This week's New York Times Magazine contained a fascinating profile of the quirky Goldstein family of West Hempstead, NY-the von Trapps of the spelling bee world. A Goldstein has placed in the top 20 at the National Spelling Bee for four of the last five years, writes Bruce Grierson, and this unusual family's life revolves around obsessively memorizing obscure words that might turn up in competitions. For more, see "Spellbound," by Bruce Grierson, The New York Times Magazine, September 1, 2002.
