A Few Words About Helen Thomas

I'm on vacation, but it seems worth dropping in to remember Helen Thomas, who died over the weekend just two weeks short of her 93rd birthday. Other obituaries have emphasized her pioneering roles in journalism: first female officer of the National Press Club, first female member of the White House Correspondents' Association (and its President), first female member of the Gridiron Club, UPI White House Bureau Chief, covering Presidents from Eisenhower to Obama. She was also a proud Arab-American, and a mainstay of the Arab-American community in Washington, often anchoring a table at Mama Ayesha's Arab restaurant in its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s. In her later years, of course, her outspoken opinions about Israel led to her resignation as an opinion columnist, but her career should speak for itself.