Magazine myths
You’re probably aware of the Sports Illustrated Curse, the long-standing myth that individuals or teams that appear on SI’s cover will run into bad luck once the issue hits newsstands (like in 2002, when reports came out that Michael Jordan’s wife was filing for divorce right as Sports Illustrated went to press with him on the cover).
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Well, Washington’s diplomatic community might have its own myth in the works: Call it the Washington Life Curse. The glossy magazine is known for chronicling the lives of the area’s rich and fabulous, but it might also be jinxing ambassadors.
In the past year and a half, Washington Life has run a half-dozen of its “Embassy Row” features. The roughly six-page feature chronicles the lives of Washington’s ambassadors, including an interview and photos of the embassy.
And, after many of these features, the profiled ambassador isn’t long for Washington.
Consider:
» April 2006: The first “Embassy Row” feature profiles Colombia’s Andrés and Nohra Pastrana. They leave in July.
» June 2006: Washington Life profiles Italian Ambassador Sergio Vento, but when he was sent home, the magazine had to reshoot the feature for the new ambassador, Giovanni Castellaneta.
» May 2007: Washington Life profiles Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy. He was called back last week for “consultations” after the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee approved a bill declaring the slaughter of Armenians during World War I a genocide.
» September 2007: Washington Life profiles French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte. When Nicolas Sarkozy is elected president of France in May, Levitte is called back home. Washington Life reshoots the feature fornew Ambassador Pierre Vimont.
At least it’s not Game 7 of the World Series.
