Evan Gershkovich at 100 Days: Press Club welcomes sister Danielle, former Iranian Captee Rezaian

Not everyone has a journalist brother detained in Russia, but as Danielle Gershkovich said today, many of us have brothers.

Watching her speak at the National Press Club briefing (remotely) was even more moving than I had imagined it would be, in no small part for her composure and smile, her sweetness and calm in the face of unspeakable fear.

Joining her were longtime Iranian captee, Washington Post's Jason Rezaian, Paul Beckett, Washington Bureau Chief of the WSJ and Jason Conti, general counsel with Dow Jones and a lawyer on the detainee's case. NPC President Eileen O'Reilly moderated the panel, which included both emailed and live questions from assembled press and Club members.

Beckett began by sharing the power of the recent milestone, 100 days, memorialized on its front page. "Acknowledging the impact and reality" was punctuated by the milestone, Gershkovich's imprisonment following his March 29 apprehension on so-called espionage charges.

Rezaian said that authoritarian regimes--namely Russia, China and Iran-- "weaponize their legal system against people like me, like Evan." He said he's "convincing people that we have to be smarter about how we frame these stories."

The lawyer on the panel, Conti, brought in a surprisingly moving account of how he works to free Gershkovich. He said their firm makes it a priority to comfort the family as they maneuver the Russian system, which he says almost guarantees 100 percent in the Russians' favor. He and his firm are involved in a tedious process of appeals.

Danielle Gershkovich talked about the weekly letters she receives from her brother. Asked how she receives them, she simply said they are photographed and sent to her, though it is unclear if she meant on or offline. "I got a letter yesterday and it changed my mood."

Throughout the hour she showed a type of composure one could only describe as heroic. Her parents' full-time job is seeing their son released, but she has to go to work every day. She finds solace there, and showed us a bit of her relatable personality when she quipped, "I was the classic bossy older sister, but we've become friends."

To watch today's recording, click here.

Today, news outlets are reporting that President Biden is serious about a prisoner swap to secure Gershkovich's release. Photo: National Press Club rooftop, 1905. Library of Congress/ Harris & Ewing, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Pet Peeves, Grammar Edition

Many niggling grammar mistakes, slang, acronyms and jargon rattle my cage. Here is a short summary:

1. Every day is two words when one means "every" as a determiner and "day" as a noun. Everyday is an adjective, as in "everyday occurrence". I just read a post from the World Health Organization, no less, in which everyday was used incorrectly! "Get 8 hours of sleep everyday!" (Cue nails on 20th century chalkboard.)

2. I am tired everyone "pivoting". When a boss first told me to pivot, I thought she meant do a little ballerina turn. Say "change your tack" or "try another way" etc.

3. A hundred percent. A joke of this is made beautifully in the opening scene between John Mayer's shallow character on the make and B.J. Novak's. Every question they pose over cocktails has one answer, "hundred percent." Please only use this if you are telling an eighth grader how well he did on his math test.

4. Acronyms. Unless it is IBM or USA, I probably do not have a clue. The most annoying use happens when a company spokesperson or CEO knows very well it's confusing the listener, but wants them to feel less than. Oh, we are such a smart company! That's why we have the AWDIT Club? Say what? "All we do is think!"

5. Awesome or amazing. Need I say more? Use istead: resplendent, colorful, shocking, delightful, tantalizing, illuminating, bewildering or memorable, depending on the context of course. Amazing or awesome is what NASA finds on MARS, not your Croque Monsieur.

6. Your instead of you're. Your is a possessive pronoun used when one says "your bike" or "your cheeks". When one is miserable, write "you are miserable". You (personal pronoun) plus are (linking verb).

7. Bragging about your doctorate. In the UK, we called our tutors (professors here) by their first names. If James, who has a PhD from Oxford, is so humble why are you bragging about your PhD in economics from Fresno State? You should be proud, of course, but we don't need to see "DrJones123" as your Twitter handle.

8. "Wherever you get your podcasts." Why do I have to get podcasts? No one says, "Wherever you buy or borrow your books."

9. Laughing at references from long ago. It is not funny that I'm telling you about a major story I broke 20 years ago, even if you were three at the time. Read a book, Gen Z: there were people who came before you.

10. Finally, their/they're. This is the same rule as your/you're. Their Persian ran after my Rottweiler. They're going to be in big trouble when I sick my Chihuahua on them."

Photo: the author's maternal grandmother Susie, a school teacher, who would be "mighty proud" (as she would have said) of her granddaughter for writing this.

Quit with the excuses: I’m older, not dense

Today, yet another rejection came into my e-mailbox. "We have found other candidates whose exoerience more closely ..." Blah blah blah, said the editor to a woman, 61, who has been published in far more news outlets than whatever 30-year-old she just hired.

When I returned to university for my master's at 56, I really had no clue the job market would challenge me. I thought doors would fly open. Instead of flying open, they are stuck shut, only opening with elbow grease.

Why do Americans have such a hard time with the ageing woman? The clue might lay in the revolutionary Sports Illustrated cover girl, Martha Stewart, 81. I do not expect to look that good ever, let alone in 20 years, but why is this even a thing? Are we asking Robert Kraft or Senator Sanders, her peers, to show us their taut muscles in less-than wear? Gosh, I get a little embarrassed iust thinking about it. Yea, I am old enough to remember when Mom bought the Burt Reynolds Cosmo issue in the 70s, too. The joke was a man doing this at all, wink wink, which Reynolds excelled at.

Someone advised me to just give up journalism. Same someone had suggested being a Walmart greeter. Nothing against Walmart greeters, but do you really want a bitter, unemployed journalist snarling at you as you show your receipt for a 24-pack of jello? I have wracked my noggin wondering if, in To Kill a Mockingbird fashion, I can not only understand but accept their prejudice: the verdict is in and I do NOT.

Today's excuse was one of hundreds received since I graduated from King's College London. Admittedly, I have held two jobs since then, and been offered at least five I did not accept. But the ratio of offers-to-rejections is far worse than it was pre-master's, an equation I hadn't even entertained when getting my biometrics done in 2017!

If women are humans, and I believe we are, wouldn't it stand to reason that age = wisdom? I am a much sharper Jeopardy player now. I can name all of Captain Cook's voyages and Jane Austen's novels without blinking. You might get me on the latter, but I can indeed explain how she introduced slavery in the West Indies in "Mansfield Park" in such a nuanced fashion as to be almost undetectable.

Quit with the excuses. Quit with the patronizing "ma'ams" and inane questions about my tech knowledge. Google me, you stupid f%$k.

I hope Martha Stewart's SI splash does more than raise the blood pressure of octogenarians everywhere: I hope it is a wake-up wail to all those Gen Zers who have put us out to pasture, long before our time.