Just Sayin’—Jonathan Lemire and The Atlantic Festival in NYC

What is the acronym, iykyk? But if you have not heard, this is just to say Lowell’s Jonathan Lemire (living in New York now), top-tier journalist and book-writer, regular on MSNOW’s “Morning Joe” broadcast, and staff writer at The Atlantic, which, since 1857, has been into big ideas, thoughtful reporting, and creative expression–well, Jon was featured at the magazine’s annual festival this month.

In Massachusetts we still think of The Atlantic as one of our natural intellectual resources, but after 150 years the operation moved to Washington, D.C. That’s OK, we still subscribe and look forward to the latest writing in print or increasingly online.

The festival roster was large and included Pete Buttigieg, Anne Applebaum, Colin Kaepernick, Sen. Mark Kelly, David Brooks, Padma Lakshmi, Laura Linney, Haberman & Swan from the NYTimes, Derek Wang, Karl Rove, Vivian Tu, Kurt Anderson, Mae Ngai, and many more interesting folks from various sectors of society.

For anyone wondering about the roots of The Atlantic, consider these early period contributors: R. W. Emerson, Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Louisa May Alcott, J. G. Whittier, Julia Ward, Frederick Douglass, James Russell Lowell  . . .