Strange Lands Strange Lands
It took years, but I eventually came to terms with loving the idea of NYC more than the city itself.
Sep 18, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Roxane Gay
Exit Weiner: A Confession Exit Weiner: A Confession
Though no one was at times much keener Than me to joke about A. Weiner, Though his transgressions, being serial, Provided us with rich material, I have to say that we were lucky That he got skunked. Those posts were yucky. And toward the end the jokes grew grim. I’m glad to see the back of him.
Sep 18, 2013 / Column / Calvin Trillin
An Argument With Instruments: On Charles Mingus An Argument With Instruments: On Charles Mingus
How a jazz artist’s relationship to black identity gave his music its stormy weather.
Sep 17, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Adam Shatz
First Saturday of Summer in Virginia First Saturday of Summer in Virginia
Day lilies dotting the ditches orange, between tilting mailboxes, amid blue chicory and swales of yellow buttercups. Northwest on Jefferson Highway, alert for bright yellow signs printed YARD SALE, freight train clanging on my right. To follow arrows onto gravel driveways through the woods to arrive at run-down trailers or two-story homes with wraparound porches, wide front lawns and tables of children’s clothing, glassware, games, dolls, obsolete electronics. All around, blue tarps on wet grass with bags of worn quilts and sheets, paired shoes and boots, jeans laid out like Civil War soldiers piled in an open grave. To drive from sale to sale as the sun climbs the sky, blue as Hollywood eyes, coffee in a GO cup. To end at the Art & Craft Show at St. Jude’s, where men with orange flags direct parking across the street from mounds of mulch, gravel, sand, compost. To watch a teen tap dance to the beat of a jangly country song, swirling her flared skirt.
Sep 17, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Joan Mazza
Salaam Cinema: On Mohsen Makhmalbaf Salaam Cinema: On Mohsen Makhmalbaf
An Iranian director’s ongoing meditations on the nature of illusion and reality, truth and consequences.
Sep 17, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Adina Hoffman
Reading the Stakes in Syria Reading the Stakes in Syria
The Syria Dilemma, edited by Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel, offers a range of perspectives on the Syrian dilemma from within Syria and beyond.
Sep 17, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Roxane Gay
A Literature of Her Own: ‘It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris’, by Patricia Engel A Literature of Her Own: ‘It’s Not Love, It’s Just Paris’, by Patricia Engel
The author's absorbing debut novel chronicles a young woman’s year in Paris, where she will have to choose the home wants most.
Sep 13, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Roxane Gay
Remembering Saul Landau Remembering Saul Landau
Saul helped ignite a political awareness and a passion for history in me.
Sep 11, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Andrés S. Pertierra
Hispanic Heritage Month: September 15–October 15 Hispanic Heritage Month: September 15–October 15
The members of Congress are ready to cheer Latinos and what they’ve accomplished right here. There’s praise for Latinos in all of this chatter. But making them legal? A different matter.
Sep 11, 2013 / Column / Calvin Trillin
The Long Goodbye: On Steven Soderbergh The Long Goodbye: On Steven Soderbergh
Hollywood’s wonkiest director hasn’t stopped working. He’s finding new problems to solve—and toying with us again.
Sep 10, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Akiva Gottlieb