The Problem with the Homeless Problem*
Sean MurphyWho was he? I think the same question each time I see him (every day: the same man in the same spot, holding the same sign that tells everyone who…
Please Talk About Me When I’m Gone*
L’amour de l’art fait perdre l’amour vrai. I did not say that. Although that is the sort of thing I might say, since I am the sort who feels obliged…
Whispered Words*
How long will it take? I did not ask, because I wanted to make every second count. It would be over quickly enough; it was already happening entirely too soon.…
Pythagoras*
I can’t speak to anyone else’s experience, but my grief has made me, against all previous likelihood, into a half-assed mathematician. Numbers were never my bag, and I’ve got the…
Strictly Business (Class): The Dreaded Day Trip*
A.M.: Departure Early, at the airport. Look around: some of the pretty people, many of the mediocre, and the rest of us, all sizes and shapes: men trying to look…
The Terror Card, Torture and You or, The Evil of Banality (6/09)
Anyone who happened to miss this piece by Lakhdar Boumediene, entitled My Guantánamo Nightmare should check it out, here. Here is a taste of the sickening, yet predictable torment this…
Human Connections, Missed Connections, Chance Connections: ‘Three Colors: Blue, White, Red’
Words need not be minced here: the Criterion Collection treatment of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s trilogy is an essential, if overdue cultural event. The high-definition digital restorations are reason enough to rejoice;…
We Shall Overcome
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” –Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963) *This should be…
Remembering (and Celebrating) The Kids In The Hall (7/10)
This weekend PopMatters is revisiting an outstanding feature from a couple of years ago: The Best of TV on DVD. Definitely worth checking out. My entry, below, was on the…
There’s Just A Meanness In This World (11/09)
As obstreperously opposed to the death penalty as I remain, it is nevertheless difficult to feel uncomplicated emotions regarding the execution of John Allen Muhammad. I --and any individual living…