Jamie

5.31 Quinta Jurecic in The Atlantic: “[T]he Trump balloon has been punctured. The Übermensch is not so über. When Trump stepped out of the courtroom after the verdict to deliver remarks to the press, he walked with hunched shoulders, declaring his innocence in a flat, exhausted tone, as if he was struggling to summon his …

MAY 2024: “GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .GUILTY. . .” Read More »

In this excerpt from Our Last Great Adventure, Doris Kearns Goodwin tells how on March 15, 1965, her future husband, Richard Goodwin, wrote the speech that President Lyndon Johnson delivered before a joint session of Congress in favor of the Voting Rights bill: “The moment Dick stepped into the West Wing on the morning of …

“I MEAN TO USE IT” Read More »

4.30 Jerry Seinfeld on In Depth with Graham: “We wanted to do what we wanted to do. I always thought we would be a very obscure. . .be like Spy magazine, just a small, weird thing for a very particular audience.” 4.30 On $1 Hot Dog Night at Citi Field, the 22,880 fans at the …

APRIL 2024: “NEVER FIGHT UPHILL, ME BOYS!” Read More »

Just about four decades ago, in one of my earliest pieces, I wrote a small article in New York magazine about a young singer-songwriter named Suzanne Vega. This was the first piece about her in a major magazine. She was about to release her first album, but I had been following her for a year, …

SUZANNE VEGA IN ALBANY Read More »

4.8 In Air Mail, Yves Klein realizing an “Anthropometry” painting in his studio, 1960. 4.8 Damon Linker in the Times: “There are things the Biden campaign could do to help the president better connect with voters. First, he should stop being so upbeat — about the economy in particular — and making the election entirely …

APRIL 2024: “IS THIS WHO YOU ARE?” Read More »

This week my friends Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams will release a new album. They asked me to write a piece about them for the press kit: Love always. Love forever. Love until the end of time. The Great Cosmic Playlist is testimony to the endurance of an emotion that is easy to conjure, but hard to …

ALL THIS TIME: A NEW ALBUM FROM LARRY CAMPBELL AND TERESA WILLIAMS Read More »

3.31 Carolyn Hax in the Washington Post: “Every life has some element of frustration, loneliness, rejection, mistreatment, misunderstanding, raw deals, disappointment, disaster and dream-crushing. And after that comes Tuesday.” 3.30 Ivy and her parents visit for Easter. 3.29 Peter Shapiro dies at 71. 3.29 George Will in the Post: “A former local TV news whiz, [Kari] …

MARCH 2024: “ISN’T IT PAST YOUR JAIL TIME?” Read More »

2.29 Fintan O’Toole in NYRB: “Trump is America’s biggest comedian. His badinage is hardly Wildean, but his put-downs, honed to the sharpness of stilettos, are many people’s idea of fun. For them, he makes anger, fear, and resentment entertaining. For anyone who questions how much talent and charisma this requires, there is a simple answer: …

FEBRUARY 2024: “YOU’VE GOT TO PAY. YOU’VE GOT TO PAY YOUR BILLS.” Read More »

President Biden has called on voters to defend democracy by repudiating Donald Trump and his anti-democratic agenda. That’s a start, but it’s not enough. We can’t just defend democracy; we have to advance it. Let’s face facts: Defending Democracy in America today is like defending a house that has no roof. Yes, we have to …

NEEDED: A CONTRACT WITH DEMOCRACY Read More »

1.31 Two of Trump’s political action committees, Save America leadership PAC and the Make America Great Again PAC, spent $55.6 million on legal bills in 2023, according to campaign filings. 1.31 Eric Klinenberg in The New York Times: “The very different people I spoke with that year all had one thing in common: a feeling …

JANUARY 2024: “AS IF THE COUNTRY WAS WANDERING THROUGH A MIST” Read More »