Edward Said dies

… read the New York Times obit. Said’s life offers a plain lesson about the tendency of the media to pigeonhole people. From the story:

He was an exemplar of American multiculturalism, at home both in Arabic and English, but, as he once put it, “a man who lived two quite separate lives,” one as an American university professor, the other as a fierce critic of American and Israeli policies and an equally fierce proponent of the Palestinian cause.

Though a defender of Islamic civilization, Mr. Said was an Episcopalian married to a Quaker. He was also an excellent pianist who for several years was the music critic for The Nation.

In this biz we tend to forget people have such complicated lives. Probably because it’s hard to get it all into a tight head count.