Word: berte
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More than most other naturalists, Fossey bonded with the subjects of her inquiry. When poachers killed the animals she had named Digit, Uncle Bert and Macho, she turned into a Rambo of animal rights. She beat captured poachers and terrified others with sham witchcraft. She shot at cattle that got too close to her "family's" territory...
...personal, somewhat awkward but elucidating note: in 1984 Fossey wrote me that she had read my review of Gorillas in the Mist over the graves of Digit, Uncle Bert and Macho. "I could finally comprehend," she said, "that the gorilla individuals I had known and named over the years since 1967 might well become public figures, not on a rock-star scale, but renowned for their own worth, lamented for their loss." Postscript: Fossey is buried next to them...
...Bert and Ernie: Who could ask for a more fitting pair of roommates? They are a paragon of Harvard middle-class diversity--short, tall, red, yellow, round head, pointy head, etc. Despite their profound differences, they lived together in perfect harmony...
Well, sort of. I remember a few problems with a rubber ducky. But other than that, Bert and Ernie truly cared about each other. Bert never borrowed Ernie's clothes without asking. Ernie never blasted AC-DC's "Back in Black" while Bert was cramming for a final. These two muppets ought to be a model for all those who share rooms...
...other Safire foils remain oddly charmed by their tormentor. Bert Lance has become a friend, even though Safire won his 1978 Pulitzer for exposing the freewheeling banking practices that led to the resignation of Jimmy Carter's budget director. Charles Wick, the Reagan-era head of the U.S.I.A. and a frequent Safire target, gushes, "There's no way you can dislike the guy. I admire him so much." Perhaps no journalistic jousting caused the anguish of the Iran-contra rift with the late CIA director William Casey, whose 1966 congressional campaign Safire managed. Critical columns led to angry phone calls...