April 2007 Archives
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Gallery
After
The disappearance of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan and the flood and evacuation in New Orleans are the tragic results of natural disaster and government mismanagement. These photos tenderly expose not only the extent of the disasters, but our ineptitude and negligence in their aftermaths.
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Reading
Book Digest: April 30, 2007
For a person who writes short stories, I have a funny way of reading them. I probably look more like a person scrutinizing a passing stranger on the street than...
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Watching
Video Digest: April 27, 2007
Rosie O’Donnell is leaving The View. Shh, shh, little bear, it’s going to be OK. I know what you’re wondering. You’re wondering: What will my day...
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New York, New York
Walking Nicole Kidman
Meeting celebrities is easy—you just need a lure. An Upper East Sider and her retired racing greyhound pad around, spotting stars wherever they go.
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Listening
What’s the last song you heard?
We emailed our staff: “What’s the last song you heard? Respond immediately.” They wrote back: “Some Starbucks shit.” And then they wrote back some more. “Building a Mystery” by...
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Profiles
Yolkin
You’ve read much about Boris Yeltsin’s legacy this week. His biggest may be the mean little man in the Kremlin who’s the butt of few jokes.
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Personal Essays
Blacksburg and Biography
It stunned the nation that the Virginia Tech murders took place; it shocked Virginians that they occurred in Blacksburg. A former longtime resident traces his connections to the tragedy.
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Reading
Book Digest: April 23, 2007
I should warn you that of all the events of the past month (besides the commencement of the 2007 Major League Baseball season) Kurt Vonnegut’s passing sticks with me most—...
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Gallery
Mingering Mike
These handmade records—found at a flea market and “recorded” by an unknown singer, Mingering Mike—are exquisite in realistic-seeming details: gatefolds, label logos, complete lyrics, artwork. Even the platters are cardboard.
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Watching
Video Digest: April 20, 2007
I spent my college years working at a daycare with four- and five-year-olds who screamed a lot, hurt themselves easily, and sometimes wet the bed. They reminded me a lot...
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The Non-Expert
Delphiniums, Delphiniums, Delphiniums!
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week we celebrate National Gardening Month with some horticultural advice garnered from a Tri-Delt newsletter.
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Listening
Departure Journal, Volume One
I have reason to reminisce. My tenure of living in New York City is ending, and in the weeks before I move, I’m starting to forget what I dislike...
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Spoofs & Satire
The Adventure of the Missing Stocking
The writers of the television series Lost take time out of their busy schedules to write this pastiche—the latest chapter in the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
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Reading
Book Digest: April 16, 2007
The chattering and clattering classes are preparing for PEN’s World Voices fest coming soon to Manhattan. Me, I was in Cambridge, Mass., stumbling around the Bryn Mawr Bookstore, and...
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New York, New York
My Apartment
Not enough square footage and too little privacy are the trademarks of New York dwelling. Learning new ways to be neighborly as the woman across the hall moans on her deathbed.
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Watching
Video Digest: April 13, 2007
Each week, as I sift through online videos for this column, I kick one of my ballet slippers up onto my studio barre, bust out a few pliés, and...
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The Non-Expert
Model Behavior
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week we share some tips for a young reader who wants to take her strut for a walk down the runway.
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Notes From the Lawn
Catalog of Dreams
Our resident poet of the orange blossoms discovers the literary charms of gardening catalogs: reading for aesthetic pleasure, also for planning the future.
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Listening
Our Quarterly Review
The book’s closed on the first three months of 2007, which makes now as good a time as any to take stock of the quarter that’s just ended. Here...
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Profiles
Cecil Taylor Explains It All
Pianist Cecil Taylor stormed onto the New York City club scene in the 1950s, shaking the foundations of modern music with what would become known as free jazz. A conversation with the master.
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Gallery
On Duty
The Moscow Metro workers in Olga Chernysheva’s photographs are examples of people seen but not noticed. Despite this, the watching, waiting faces in her work demonstrate grace and openness.
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Reading
Book Digest: April 9, 2007
I know I belabor expressing my animus to many literary and artistic awards. I must therefore point out those I find useful, such as the IMPAC/Dublin Award (an international...
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Watching
Video Digest: April 6, 2007
I used to think I would die from some relatively ordinary cause: heart attack, cancer, falling down the stairs in platform heels. It has now become clear that the icy...
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The Non-Expert
Second Lust
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week we offer moral guidance to a reader who just realized their Second Life avatar bears a striking resemblance to their best friend’s wife.
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Profiles
Renaissance Clan
Spring approaches and soon we’ll have apple pies, baseball, and that other great American tradition: Renaissance Fairs. A view from the performers’ perspective, where all the doubloons in Stratford won’t fix your carburetor.
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Listening
Americana Obscura
Essentially, a “song cycle” is a glorified term for a concept album. It’s a jazz-rock odyssey on folkier instruments, but when done right, adds an overarching, operatic theme to...
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Albums of the Year
The Top 10 Albums of 1981
Because album lists shouldn’t happen only once a year. In this installment: Iran’s taking hostages, Pat Sajak’s still on the air, and all of a sudden 1981 doesn’t feel like so long ago.
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Profiles
Bringing It All Back Home
When the St. Louis Cardinals’ former stadium was demolished, fans rushed to pick up pieces from the ballpark where their memories were made. What they bought, and what it means to them.
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Gallery
Hanging Around
These photos from Tom Sandberg display composure, stillness, mystery—despite being taken years apart.
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Scandal Cheat Sheet
The Purgegate Primer
In December eight U.S. Attorneys were dismissed; now Congress wants to find out why. There may be a scandal brewing, but the details are still murky.
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Reading
Book Digest: April 2, 2007
This is not quite the silly season—happily, I’m not referring to the start of Major League Baseball—but rather to the fact that most of the beauty pageants...