I had a fun time the other night at First Anniversary Dinner of the Writers’ Center at Hunter College, which was held at Doubles at the Sherry Netherland Hotel. The best part was catching up with Bruce Jay Friedman, the maestro, and with Patty Marx, the dryly hilarious shopping correspondent of The New York. For …
By a vote of 8-1, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the First Amendment protects the right of a fringe church to stage anti-gay protests at military funerals. As the Washington Post put it, the decision “writes a new chapter in the court’s findings that freedom of speech is so central to the nation that …
Two very interesting, fairly contradictory stories about young men, have recently appeared. In Slate, Mark Regnerus says that while young men are struggling in the world, especially in contrast with young women, they are still finding it fairly easy to bed young women. “We keep hearing that young men are failing to adapt to contemporary …
On Day Two I was immersed in Williamsburg, and I continued to have a great time. In the morning, we attended a performance by some of Williamsburg’s historic character interpreters, most of whom were playing slaves in the Colonial Era. The scenarios did an excellent job bringing to life the conflicts and pressures experienced by …
Somebody at Colonial Williamsburg, I’m flattered to say, likes me. Or perhaps to be more precise, like the Disunion Series, because I was extended an invitation to visit the the famous museum/educational center/resort and attend a conference entitled Storm on the Horizon: Slavery, Disunion, and the Roots of the Civil War. I had a terrific …
I don’t know many unmarried women–unmarried women, as opposed to single women, are out of their twenties and would like to be married–but there was a column today on Huffington Post called “Why You’re Not Married’‘ that was funny and seemed kind of useful. (I know, I feel less credible giving relationship advice to women …
I posted this interview with historian Julie Flavell on Georgian London, a wonderful site created by Lucy Inglis: Here in the States we always think of Great Britain as the place America separated itself from; what is wonderful about When London Was Capital of America is how Julie Flavell (below) reminds us of how much …
In the Times yesterday, Alison Leigh Cowan has a piece aboutThe Gentleman’s Directory, an 1870 Guide to Manhattan brothels that is currently among the holdings of The New York Historical Society. Listing 150 establishments, and delivering “insight into the character and doings of people whose deeds are carefully screened from public view,” the palm-sized book …
The Human Torch, aka Johnny Storm, the young hothead of The Fantastic Four, is dead, killed in a battle against a horde of insectoid minions released by the super-villain Annihilus. His death comes in issue Number 587, which appears fifty years after the superheroic team’s debut. There will not be an issue Number 588.
A sign left by a distraught reader on the windows of the just-closed Lincoln Center branch of Barnes & Noble in Manhattan.