FROM THE GULF
In On theatlantic.com, images from the Gulf.
THE CASE OF THE MISSING THUNDERSTORMS
Hey, whatever happened to thunderstorms? You remember–great, violent downpours of drenching rain, accompanied by flashed o lightning and booming thunderclaps? The horrid heat wave of the last week has left me wondering why we haven’t had one or more of those smashing storms that seemed to have almost a daily companion of nearly all the …
RINGO AT 70
If this doesn’t make you smile, you’re dead. . . or a teenager.
WORLD GOVERNMENT? WHY STOP THERE?
Yesterday Rep. Michele Bachman, the insane yet oddly alluring Republican congresswoman from Minnesota (is it the gleam of insanity that makes her eyes shine so bright?), offered a commentary on the G-20 nations. During an interview, when a conservative radio host asked Bachmann for her thoughts on the G-20 summit in Toronto, the congresswoman said …
IS SEX OVER?
Camille Paglia certainly rocked the Times the other day: “The implication is that a new pill, despite its unforeseen side effects, is necessary to cure the sexual malaise that appears to have sunk over the country. But to what extent do these complaints about sexual apathy reflect a medical reality, and how much do they …
KRUGMAN: BAD MOON RISING
With cold, methodical clairvoyance, Paul Krugman has been chronicling our descent through subprime madness, into recession, into crisis, liquidity trap, and into the green shoots on the other side. He applauded Ben Bernanke‘s firmness and leadership in 2008, and warned very early in 2009 that the stimulus wasn’t large enough to do the job, that …
SCREENING HOLIDAY
Hands down, my favorite perk of being a writer has been screenings. Slipping out of the office, ensconced in plush private rooms with friendly publicists hovering nearly, seeing things before everyone else–pretty sweet. Yesterday I rewarded myself for a couple of weeks sustained good work by venturing into a broiling city for a double feature. …
WHAT DO DAUGHTERS WANT?
Recently my younger daughter, age 16, shared with her mother the following revelation. “I need new sneakers,’’ she said, “but not, you know, sneakers.’’ Confronted with this Delphic utterance, my wife, like a character in a Dan Brown novel, sought to penetrate this mystery by showing my daughter a website devoted to sneakers. “How about …
PEACOCKS: MEN AND CLOTHES
The topic of this article is supposed to be Why Men Don’t Like to Dress Up, but I’m having some difficulty with it, because the premise is obviously untrue. Men love to dress up. If you have any doubts, go to a football game—NFL, NCAA. Look in the stands. You’ll see tens of thousands of …