How to Properly Reward Your Favorite Starving Writer

The rich: they're different from you and me. You read a story you like, you send a letter to the editor. A rich guy reads a story he likes and sends a $20,000 check to the writer.

The rich: they're different from you and me. You read a story you like, you send a letter to the editor. A rich guy reads a story he likes and sends a $20,000 check to the writer.
It's going to be a warm and sunny weekend, which is a good thing considering that you're not going to be indoors reading the Sunday New York Times. If the Big Three sections (Arts, Books, Mag) are any indication, you'll quickly scan the sports scores and then head out to the park for some ultimate frisbee or whatever.…
Today's Times offers a profile of Atul Gawande, surgeon and New Yorker contributor, which coincides with the arrival of his second essay collection, Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance. Gawande—in spite of the fact that he listens to The Killers—is clearly a genius (he's got the MacArthur grant to prove it). But…