Send, Dad
Ever since my dad got an iPad last year, he sees it fit to multitask: Read an article, and text me about it.
Leah Finnegan
Token Anxiety
As New York City changes, so do its trains; our worries about life above and below ground move hand in hand. So which came first, the jitters or the subway?
It's All in Your Head
It begins as a dull ache, then the skull becomes hot and brittle, then the neck stiffens—and then there's no escaping a migraine. A search for relief, temporary or otherwise.
Clenching the Night Away
A mouth guard can do more than save our enamel from nighttime gnashing. It may also shield us from our daily anxieties.
A Buyer's Guide to American Colleges
Rare is the college graduate who’s attended more than one school. But when you’ve attended four very different types of university, it’s incumbent upon you to share what you’ve learned.
Deplorable, Lousy, Godawful, and Required
People complain that politics are worse than ever. It happens to be true. But history contains as many examples of the contentious, weird, and wacky as the present—and those absurdities are actually vital to our democracy.
Misogyny Soup
Aristotle There is no doubt that Aristotle’s texts are misogynist; he thought that women were inferior to men and he said so explicitly. For example, to cite Cynthia Freeland’s catalogue: “Aristotle says that the courage of a man lies in commanding, a woman’s lies in obeying;” that
To Sleep, Perchance to Lose Consciousness
Salvador Dalí Salvador Dalí wrote about this technique that he called “Slumber with a key.” He featured it as one of his 50 secrets of magic craftsmanship. Dalí presents this afternoon nap as a means of lucid dreaming (though one could argue it is more along the lines of hynagogia)
Mind the Law
John Henry Browne “Attorney John Henry Browne,” read a headline on the cover of Pacific, a Seattle news magazine. “He shoots from the hip to defend the notorious.” [...] His father worked on the Manhattan Project and later for the Atomic Energy Commission. Mr. Browne played bass in the Crystal Palace
Work, Work, Work, Die
Ron Akana, longest-serving flight attendant Yes, Mr. Akana has worked as a flight attendant for 63 years, clocking some 20 million miles along the way, the equivalent of circling the globe about 800 times or flying roughly 40 times to the moon and back. Though no one tracks seniority across
Get Me Out of Here
Centennial, Wyo. ...I liked Centennial, with its funky main drag, its ancient police car parked near the highway to deter speeders and, when I first arrived, its five bars to serve a population of fewer than 100 people. Darwin, Calif. In Darwin, there is no food, gas or lodging—or
Myers-Briggsing Our Leaders
Newt Gingrich As often as not, Mr. Gingrich grasps the extended hand and offers a noncommittal greeting, the same as saying “Nice to see you” at a cocktail party when you’re hedging because you’re not quite sure if you’re meeting someone for the first time. Hillary Clinton
Pity the Progeny
Alina Fernandez Both [Fidel] Castro and Fernandez’ mother, a socialite, were married to other people when they fell in love through their exchange of letters while Castro was in jail, according to Fernandez. Castro’s visits, she said, made for a “bizarre atmosphere” that made her mother “joyful” and her
Don’t Look at Me (Look at Me)
Marcel Proust By 1919, Proust rarely left his soundproofed Paris apartment, complete with a bedroom encased in walls of cork to keep out noise. He worked in a sunless writing studio with the window shut as protection against the asthma that had plagued him since the age of 9. The
Comeback Kings and Queens
One of the things I love about America is how willing the public is to accept someone stepping back into the spotlight (most of the time) (athletes especially). Well, you be the judge.
Till Death Do Us Part
Marcus Garvey Garvey had a stroke in January of 1940, and he becomes incapacitated. George Padmore, who was a columnist for The Chicago Defender, had heard a rumor that Garvey had died and instead of confirming this, he published a premature obituary. The obituary described Garvey as a man whose
Our Domiciles, Ourselves
Pope Benedict XVI Until 2005, under John Paul II, the papal apartment was run by Polish nuns. The memores aren’t nuns, do not wear religious garments, are laypeople and live in the world. But this isn’t the first time that lay housekeepers are allowed inside the papal apartment.
Shorty
When you were a toddler, doctors told your parents you had a "failure to thrive." Which means: You're small, and you're going to be short. Later, when medication helps you grow faster than you’ve ever grown before, the hardest part may be deciding when to stop.
Feel the Burn
My doctor says I should exercise three to four times per week. He told me walking to the subway doesn’t count (neither does walking home from it).
The Things They Married
Woody Allen and Mia Farrow* (not married) Then in April 1979, [Farrow] noticed a picture of Allen on the cover of this magazine. He had on a scruffy sweater and was holding an open umbrella over one shoulder. She found the picture appealing and read the profile inside, concluding that
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 manual work, some repair work, of watches and small instruments. Richard Nixon, Former President [Bikram] Choudhury said he was
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 to be doing, and I’ve got a lot of pressure to incorporate what’s going on.’ He said, ‘Go back to your roots. Take
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 you’ll buy a car alarm company and run for Congress. You just never know, man. Nicholson Baker By then Baker already
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 on my ankle. At least I’m not alone. Marc Jacobs, Designer Jacobs has the word “perfect” tattooed on his right wrist. “Because
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. (“I should,” he said apologetically.) If he must send e-mail, he consults a handwritten note [his assistant] Ms. Raqib has
Trials, Triumphs, and What They Wore
I though it was a beautiful combination, but the sartorial law quickly taught me that my body could not necessarily be draped in my whims. It was important lesson: Even if you don’t care about fashion, other people do, and they will judge you accordingly. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of
Our Better Halves
Pearl I, II, and III, Shorthaired Pointers [Robert Parker] preferred staying in and watching baseball games with his German shorthaired pointer, Pearl. Mr. Parker had three German shorthairs named Pearl; when one Pearl died, he replaced it with another. Shit, Breed Unknown Molly Ivins: “The thing that amazes me about
The Diets of Others
The Terrorist Diet [In Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden] no longer slaughtered a lamb every day to serve his guests; now he rarely ate meat, preferring to live on dates, milk, yoghurt and flatbread. The Founding Father Diet As well as saying that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,
Six Cabs to Superior Understanding
Foreign correspondents love to interview local cab drivers for their political opinions. Or sometimes just to hear the best jokes.
Sunshine for a Brother
Musician Elliott Smith died seven years ago today in Los Angeles. Though he's remembered mythically in the East Village, it was in Brooklyn where Smith was happy.
Pomp and Consequence
Celebrity graduation speakers should dispense wisdom and entertainment, or cause a scandal. Our writer found eight who managed to provide at least two out of three.
The Fabulous Papers
Journalism is dying, journalism is thriving, the end of the world is nigh--there's a lot to be excited about. A report on the newspapers that prevailed by hook or crook in 2009.
The Surrogate Life
Being unemployed, and bearing colossal amounts of debt, can drive you to rash measures. Discovering the difficulty of renting out one's womb.