"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
Transatlantic Colum McCann Two Englishmen fly the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland in 1919. Fredrick Douglass, a slave turned abolition activist, tours Ireland in the mid-1800s. A maid who works for the family who hosted Douglass emigrates to the United States during the famine. A retired US senator flies back and forth between the US […]
The Museum of Funeral Customs is on the edge of Oak Ridge Cemetery, a five-minute walk from the tomb. Supposedly the fellow who swoops over to greet me is the museum director, but he speaks in the hushed low voice of a funeral director. He warns me about “the sensitive nature of our exhibits.” Please. […]
Opinion-makers on the right … think stirring up racial resentment will energize the white base and help the GOP win elections.
Our friend Martha, a local bicycling and community activist, organizes an annual ride called Bike to Beer. The purpose of the ride is to cycle through parts of Tucson where residents are trying to build better neighborhoods, stopping to look at and discuss watershed management, urban farming, recycling, and traffic calming projects. The ride ends […]
“In Paris, the evenings of September are sometimes warm, excessively gentle, and, in the magic particular to that city, irresistibly seductive. The autumn of the year 1938 began in just such weather and on the terraces of the best cafes, in the famous restaurants, at the dinner parties one wished to attend, the conversation was, […]
“His bun-like face was not made bewildered by grief or fear. That was what he looked like.” — Philip Hensher, King of the Badgers County Line Bill Cameron This was a Free Friday Nookbook download from Barnes & Noble. Bill Cameron’s character is an ex-cop private eye, Skin Kadash, who lives and works in Portland, […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. Today is the first day of Banned Books Week, which runs from September 24 to October 1. In honor of BBW, rather than link to the standard lists of books under fire from parents, religious fundamentalists, and political activists, I’ll […]
Pardon the mess. My head just exploded. Never mind his hurt fee-fees over the mean things Obama said, and the strong possibility he’s only saying this to hurt Rick Perry’s chances … this is Karl Rove himself saying it’s offensive to describe America as a Christian nation. Yes! For years now the Christian right, specifically […]