August 2011 Archives
-
Portraits by Other Means
Hobby Lobby
Dalai Lama, His Holiness of Tibet Until early 1960, I had some interest in photography, but not since then. Of course, I still love different flowers. And occasionally I do some...
-
Writing on the Wall
Tempest in an Inkpot
Don’t be fooled by the hand-lettering trend in movie posters and book covers—cursive is dead. Who cares? A million angry commenters around the web who extol the virtues of loops and curls. But the traditional form has a history that’s less than precious.
-
Sound Advice
This Is My Problem
Emily Yoffe, author of Slate’s thoroughly enjoyable “Dear Prudence,” summed it up nicely: “Judaism is a religion that focuses on justice in this world. It...
-
Spoofs & Satire
Calypso Now
With the U.S. military engaged in multiple battles around the world, it’s time to revisit that haunting classic of war and steel-drum cinema, Apocalypso Now.
-
My Contemporary British TV Detectives
Quick and Energetic, but Conventional
Detective Chief Inspector James Harold Japp, portrayed by Philip Jackson in the long-running Poirot series, is my favorite. He goes into every new adventure believing he’ll finally one-up...
-
Gallery
Reconciliation
Confessionals are designed to draw the penitent into soul-searching. The spaces themselves are bare, but our knowledge of their function can make viewing more complicated.
-
Animal Husbandry
Nipples at the State Fair
The state fair puts on display the usual cornucopia of wonders both natural and synthetic, all ready for your sampling. A young man gets in touch with his appetite.
-
Crushes on Strangers
Nice Ignoring You
The cute guy had come to my previous class, and placed his mat directly across from mine. He had hooded lids, a football team captain’s smile and a...
-
Ghosts of New York
The Lost Pondshiners
New York’s Hudson Valley has long been haunted—by headless horsemen, and living terrors, too. In the hills between Poughkeepsie and Albany existed a clan of artisans known for their semi-wild existence—and for being a real-life connection to the region’s supernatural past.
-
Late Night Sports Radio
Into the Heart of Things
Though I grew up in a town of 9,000 on North Carolina’s coast, I’ve felt at home in New York since I was a teenager in the 198...
-
Democratic Vistas
Poetry for the Age of American Decline
Poetry can provide solace. It can also remind people to quit freaking out. Poems selected for Congress, nervous shoppers, Maureen Dowd, and the President of the United States.
-
Eurozonia
No Choice for Politics
The more I read about the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, the more I worry. It’s unclear though whether I worry more because I’m learning more about...
-
Hit It + Quit
The List Maker
Some people keep notebooks. Others keep lists. One type wants to remember; the other wants to forget. What’s not clear is who’s happier for all the scribbling. Confessions of a list-aholic.
-
Portraits by Other Means
Best Friends
Sheryl Crow and Bob Dylan “I called [Bob Dylan]…I said, ‘I am totally wigged out and I don’t know what I’m supposed...
-
Gallery
Kyopo
Portraits and interviews from a new book that showcase the Korean diaspora, from novelists and athletes to actors and retirees.
-
My Contemporary British TV Detectives
Morse Mode
The long-running Morse series was good. Sometimes great. Thaw (1942-2002) carried Morse’s hunched shoulders with a lot of style, and the episodes, based on Colin Dexter’s...
-
Letters From Lebanon
Beirut, Texas
Political candidates who want to burn down Washington, DC, perhaps should see what a country looks like with no effective government.
-
Crushes on Strangers
Safely, From a Distance
“Tell us a little about yourself.” Gulp. I stared at the blinking cursor, writing phrases only to erase them. I could not shake the thought that my answers...
-
This American Tragedy
Going Postal Goes Abroad
From 2011, knowing the history of the phrase “going postal” helps us understand how America exports killing sprees to angry young men worldwide.
-
Eurozonia
Talk Less Shit, Be More Anal
Case one: Speculation regarding France’s creditworthiness last week led to French shares losing 15 percent of their value. Something was responsible for fears of French exposure to Eurozone debt....
-
Letters from London
A Little Off
Just when companionship is the last thing you want at the hair salon, in walks Barry—who frankly couldn’t give two licks what you want.
-
Our Passions, Our Day Jobs
The Day Borders Got the Wobblies
As Borders liquidates its merchandise, a former employee of store #21 looks back at a glorious workplace—of quirky managers, Borders gypsies, the odyssey to stack more than Hobby/Collectibles—and the moment when salvation seemed at hand to save the chain.
