he almost left her behind in the car when they lived in Florida.[41][42]

In 2014, Weingarten was awarded the National Society of Newspaper Columnists' Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award.[43]

Personal life[edit]

Weingarten has lived in many places on the East Coast, but as he and his family settled in the Washington, D.C., area, they lived for a time inBethesda, Maryland.[44]Since 2001 he has lived in theCapitol Hillneighborhood of Washington, D.C.,[45]with his wife, Arlene Reidy, an attorney, but in a column published August 10, 2017, announced that the marriage had collapsed.[46]He has since made several references to a girlfriend in online chats, and at least one column, and in his chat of June 2, 2019, revealed that his girlfriend was Rachel Manteuffel, a 36-year-old editor and fellow writer for theWashington Post.He has two children, Molly Weingarten, a veterinarian, and Dan Weingarten, a cartoonist.[47]

Weingarten has stated he is an atheist.[48][49]He is an amateurhorologist.[50]

Controversy[edit]

On August 19, 2021, Weingarten published a column inThe Washington Posttitled "You can’t make me eat these foods".[51]The column outlines many foods Weingarten dislikes, including hazelnuts, sweet pickles, and "Indian food." It stated that Indian food is "the only ethnic cuisine in the world based entirely on one spice."Padma Lakshmishared the article and criticized both Weingarten andThe Washington Postfor publishing content with racist undertones.[52][53][54]Celebrities of South Asian descentMeena Harris,Mindy KalingandSalman Rushdiealso publicly criticized the piece.[55][56][57]

On August 23, thePostappended a correction to the top of the original article piece: "A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Indian cuisine is based on one spice, curry, and that Indian food is made up only of curries, types of stew. In fact, India’s vastly diverse cuisines use many spice blends and include many other types of dishes. The article has been corrected."[58]

Works and publications[edit]

Books
  • Weingarten, Gene; Barry, Dave (introduction); Staake, Bob (illustrations) (1998).The Hypochondriac's Guide to Life and Death.New York: Simon & Schuster.ISBN978-0-684-85280-5.OCLC39347929.
  • Weingarten, Gene; Barreca, Regina; Thompson, Richard (illustrations) (2004).I'm with Stupid: One Man, One Woman: 10,000 Years of Misunderstanding between the Sexes Cleared Right Up.New York: Simon & Schuster.ISBN978-0-7432-4420-6.OCLC53285202.
  • Weingarten, Gene; Williamson, Michael (photographs) (2008).Old Dogs: Are the Best Dogs.New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.ISBN978-1-4165-3499-0.OCLC156975381.
  • Weingarten, Gene (2010).The Fiddler in the Subway: The True Story of What Happened When a World-Class Violinist Played for Handouts -- and Other Virtuoso Performances by America's Foremost Feature Writer.New York: Simon & Schuster.ISBN978-1-4391-8160-7.OCLC891943904.[59]
  • Weingarten, Gene; Shansby, Eric (illustrations) (2014).Me & Dog.New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.ISBN978-1-4424-9414-5.OCLC906830301.[60]
  • Weingarten, Gene (2019).One Day.New York:Blue Rider Press.ISBN978-0-3991-6666-2.[61]
Selected articles

