April 2011 Archives
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Letters From Hotel Lambosa
Postmark Tomorrow
Every flea market has a bin of found postcards for sale. Some notes, however, wait to be mailed.
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Personal Essays
Not for Navigational Purposes
Maps are useful in jungles, classrooms, and when you need to cross a bombing ground during a storm. But they’re pointless when love implodes.
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Man Cites Dog
Constitutional Monarchy for the Win
Preparing for Britain’s big fat royal wedding, our writer undergoes a crisis of republicanism when labrador Ella questions his arrogance about the family that wears the crown.
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Gallery
Rescue Party
Robin Williams—no, not that Robin Williams—paints sulky, introspective adolescents. Her figures are waiting to emerge from underneath snowball beards, oversized hats, and heavy party dresses. These costumes may be fantastic, but the paintings suggest that what they’ve hidden is more amazing.
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Lunch Poems
Beware of False Friends
A new poem about lies and truth, and the fact that George Washington’s transplanted teeth were not made of wood, but probably came from his slaves.
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Roundtables
To Make the Mouth Water
Integral to America’s food obsession are the stylists who make it look good. Our panel of industry experts talks about photography and the art of arranging spaghetti strands.
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Letters From the Hostel Life
Travels With Nathan
To our knowledge, Ezra Pound never saw a donkey show. Here’s updated cantos for drunk backpackers in Madrid and jerks on the Dead Sea.
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Birnbaum v.
Carlos Eire
Our man in Boston talks with memoirist and historian Carlos Eire to discuss Cuba and Operation Peter Pan, when 15,000 children were airlifted away from their parents.
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Gallery
The Poultry and Raptor Suites
There’s something irresistible about photographer Jean Pagliuso’s birds. They glare into the camera with a level of emotion that has nothing to do with Tweety Bird. From chickens to falcons, their pride, confusion, sweetness, and complacence jumps out in every one of Pagliuso’s “honest and forthright” portraits.
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Spoofs & Satire
The Pale Serfs
Accountants aren’t the only ones inspired by “Joint Strike Fighter Property Costs.” Five openings for novels inspired by California’s rather unique state tax adjustments.
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The Golem Blog
Aleph-Mem-Tet
Having fulfilled his duty once again and with the most imminent dangers receding into the distance, it’s time to depart. The Golem posts his final entry.
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Profiles
State of Play
Does your minor want to be a miner? How about a McNugget cook? Welcome to KidZania, a revolutionary theme park coming soon to the U.S. that lets kids play at corporate-sponsored employment.
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Excerpts
Time Flies Like an Arrow, Fruit Flies Like a Banana
In an excerpt from John Pollack’s forthcoming The Pun Also Rises, the author recalls his experience in the Pun-Off World Championships. (Hint: He talks quiply.)
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Gallery
The World Inside a Camera
Everyday scenes from life in Brighton, England are suffused with an eerie magic by the shapes created by flowers and small insects placed by photographer Stephen Gill into his camera.
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The Biblioracle
The Biblioracle Strikes Again
While the Tournament of Books hangs on a thread until Monday, the Biblioracle steps in to ease the pain. At 3 p.m. Eastern, list the last five books you read, and he’ll tell you what to read next.