Joel Stein

Not content dabbling in stunt journalism and celebrity profiles, Joel Stein has decided what he really wants to do is use his writing to make a difference.

Actually, that's not quite right. He wants to use it to drum up fake controversy, as he admits in his latest Los Angeles Times column.

Mr. Stein was in Denver covering the Democratic convention (or something) when he spotted the following scene:

I was at a party thrown by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom featuring a bunch of indie bands, including Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which played its catchy new song 'Satan Said Dance.  read more »

Mandatory luggage check-in fees. Canceled flights. Las Vegas party jets rerouted to Rochester. Can air travel get any worse?

In fact, it can. Joel Stein, Time's navel correspondent and lover of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, has become a flight attendant. Or at least he got to play one to get over his fear of flying for a stunt column.

Of course, he makes some hilarious xenophobic jokes ("My fellow future flight attendants weren't at all what I expected, based on my experience with service-sector jobs—which is to say that none were illegal immigrants.") and the obligatory gay panic cracks ("Even more shocking, some of them were straight men."). Then Mr. Stein shows his sensitivity to what John Edwards would call "the two Americas" by making fun of a woman who used to work for Hooter's: "She, I believe, just wanted to upgrade her wardrobe."  read more »