Sunday, February 28, 2010

Recent Unexpected Touchstones

What I Have in Common with Paul KrugmanI minored in Economics in college. But that’s not it.From Larissa MacFarquhar’s profile in the New Yorker: “I still get a frisson in Penn Station when I hear them announcing the Babylon-line trains,” Krugman says. “It’s like ad jingles from your childhood, you...
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Sunday, February 21, 2010

O Canada

My first cognizance of Canada was Joni Mitchell. A close junior high school friend had an older sister who turned us on to the album Blue, and the sublime song “A Case of You.”On the back of a carton coasterIn the blue TV screen lightI drew a map of CanadaOh CanadaWith your face sketched on it twiceAfter...
              

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Mardi Gras!

Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Hot Cross Bun Tuesday, i.e., the culmination of Carnival, which is celebrated in extraordinary fashion in many countries of the world. The Boston Globe gave it its Big Picture treatment--the photos are stunning (HT Andrew Sullivan). This photo is a Somersert Maugham story...
              

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Cupid Meets the Tiger

Another mashup this weekend is Chinese New Year’s Day on Valentine’s Day when the Year of the Tiger begins on Feb. 14. Here are the general attribute of those born as Tiger: Courageous, active, and self-assured. Optimistic, passionate and independent. Rebellious, dynamic, and unpredictable. Quick tempered...
              

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Depends on What You Find Bittersweet

This three-day weekend is a strange cosmic mashup of events.The big sad news on Friday was the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili on the luge track in Vancouver. Of course it was sad, a 21-year-old athlete living his dream of being an Olympian and, in his own personal Appointment in Samarra, meeting his...
              

Saturday, February 6, 2010

"Peace, Love, and Soul"

“I KNOW there is nothing a white person can say to a black person about race which is not both incorrect and offensive,” James Spader’s hard-driving lawyer says in the new David Mamet play, “Race.” “I know that. Race is the most incendiary topic in our history. And the moment it comes out, you cannot...
              

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Call Me Heat Miser

In the middle of this cold snap Penelope Green published “Chilled by Choice,” in the NY Times, telling the tales of various people in northern climes who choose to live with little or no indoor heating for varying reasons. (With this beautiful photo by Beatrice De Gea.)I am here to be the yin to their...
              
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