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefgBartlett, Tom (December 5, 2011)."How Do You Explain Gene Weingarten?".Washingtonian.
  2. ^Weingarten, Gene (February 2, 2006)."Just the FAQs".The Washington Post.
  3. ^ab"The 2008 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Feature Writing: Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post".Pulitzer Prize.2008.
  4. ^ab"The 2010 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Feature Writing: Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post".Pulitzer Prize.2010.
  5. ^abcMechanic, Michael (June 30, 2010)."Secrets of a Two-Time Pulitzer Winner".Mother Jones.
  6. ^Pollock, Ben (September 2, 2013)."Post's Weingarten 2014 Lifetime Achiever".National Society of Newspaper Columnists.
  7. ^Austin, Ben (April 10, 2010)."Washington Post's Gene Weingarten ('68) Wins a Second Pulitzer Prize".The Bronx Science Alumni Association.
  8. ^Weingarten, Gene (March 27, 1972)."Are You Ready for the New, Ultra-Violent Street Gang?".New York Magazine.
  9. ^Kindred, Dave (2010). "Part II:" How Could Anyone Not Want to be a Reporter? Chapter 7. Gene Weingarten ".Morning Miracle: Inside The Washington Post: A Great Newspaper Fights for Its Life.New York: Doubleday. pp. 85–93.ISBN978-0-385-53210-5.OCLC669067079.
  10. ^"Pulitzer Prize Winners – Florida Newspapers (1939–2000)"(PDF).University of Florida.
  11. ^Weingarten, Gene; Von Drehle, David; Hendrickson, Paul (November 12, 2008)."Journalists in Conversation: Gene Weingarten, David Von Drehle, and Paul Hendrickson".The Kelly Writers House.University of Pennsylvania.
  12. ^abWeingarten, Gene; Von Drehle, David; Hendrickson, Paul (November 12, 2008)."Journalists in Conversation: Gene Weingarten, David Von Drehle, and Paul Hendrickson"(Video).The Kelly Writers House.University of Pennsylvania.
  13. ^abNnamdi, Kojo (September 18, 2014)."Gene Weingarten & Eric Shansby on Comedy and Collaboration"(Audio with transcript).The Kojo Nnamdi Show.No. Interview starts at 20:27.WAMU.
  14. ^Weingarten, Gene (January 12, 1999)."Memo: A Home Team Name Game".The Washington Post.
  15. ^Weingarten, Gene (September 18, 2001)."Not Funny: The Rules of Humor Changed on Sept. 11".The Washington Post.
  16. ^Garrett (November 4, 2005)."Post is Suffering a 'Failure of Imagination'".Mediabistro.Archived fromthe originalon June 25, 2006.
  17. ^Weingarten, Gene (November 8, 2005)."Chatological Humor*".The Washington Post.
  18. ^Weingarten, Gene (February 8, 2005)."Chatological Humor* (Updated 2.11.05)".The Washington Post.Archived fromthe originalon October 20, 2012.
  19. ^Weingarten, Gene (March 11, 2007)."Wiki Watchee".The Washington Post.
  20. ^Johnston, Caitlin (July 19, 2011)."Gene Weingarten to speak at Mayborn conference".Dallas News.
  21. ^Weingarten, Gene (September 23, 2021)."Perspective | Gene Weingarten: I won't humor you anymore".Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.RetrievedSeptember 25,2021.
  22. ^Weingarten, Gene."I Won't Humor You Any More".RetrievedOctober 5,2021.
  23. ^Gene Weingarten [@geneweingarten](December 8, 2021)."This turns out to have been my last story for the Wapo. We couldn't come to terms on a new contract. I have dramatic & spectacular thoughts about this but after 30 years with talented people & an institution I revere, that's what they'll remain: Thoughts"(Tweet).RetrievedDecember 8,2021– viaTwitter.
  24. ^Weingarten, Gene (November 11, 2021)."A Dog's Life Why are so many people so cruel to their dogs? My search to understand a hidden scourge".Washington Post.RetrievedDecember 8,2021.
  25. ^Montagne, Renee (September 29, 1998)."The Cure For Hypochondria"(Includes Real Media audio link).Morning Edition.NPR.
  26. ^Morales, Tatiana (February 9, 2004)."'I'm With Stupid'".CBS News.
  27. ^Weingarten, Gene (October 7, 2008)."Chatological Humor: Dogs, Palin, Mencken and a Little Advice for the Lovelorn (Updated 10.10.08)".The Washington Post.
  28. ^Weingarten, Gene (October 5, 2008)."Something About Harry: Gene Weingarten on Why Old Dogs Are the Best Dogs".The Washington Post.
  29. ^Gardner, Alan (March 24, 2010)."Barney and Clyde to launch in June".The Daily Cartoonist.
