Frank McCourt Forced Irish Lit on Kids Before He Was Even PublishedOne of New York’s most beloved crotchety old men (don’t worry, Andy Rooney, we love you too) is taken to task today in “Page Six” for being a bad English teacher before he was a Pulitzer Prize–winning author. “He was very self-absorbed,” former student Fred Kwon said. “[James Joyce] was the only writer we read. McCourt would say we were useless, or that we were not ready to be educated. Sometimes he would stop talking for 15 minutes and he would just read the paper.” Kwon said his students were also disobedient, and he “felt really bad for” McCourt. Wow – it all sounds so dramatic and unruly! Was he a teacher in the school from Lean on Me? Oh, no, wait. He taught at Stuyvesant, the best public school in the city. Right.
Great Writer, Lousy Teacher? [NYP]
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Quarterback SackedBridget Moynahan won’t actually see Tom Brady and is only giving him limited access to their newborn son. Late New York Giants owner Wellington Mara’s eleven kids are going through problems, both personal and business-related. Christie Brinkley didn’t attend the Hampton Classic Horse Show because Peter Cook and a new girlfriend were inside. Note to male tennis players: Do not date Martina Hingis. Julia Stiles helped boyfriend Jonathan Cramer install one of his sculptures on Central Park North. Jack Nicholson once jumped out a window after Hunter S. Thompson pulled a gun out in a house. Music mogul Irv Gotti made it to day three of a $10,000 World Poker Tour event. A former Stuyvesant High School student of Frank McCourt said the Pulitzer Prize winner was not a great English teacher. James Blount hooked up with another model, this time in Malibu.
