Alexandra Jacobs: Victim Of Nothing

The Transom is very much relieved to see the Observer's six-months-pregnant and incredibly well-composed features editor Alexandra Jacobs on CNN with Anderson Cooper, discussing her experience as a passenger during tonight's amazing Jet Blue disaster landing. Ms. Jacobs is not one to jump happily into a plane, and, as a fellow airplane-hater, The Transom salutes her on her victory over gravity, worst fears, and malfunction. In fact, Ms. Jacobs was so composed that she subverted the entire tricky reporter vs. accident victim paradigm. The passengers on-board were watching television images of their own plane. It was, Ms. Jacobs told Mr. Cooper, a "postmodern" experience. As the emergency landing began, the flight attendants repeatedly chanted, "'Brace! Brace! Brace!,' she reported, like an upsetting prayer, or "like a mantra." —Choire Sicha