Agorophobia
It’s gotten to the point where I basically have no interest in going out, in the traditional sense. Either I’m filthy in a foreign country or I’m ensconced in my tiny apartment. I’m by no means a shut-in; I get out, I get around quite a bit. My day job takes me to every neighborhood […]
Read MoreThe (Mid)Week That Was
It was a manic-depressive week of extreme highs and lows. Days of impressive productivity and pleasant megalomania alternated with hazes of mundane erranda, creeping despair. The middle of the week, that dubious stretch from Tuesday to Thursday, was particularly action-packed, garnished in the center with a perfect soupcon of Wednesday ennui. Tuesday Tuesday I interviewed […]
Read MoreInternet Habits
You know when you get deep into your own private internet world (not porn, I don’t mean porn), where your browser becomes like a map of your curiosities, neuroses and consumer desires, where the “History” is an itinerary of a few hours journey from “What time is that movie playing?” to “How did the beginning […]
Read More8:29
Though I’ve haven’t even been back from the Continent for a week, I couldn’t refuse an invitation to spend a night with my favorite art collective in Providence. I find a quick little side trip is often just the ticket to ensure a complete psychic return from a longer, international journey. Also, while on the […]
Read MoreBiathlon
The biathlon event in the Winter Olympics is roundly agreed to be an odd juxtaposition of skills. You ski, you shoot, you ski, you shoot-but why? Is it for alpine assassins? Restless hunters? I dimly recall the announcers commenting on the difficulty of steadying a rifle with an aerobically pounding heart, how this demands the […]
Read MoreBerlin Wall
In a fitting end to the latest chapter in my research on subcultures of resistance and debauchery, I escaped this morning from a rock club in Berlin. I awoke at dawn, fully clothed and still drunk, curled cosily into the depths of the very last stop on my own personal tour of Filthy Couches of […]
Read MorePhrasebook
Research once again demands that I take to the road to observe certain people like the animals they are. This time the migratory subjects of my very serious study are roving the Teutonic nations, drinking in a van by day and rocking out by night, if previous research serves. And so I find myself in […]
Read MoreCats, RATS & SuperLefty
Your very own SuperLefty will be a special guest in the RATS Reading Series at the Lucky Cat Bar this Saturday night. RATS is some kind of acronym I know not which, but whatever it is I probably disagree with it, as acronyms and institutions tend to go together. But let’s not hold that against […]
Read MoreBook Reports
In what passes for creative work in today’s schools, one of my students, an eighth-grader, has to write a children’s book explaining nuclear proliferation in North Korea. “It’s really depressing,” she said, “because it’s hard to describe nuclear warheads in a way that’s not scary.” This brought back memories of my own wildly inappropriate book […]
Read MoreThey’re Just Not Champions
I’ve only had about five minutes to adjust to the Mets’ postseason defeat, but so far I’m feeling pretty sanguine. I’ve got a new way of looking at things when it comes to my futile, fervent hopes that this team or that team will become World Champions, reap millions of dollars in endorsements, receive truly […]
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