Sick and Famous
Colds and flus happen—but as pop stars, stage actors, and athletes know all too well, that's rarely enough of a reason to call in sick. How they cope when the show must go on.
Lauren Daisley
Learning to Talk
When a voiceover artist temporarily loses the use of her primary asset, the struggle back to speaking unearths what's gone unsaid for too long.
Houston, We Have Contractions
A baby may be a tiny step for mankind, but it's a giant one for new parents, especially the adult diapers part.
Singing It Over Again
When you're used to regular doses of applause, giving up the stage for a 9-to-5 gig can produce acute withdrawal. Reclaiming past glories by singing backup.
This Loop of Light and Life
The supernatural is all sheets and spooks--Hamlet, Casper, and Field of Dreams--until it's sitting in your bedroom.
Marketing the Massive Range
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week we contribute copywriting ideas to help a reader sell Super Viagra Soft-Tabs.
Drink Your Meds
The impulse to weigh decisions with coffee spoons can seem charmingly eccentric on TV. But real-life obsessive compulsive disorder is no fun, what with the imminent death and all.
Bright Inaugural Day, Washington
The U.S. presidential inauguration in January will be one for the ages. A hat tip to Langston Hughes.
The Well-Known Citizen
In spite of all the reporters crawling around Alaska, Gov. Palin remains unknown to the general public. Thanks to W.H. Auden.
The Republican Speaks of Jungles
The presidential election continues to bring forth policy promises and attempts at soul-bearing honesty.
Do Not Go Gentle
With primary season nearly over, the two remaining Democrats are each facing their own demons. Perhaps some poetry will be an inspiration?
Meet Classical Music
Usually, when I meet new people and they find out I host classical music on the radio, they ask one to three of the following questions: * Do you talk really low and over-articulate every word? * Do you actually listen to classical music? * Do you think guys meet you and find
We Not Cruel
Delegates, primaries, ads, and speeches, mean the campaign season is full of chaos and noise. Putting things in order--in iambic tetrameter, that is.
Coiffed Beast Saunters
Soaring rhetoric is getting the short straw this campaign season, so how about some pointed poesy?
The Vote Not Shaken
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week we help a reader choose between political candidates by applying modern poetry to the process.
Phantom Menace
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week we rush to the aid of a distressed reader who believes her house is haunted.
How to Blow Glass
Those who can't do, learn. In this installment of our series in which the clueless apprentice with the experts, we visit a glass-blowing studio in Brooklyn.
How the Internet Changed the World
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week we assist a mother with her daughter's homework: imagining a world where emails required stamps.
Misery Loves Comedy
Grief takes on many forms, though it's rare to hear about a sudden addiction to comedy clubs and Seth Meyers's political impersonations.
The Five Stages of Black Friday
The road from denial to Christmas is an arduous one, and begins the day after Thanksgiving. Abandon all hope, and brave the throngs.
New York City, Part II
A city so nice, we had to cover its parks twice. Outsized attention is a given for places like Central Park. But in a city as big and speckled with green spaces as New York, small, local parks are always a quick walk away right when you need them.
I Would Die 4 U
Hazing makes for hot courtship, and how better to love your woman than by hitting her in the face? Lessons learned from rewatching Purple Rain.
Songs of Herself
Hearing old songs is a great way to get in touch with your past, but what happens when every song points to a different ex-boyfriend?
We'd Like to Hear You Never
Yapping on cell phones has gotten out of hand--on the bus, on the street, even in subways, civil life is trampled with every outspoken call.
Some of This Is Made Up
Sharing your name with a celebrity can be frustrating, especially when the two of you pursue the same occupation.
Purim vs. St. Patrick's Day
Being drunk may be fun, but being drunk and knowing the big Guy approves is even better. Matching historical fact and too much beer to decide which holiday offers the bigger hangover.
The Closest Jay Comes to a Love Song
At the rager the chicks come and go, talking about art or something. In time for a hundred hip-hop-hoorays, a frat-boy adapation of T.S. Eliot's "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
Downloading for the Greater Good
Fall semester is fast approaching, when students in our best universities will resume buying their essays off the internet and plagiarizing like crazy--and good for them! Why downloading term papers is an asset to higher education.