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September 28, 2010; Source: Baltimore Sun | David Simon, creator of the HBO series “The Wire,” yesterday won a 2010 MacArthur “genius” award. Simon, whose series took an unsparing, though compassionate, look at the troubled people and institutions of Baltimore, is one of very few people to have won the award for a work on television.
The MacArthur carries a $500,000, no-strings-attached grant parceled out over five years. “The great value of this award is that it will make it easier for all of us to argue for stories that might not otherwise be perceived as popular television,” Simon said.
Though fans of “The Wire” may wish to see another several seasons (whatever happened to Omar?), Simon hasn’t decided what he’s going to do with the windfall. “The entertainment industry pays quite well, so my first inclination is to pass it through and do something charitable,” he said.
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Despite the advice of Daniel Socolow, who directs the MacArthur fellows program, to rethink that decision – at least for a while – Simon seems determined to use the money in a charitable way.
This guy was already my idol. Can he get any cooler?—Ruth McCambridge
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