California Scheming California Scheming
In the latest push to privatize public education, regents at the University of California have raised tuition by 32 percent.
Nov 24, 2009 / Feature / Ben Ehrenreich
Wing Nut Ex Machina Wing Nut Ex Machina
The ace that the Democrats have in their deck.
Nov 24, 2009 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Puzzle No. 3195 Puzzle No. 3195
ACROSS
1 Backing up, crash into French bike--America, in short, is fantastic! (9)
Nov 24, 2009 / Frank W. Lewis
Full Harvest Full Harvest
And it seemed it was time for us to die somehow, right now, this afternoon, but the apples were abundant that year and ripened before autumn really showed what it was made of. Even the water shoots arced into branches. And now the sun is happily drinking water from the puddle at the gate and from the burdock -sized leaves of the lilac, but it's not warm enough for that, the day smacks of humidity. Again the magpie chatters in its own way, and old friends, one after another, will deny us, and we would be the last to want to hinder them, but neither to overlook this, because then how would the others cope, left high and dry, without a word from us. (Translated from the Polish by Christian Hawkey and W. Martin)
Nov 24, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Piotr Sommer
Founding Another Colony Founding Another Colony
And the news will have to be tailored to their needs with baffling opinion polls, announcements of the number of steps at the ballerina's dress rehearsal, rarefied shots of Antarctic snow, cascades in the Andes the backwash of shivering butterfly wings no breaks in transmission no voice-overs while regular slots play truant; no controllers in sight and no authorization. You'd think not dying was a la mode. With an almost creepy unconcern they'll form columns and perform exploits beyond every map and outside every schedule. (Translated from the Polish by Rod Mengham)
Nov 24, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Andrzej Sosnowski
Founding a Colony Founding a Colony
Pill boxes, patrols, protocols: this is what made the locals come running, so nothing should be disturbed. Softly, softly, we thought. That graveyard needs moving further south: chop it up among urban allotments, carve out wide boulevards and tunnels, erect viaducts, excavate canals, launch speedboats, ferries, hovercrafts and junk the heritable past; let the map heave with bulldozer silhouettes, he said (lighting a corner of the map) for this shall be our theater of war. And then what? Unlock the fog. At twilight only a boy's quick laugh in a blind back alley shall echo that time shift of desire all lost in space beyond their dreams. (Translated from the Polish by Rod Mengham)
Nov 24, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Andrzej Sosnowski
Robber Barons of the World Unite! Robber Barons of the World Unite!
San Francisco
Nov 24, 2009 / Steve Fraser and T.J. Stiles
Reagan Would Fail “Purity Test” Proposed for GOP Reagan Would Fail “Purity Test” Proposed for GOP
The most rigidly conservatives members of the Republican National Committee are circulating a proposal to establish a purity test for the party's candidates. If adopted, the part...
Nov 24, 2009 / John Nichols
The NFL’s Concussion Conundrum The NFL’s Concussion Conundrum
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell seems to understand that when athletes play with a concussion, it is bad for their health--and for business. But do his reforms go far enough?
Nov 24, 2009 / Column / Dave Zirin
A Kingdom of Bicycles No Longer A Kingdom of Bicycles No Longer
BEIJING -- Ambassador Yu Qingtai is China's point man on global warming. As special representative to the climate change talks for China's ministry of foreign affairs, Yu is a for...
Nov 24, 2009 / Bob Dreyfuss