The Age of Subtraction
She bought Stephen Sondheim a bottle of the best gin--then saw him pouring white wine. This was, they sighed, the Age of Subtraction.
Dispatches
The Mouse That…Squeaked
I call out the list of what not to feed a mouse. No rhubarb. No raisins or onions, no fizzy bubbles, no caffeine. Definitely no booze. Which is a shame, because I bet she would be even cuter tipsy.
If I Buy Your Groceries
I wrote this little memoir in the spirit of a Cupid, hoping someone out there hears me and tries this out and buys some lonely person who looks like they can really cook their groceries and they cook you dinner and in fact they can really cook well. Dinner together is delicious, and you take it from there, hopefully, expectantly, both of you taking your chances on love and food.
How Pop Culture Made Revolution Safe, or at Least Safer
Rather than skulk in the corners of history some of the most turbulent figures in radical left terrorism found fertile afterlives in popular culture, both film and music, that treat them alternately as doomed romantics or curious, bizarre artifacts.
Installation of the Gerald Early Endowed Chair
Chancellor Martin called the ceremony “a profound testament to friendship, scholarship, and the enduring impact of extraordinary individuals. The Gerald Early Distinguished Professorship represents more than an academic honor. It commemorates the legacies of two remarkable men who have been integral to Washington University: Chancellor Emeritus William H. Danforth and Professor Gerald Early…one of the most significant scholars of our time.”
Language Can Stop Us from Loving the World
“It is impossible to prefigure the salvation of the world in the same language by which the world has been dismembered and defaced.”
The Sexual Fantasies Gillian Anderson Collected Will Break Your Heart
I expected women's fantasies to be sensuous and subtle .... Instead they made me want to weep.
The Taunting Horror of Drones
TikTok and Instagram channels of drone killings on the battlefield in Ukraine started with them dropping grenades or mortar rounds into trenches and other enemy positions, but the latest ones offer fanboys their own aesthetic. They all look the same: The earth is a gray-green monotony. The camera is floating above, looking down with an eye for movement. The video has been edited, so as not to be boring.
What Happens When an AI Jesus Steps in for the Clergy
A young pastor said, “I was positively surprised how well it worked.” All he missed, he added, was emotion and spirituality.
An Engaging Christmas
It was not hard to ask my sons if they would like to forgo Christmas gifts this year and travel together instead—to make memories instead of buying things because the season dictates.