As I’ve noted before, I grew up working class in the South. My neighborhood, my school, my family and friends, it all oscillated between “redneck” and “white trash,” and yes, there’s a difference. I wrote not long ago about the challenges facing those of us trying to climb the socio-economic ladder when nothing in our upbringing […]
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Maira Kalman’s The Principles of Uncertainty: an appreciation of New York and New Yorkishness by a New Yorker
Maira Kalman’s collage/slam book/illustrated diary The Principles of Uncertainty probably deserves better than it’s going to get here. This latest completed read from my 2013 reading list has put-up job written (and drawn) all over it. While this book has charm, it also has smarm in abundance. Only a New Yorker with “the right connections” – in publishing, in society, in […]
ArtSunday: Sweet Jane…and the problems of writing…
And so we come to Jane Austen. Be forewarned. I have read each of Austen’s novels at least 10 times – some more. I wrote my master’s thesis on Austen’s novels (using Rogerian theory as a device to explain the social integration problems of each heroine – and, by the way, I would argue, as do some other scholars, […]
ArtSunday: Doors Open Denver
Good morning, everyone. Here’s hoping your ArtSunday is off to a sunny start. A couple of us with strong S&R ties are entered in the Doors Open Denver photo contest and would really appreciate your support. In order to convince you that we’re worthy, we’re even going to give you some pretty shots to look […]
Edith Wharton, the American Austen
“We live in our own souls as in an unmapped region, a few acres of which we have cleared for our habitation; while of the nature of those nearest us we know but the boundaries that march with ours.” – Edith Wharton, “The Touchstone” Reading Edith Wharton again after many years is a revelation. This next author […]
ArtSunday: About a book…
“Will was beginning to come to the conclusion that he was not, as he had always previously thought, a good liar. He was an enthusiastic liar, certainly, but enthusiasm was not the same thing as efficacy, and he was now constantly finding himself in a situation whereby, having lied through his teeth for minutes or […]
ArtSunday: Mark Twain and American innocence…
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrowmindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain, conclusion, The Innocents Abroad The French refer to Americans as “les grandes bébés.” […]
The “what if” question: a writer who loves poetry rants about poetry (and democracy gone astray)
The truth is that I have never really cared for most of the American poetry canon. Yes, there are exceptions. If you count TS Eliot as an American (and since he was born in St. Louis, you kind of have to), then he was my favorite (although, since he abandoned the US and went to […]
Saturday Video Roundup: New music of interest in early 2k13
It’s way too early in the year to be talking best of, especially since we’re anticipating 2013 releases from some of our favorite artists (like Jeffrey Dean Foster, for instance, and The Lost Patrol, to name another). But there is some new tuneage out already that we’re digging on. So for your ArtsWeek SVR, have […]
The Shadowbox of Poetry
“If the father of criticism [Aristotle] has rightly denominated poetry . . . an imitative art, these writers will, without great wrong, lose their right to the name of poets, for they cannot be said to have imitated anything; they neither copied nature nor life, neither painted the forms of matter, nor represented the operations of […]
ArtSunday: the Tokyo telephone book
by Dan Ryan I have owned or had the use of a personal computer since 1982, when my dad bought me an Osborne 1 to take to college. In some areas dad was a bit of a forward thinker. His experience as an upper mid-level executive for Electronic Data Systems (EDS), a now-defunct information services […]
An unexpected Hush
I bought Hush one of those new life-blogging collars about a month ago. It’s the version with a GPS and wifi transmitter and takes a picture every half-a-second of whatever happens to be in front of him. I thought it would be something to remind me of the day going on outside my studio. I’d […]
Winter Dreams: An unsolicited review of Adam Gopnik’s Winter
Winter in London sucks—there’s no other way to put it. It’s grey, unpleasant, cold and muggy. Coming here from New England winters took some adjustment. Paul Fussell opened his book Abroad, on expatriate English writers after the First World War, with a discussion of how much everyone hated the weather, and the pressing need most […]
Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation: why you don’t see Pilgrims at the movies
I saw (for the second time) Terence Malick’s The New World Friday night. It’s a strange and engrossing movie, what one critic calls a “tone poem” about the founding of the Jamestown settlement. Part history, part psychological analysis, part dream, it enraptures, engrosses, and enrages alternately. Partly through pacing (one of, I think, its best qualities – The New World doesn’t seek […]
Wuf’s books of the year, 2012
Every year I read about 70 or 80 books. I do most of this while commuting—an hour and a half a day, five days a week, gets a lot done. This year so far it’s been 82, and it looks like there will be a couple more before year end. Here are some of the […]
ArtSunday: photography for the holidays (and any other day) from 5280 Lens Mafia
Our sister site, the 5280 Lens Mafia photoblog, launched not long back, and we continue to produce some very nice work. I thought I’d take a few moments to share some recent shots from the team, which I think you’ll enjoy. Let’s get the show off to a seasonal start with this from Greg Thow […]
S&R Honors
Click here to learn more about past honorees...- Profiling the Tea Party: In defense of the IRS. Sorta. Or not.
- Saturday Video Roundup: “Imagine the Band,” by John Lennon and Wings
- The Rest is Noise (6)—Descent into the Maelstrom
- I hate handguns, but I have still considered owning one
- Redneck jokes are racist
- Mystery Unraveled: How a white, moderate, married, churchgoing, middle-class, middle-aged woman could vote for Obama
- An open letter to Burt Rutan, regarding his WSJ commentary on human-caused climate disruption
- Meet the men of Match.com: Really, guys, are you serious?
- Climate scientists still besieged
- Pelosi on Bush: “He’s not worth impeaching”
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wufnik: Thanks Jim. I haven't read the Danto book, but I s…
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Lex: I'm glad i'm not a Progressive, because not being …
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Jim Booth: Wonderful piece, Wufnik. I'm currently reading Art…
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Fnay: Having recently put three kids through college (tw…
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satanicpanic: I've thought about this myself. Other than needin…
