A Not-So-Unfathomable Scenario
In the end, "Salvation City" is a coming-of-age story. Its focus comes in tight, as Sigrid Nunez always does, on a single person, in this case a young boy struggling to grow up under extreme circumstances.
By Jeannette Cooperman
The Death of Champagne
All of us who can do so comfortably, without risking our mental or emotional health or that of a possible baby, must pledge to drink a little champagne every week. We are drinking more in the pandemic anyway, n’est-ce pas? The bubbles will cheer us up far faster than those grim vodka tonics.
Make America FEEL Great Again
Simply imagining pleasant aspects of the past can make us feel like they are present again.
Why We Seek Out Negativity
The point of the Rule is the power of bad things to outweigh good things. Because, evolution. The old exigencies of survival. And perhaps a malign or absentee designer of the human psyche.
Today I Am Eleven
Why eleven? Because I have never forgotten the findings of Harvard University education prof Carol Gilligan. After interviewing girls of various ages, she concluded that at eleven, many girls have a “moment of resistance”: a sense of purpose and an almost perfect confidence in what they see and know.
Consulting the Cloister
It is all too easy to feel crazy and old when you are alone—and you do stop caring what other people think, because there are so few opportunities to guess.
The Pie Is Only How Big?
Human beings (and dogs) behave better when they are calm, and they are calm when they know there is enough. The cool truth beneath all the seething anger is that wealth is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Rather than fix that, Americans have decided to scrap amongst themselves for what is left. The enemy is not the few who own the pie but the rivals who want a piece.
On Mosquitoes and Mass Murder
Plumped up with blood and rot and supremely content, mosquitoes will mate, often in midair.
“Negative Energy”—Physics or Fantasy?
Negative energy is shorthand for a whole lot of variables we would rather not, often cannot, itemize.But as a summary of subtle perceptions, it is entirely valid.
Stoicism as the Art of Learning How to Feel Without Fear
Ignoring the blithe optimism practiced by motivational speakers even in his day, Seneca urges us toward a “steadiness of heart” that is purposeful and “cannot be dislodged from its position.” His advice sounds simplistic, the stuff of cliché and needlepoint pillows. But when have I ever pulled it off?
Better We Should Be at War
(Photo by Dick DeMarsico for the New York World-Telegram, now in the Library of Congress) “What would you rather go through, a war or a pandemic?” I asked a friend the other day. She thought a minute. “A pandemic. That way I’ve at least got a little control over my…
A Little Night Music
(Photo by Jörg Schreier via Flickr) The night was muggy, a storm grumbling as it approached, and I was rushing the dog through a boring walk around the block. Then I heard it. A warm strum of guitar chords, intricate and lilting. Not a recording. Live. Funny, how quickly you…