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Megan McArdle

Megan McArdle - Megan McArdle is a senior editor for The Atlantic who writes about business and economics. She has worked at three start-ups, a consulting firm, an investment bank, a disaster recovery firm at Ground Zero, and The Economist. More

Megan was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and yes, she does enjoy her lattes, as well as the occasional extra-dry skim-milk cappuccino. Her checkered work history includes three start-ups, four years as a technology project manager for a boutique consulting firm, a summer as an associate at an investment bank, and a year spent as sort of an executive copy girl for one of the disaster-recovery firms at Ground Zero … all before the age of 30.

While working at Ground Zero, Megan started Live From the WTC, a blog focused on economics, business, and cooking. She may or may not have been the first major economics blogger, depending on whether we are allowed to throw outlying variables such as Brad Delong out of the set. From there it was but a few steps down the slippery slope to freelance journalism. She has worked in various capacities for The Economist, where she wrote about economics and oversaw the founding of Free Exchange, the magazine's economics blog. She has also maintained her own blog, Asymmetrical Information, which moved to The Atlantic, along with its owner, in August 2007.

Megan holds a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. After a lifetime as a New Yorker, she now resides in northwest Washington, D.C., where she is still trying to figure out what one does with an apartment larger than 400 square feet.

Introductions

By Megan McArdle
Mar 30 2008, 5:38 PM ET Comment

[Peter Suderman]

Introductions are inherently awkward, even in the very best circumstances. How does one decide what to say about him or herself without sounding pretentious, obtuse, doltish, obsessive, or just dull? And how do you then say whatever you’ve just decided on in such a way that doesn’t give away the fact that you’ve given it a good bit of thought? It’s like that great Michael Cera line in Juno, “Actually, I try really hard.” Yes, but you’re never supposed to let on!

On the other hand, introductions are also an integral part of most important social activities — business, friendship, house parties. Barring any strong Unabomberesque proclivities, you’ll have a rough time in life without introductions. And since Megan has asked us to make them, I feel obliged. So here are a few informational tidbits. (Feel free to use them as talking points.)

• I contribute semi-regularly to a number of blogs, most notably The American Scene.
• I review movies for NRO.
• My favorite song this week is “Nylon Smile,” which can be found on the excellent new Portishead album, Third.
• I’m an editor of Doublethink, which not too long ago profiled this blog’s proprietor.
• I am an unabashed D.C. partisan, and as far as city rivalries go, I think of New York more or less the way a Texas A&M fan thinks of UT.
• John McCain reminds me of Worf.

For anyone who for some odd reason wants to know more, there’s a brief bio posted over at TAS.

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