  30. ^Cavna, Michael (March 24, 2010)."Comic Riffs - Post comics changes: Of Barney, Clyde & Gene (Weingarten)".The Washington Post.
  31. ^Pierce, Scott D. (September 16, 2011)."New comic strip is a father-son collaboration".The Salt Lake Tribune.
  32. ^Gyllenhaal, Anders (June 7, 2010)."Inside the Newsroom: Barney and Clyde"(Video).Miami Herald.Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2021.
  33. ^Garfield, Bob (October 3, 2014)."Me and Dog".On the Media.WNYC.
  34. ^Kois, Dan; Miller, Laura (November 18, 2019)."The 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Past 25 Years".Slate.RetrievedAugust 5,2022.
  35. ^Kaufman, Anthony (October 25, 2010)."David Simon on 'Treme' and Why Journalism Might Not Be Doomed".The Wall Street Journal.
  36. ^"Class of 1988 - Nieman Foundation".Nieman Foundation for Journalism.1988.
  37. ^Weingarten, Gene (April 8, 2007)."Pearls Before Breakfast: Can one of the nation's great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let's find out".The Washington Post.
  38. ^Siegel, Robert (April 7, 2008)."Commuter Concerto Helps Writer Net Pulitzer".NPR.
  39. ^Weingarten, Gene (June 29, 2008)."Fiddling Around With History".The Washington Post.
  40. ^Weingarten, Gene (March 8, 2009)."Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime?".The Washington Post.
  41. ^"When a Child Dies:" Fatal Distraction "- The Washington Post".Casey Journalism Center for Children and Families.December 9, 2012.
  42. ^Weingarten, Gene (December 9, 2012)."When a Child Dies: Gene Weingarten talks about" Fatal Distraction ""(video).JCCF Journalism Center on Children & Families.[dead YouTube link]
  43. ^"Lifetime Achievement Hall of Fame: 2014, Washington, D.C., Gene Weingarten".National Society of Newspaper Columnists.November 30, 2015.
  44. ^Weingarten, Gene (December 18, 2007)."Chatological Humor: Swiss Family pR0n".The Washington Post.
  45. ^Weingarten, Gene (January 31, 2006)."Chatological Humor* (Updated 2.3.06)".The Washington Post.
  46. ^Weingarten, Gene (August 10, 2017)."Saved, by a whisker".The Washington Post.RetrievedMay 30,2020.
  47. ^Weingarten, Gene (August 2, 2005)."Chatological Humor* (Updated 8.05.05)".The Washington Post.
  48. ^Weingarten, Gene (March 8, 2009)."Me, in a Nutshell".The Washington Post.
  49. ^Weingarten, Gene (August 21, 2007)."Presumptions of Magic in Life"(Faxed drawing).The Washington Post.
  50. ^Weeks, Linton (February 28, 2012)."Found Time: How To Spend The 24 Hours Of Leap Day".Around the Nation.NPR.
  51. ^"Perspective | Gene Weingarten: You can't make me eat these foods".Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.RetrievedAugust 24,2021.
  52. ^"Padma Lakshmi has scathing response to writer who said he doesn't 'get' Indian food".TODAY.com.August 23, 2021.RetrievedAugust 24,2021.
  53. ^Capretti, Lucia (August 23, 2021)."Padma Lakshmi Just Clapped Back At This Reductive Food Opinion".Mashed.com.RetrievedAugust 24,2021.
  54. ^Lakshmi, Padma (August 23, 2021)."What in the white nonsense(TM) sign is this?".Twitter.RetrievedAugust 24,2021.
  55. ^Yadav, Prerna (August 24, 2021)."Padma Lakshmi, Mindy Kaling among others slam viral post saying Indian cuisine consists of one spice".www.indiatvnews.com.RetrievedAugust 24,2021.
  56. ^"Meena Harris, Mindy Kaling & Padma Lakshmi lash out at a post that said Indian cuisine consists of ONE spice".www.msn.com.RetrievedAugust 24,2021.
  57. ^Rushdie, Salman (August 24, 2021)."Tweet about Gene Weingarten".Twitter.
  58. ^"Washington Post Corrects Column That Dissed Indian Food".The Daily Beast.August 24, 2021.RetrievedAugust 24,2021.
  59. ^"The Fiddler in the Subway by Gene Weingarten".Kirkus Reviews.December 22, 2010.
  60. ^"Me & Dog by Gene Weingarten".Kirkus Reviews.July 29, 2014.
  61. ^"One Day by Gene Weingarten".Kirkus Reviews.August 4, 2019.

Further reading[edit]

  • Kindred, Dave (2010). "Part II:" How Could Anyone Not Want to be a Reporter? Chapter 7. Gene Weingarten ".Morning Miracle: Inside The Washington Post: A Great Newspaper Fights for Its Life.New York: Doubleday. pp. 85–93.ISBN978-0-385-53210-5.OCLC669067079.

External links[edit]

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