-
Portraits by Other Means
Our Previous Careers
Maybe you’ll work on a railroad and then become a famous writer. Or maybe you’ll be a prostitute and then create a TV show. Or maybe...
-
Sound Advice
The Doctor Is in, Baby
My dad is an OB/GYN, and when I was growing up, this meant all my friends thought I must therefore have some secret insider knowledge about human coitus. While...
-
Gallery
Electric Light Formula
Manmade light is normally considered pollution before it’s thought of as beautiful. A series of luscious portraits of Earth’s brightest hotspots.
-
Late Night Sports Radio
Homage to Terrence Malick
It takes a dirt road to make it to our house. We’re 15 miles downriver from where I grew up. Today the population of the surrounding Hyde County is...
-
The Non-Expert
Man-barrass Your Way to Love
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week, we show you how a well-chosen nickname can bend your mate’s will.
-
Crushes on Strangers
A Short Taxonomy of My Crushes
Except I usually don’t do any of that. I just feel the flutter in my heart, and wonder why this person, of all people, made it happen. Brown-Eyed...
-
You give me some whiskey, I'll sing you a song
Indelible
Sisters are like ships—passing in the night, traveling as allies, or attacking one another with every gun and cannon. Sisterhood, however, is ultimately about unity.
-
Portraits by Other Means
Tattoo You and Me
My friend, however, was unimpressed. “It’s 2011. Everyone has tattoos,” he said. He’s right, I realized, and now I will forever have this little feather...
-
Personal Essays
The Querent
Fortunetelling is easy to ridicule, frequently misunderstood, and, for some people, extremely powerful. Unfortunately, what’s very tough to predict is what reading futures will do to the person with the cards.
-
Eurozonia
No Vacation From Volatility
He is taking a seaside view of the crisis, says the Financial Times, noting that Italian economic policy is “in effect being dictated from outside as Italy becomes the...
-
On Language
Nuts to You
From 2011, an ode to the pleasures of vulgarity, in which a bookseller tries to give every customer one unsafe moment. And, yes—that’s what she said.
-
Sound Advice
Spanx Is the New Plastics
Here are 10 things I learned—not necessarily directly—from planning my own wedding that don’t seem to get addressed much in the bridezillasphere. If you really...
-
Gallery
Permanent Error
On the outskirts of a Ghana slum, young people work in toxic conditions to extract metal from melted-down computers—technology that we’ve discarded, and shipped elsewhere for the dirty work of recycling.
-
My Contemporary British Detectives
Luther, Light and Dark
He’s passionate. Sympathetically self-destructive. And a lover. What a lover. Baby, he’ll break down your bathroom door. Then again, not to love Indira Varma is a...
-
Not Rocket Science
Behind the Pulse
When I collapsed in public two weeks ago, I could hear everything happening around me, but could barely respond. Making sense of it all was even more difficult.
-
Adventures in Health
Mastering the Art of American Eating
The USDA recently replaced the almighty food pyramid with a color-coded pie chart. To celebrate our nation’s mixed metaphors about healthy eating, one man decides to spend a month attempting to follow every government recommendation he can find. Nowhere is pie advised.
-
Eurozonia
What’s at Stake
Here’s what’s at stake should the economic crisis worsen: welfare states will cut deeper and inflict more austerity measures; there will be a weaker European voice...
-
Portraits by Other Means
Tweeting Into Oblivion
Gene Sharp, Intellectual In this era of Twitter revolutionaries, the Internet holds little allure for Mr. Sharp. He is not on Facebook and does not venture onto the Einstein website. (...
-
From the Editors
Something New for Today
Frequent readers of The Morning News will have noticed that, since last month’s relaunch, we’ve introduced something new into our regular publishing schedule: short columns by...
-
Late Night Sports Radio
Everyone’s Relative
The UNC Tar Heels have fired football coach Butch Davis and the airwaves are lit up. 11:57 p.m. I’m sitting in my home office listening to WFAN...
-
Letters from Tel Aviv
Situation: Comedy
Language students rely on local television shows for vocabulary and instruction. But not all Three’s Company remakes should be trusted. Surveying Israeli TV from Orthodox Jewish sitcoms to comedy that equally offends Jews, Arabs, and sheep.
-
Gallery
Boomtown
The post-post-apocalyptic cityscape will see houses built in hammocks, and neighborhoods bound by chains. If you’ve ever felt that urban living depends on a wing and a prayer, welcome home.
-
Crushes on Strangers
The Talk Show Host
He was a small, skinny guy—dark hair, nice smile, wore those black jeans and mock turtlenecks we all put our faith in during the mid-’90s. I...