Blessed Event

"Spin" has become the buzzword of our times. That and "buzzword." The Italians have a saying, bella figura, that roughly translated means "a good front," as in maintaining an image. Appearance over substance, but in Italy it's used in a benign way having to do with keeping the dirty laundry in the family, eating watered-down soup and scraps of bread so you, the signora, and bambini can parade in the piazza on Sunday looking spiffy. Spin, on the other hand, signifies the Big Lie that doesn't so much mask the truth as turn it to one's advantage. Before mass media and instant communication slimed its way into human life and spread its tentacles everywhere, it was possible for royalty, politicians, religious leaders, and captains of industry to maintain their fictional fronts with nothing more challenging to their deceptions than plugging an occasional leak, but nowadays sooner or later everyone's stumbles show up on YouTube, and our allotted fifteen minutes of fame has turned into thrity seconds of notoriety that must be spun. Still, the reality is that you can't turn chicken poop into chicken salad. The best you can do is make chicken poop salad.