The Funny Symbolism of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn Case
The best synopsis of the case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, I believe, was published by The New York Times on August 23, 2011. Clyde Haberman...
High School Musical on for Another Season
How the Gleeks are maintaining the stranglehold of mediocrity on mass culture—and what did music ever do to them to make them hate music...
The Theory of Internet-Based Information
Watching and reading about the recent film, Page One: A Year The New York Times, is a strange experience. To be sure, its subject...
Gay Marriage Law In Effect, Enforcement Remains Lax
Police and officials seem uncertain of enforcement mechanism—mayor's office refuses to intervene; citizens openly flout law.
New York's gay marriage law is in its second...
American Politics, a Tank, and the International Stage: The Venice Biennale
Yes, I am going to require at least a modicum of research for this piece, which is— above all else— a discussion of the...
The Day’s Long Journey into Night
Writing my dissertation, I learned that thoughtfulness and restrained judgment differentiate the light-hearted liberal of today from the angrier intellectual I once was. But,...
Don’t Know Much About History: Lessons in Presidential (and would-be presidential) Situational Ethics, Plus...
To paraphrase the eminent Ms. Palin (ignoring for the moment that most of the time she sounds as if she's having difficulty paraphrasing herself),...
I Went to a Riot and a Palestinian Peace Rally Broke Out. Or. The...
After the fiasco of last year's Gaza flotilla, in which nine Turkish activists were killed when IDF commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara as it...
Mr. Allen’s Flab-o-phobia
Superficially speaking, Mr. Woody Allen’s latest film is more of the same. It is an integral part of his oeuvre. If Whatever Works portrays...
Religious Spectatorship: Harold Camping and the Coming of the Apocalypse
There is something appealing about Armageddon. The notion of the end-of-it-all pervades our social consciousness. It is manifest in our books and movies, our...