{"id":141570,"date":"2019-12-27T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=141570"},"modified":"2019-12-27T18:07:23","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T23:07:23","slug":"whats-the-point-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/12\/27\/whats-the-point-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the Point?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>We\u2019re away until January 6, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2019. Enjoy your holiday!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/michaelchabon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-139711\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/michaelchabon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"689\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/michaelchabon.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/michaelchabon-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/michaelchabon-768x529.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As of spring 2020, I will be stepping down as Chairman of the MacDowell Colony\u2019s Board of Directors. It\u2019s time for somebody else to sit in the chair. When I took this position, nine years ago, Barack Obama was the President of the United States, Donald Trump was facing the imminent collapse of his financial empire, and Prince, David Bowie, Leonard Nimoy, Nora Ephron, Ursula K. Le Guin, Philip Roth, Gene Wilder, Muhammad Ali, Amy Winehouse, Elmore Leonard, Alan Rickman, and my father were still with us, just to mention the people who meant a lot to me. Along with BookCourt bookstore in Brooklyn, Saab automobiles, RadioShack, and, apparently, common decency.<\/p>\n<p>So, you\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n<p>These feel like such dire times, times of violence and dislocation, schism, paranoia, and the earth-scorching politics of fear. Babies have iPads, the ice caps are melting, and your smart refrigerator is eavesdropping on your lovemaking (and, frankly, it\u2019s not impressed).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/09\/23\/whats-the-point\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read more &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the past decade, the world has gone to hell in a handbasket. Michael Chabon offers a small ray of hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60329],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-2019"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What\u2019s the Point? by Michael Chabon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the past decade, the world has gone to hell in a handbasket. 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