When I heard that Andrew Breitbart had died, I was saddened. It is natural to think of the damage Breitbart did to people like Sherrod by embracing lying as a weapon. But I found myself thinking of the great injury he must have ultimately done himself, for by the end of the Sherrod affair, he [...]

Romney is in sort of a quantum superposition between winning and losing, still waiting for the Republican base to look at him just a little bit harder and collapse him into one or the other. -Kevin Drum, MoJo   …these are the metaphors which erupt when one-time Techers* become writers.   *Caltech, natch.  Lord only knows [...]

From street art on San Francisco sidewalks to news from around the world: inequality is in, y’all. If you need help to build up a good head of steam about the whole thing I can recommend two pieces from the most recent New Yorker, a bit of MoJo, and a write-up on CNN.com which was [...]

I have not been posting much lately.  Sometimes, the world is a difficult place, and I just want to sit around and watch “Cougar Town” and eat delicious sandwiches.  (Expect a future post on “Cougar Town,” btw.)   Raising my ire most recently has been the general state of affairs RE women in America, what [...]

Two weeks ago I got into a (semi-heated) discussion about this season of “Parks & Rec” versus this season of “30 Rock”; my conversational partner was frustrated with what she perceived as the re-infantilizing of Leslie Knope on the former show, whilst very much enjoying the latter, while my position was exactly the opposite.  I’m [...]

Be Madonna.

From TNC: And I wonder if the problem of African-American History is that it so coldly and cruelly counters the American narrative. I have spent the past two decades thinking about that history and it’s ultimately made me more of a believer in the American project, not less of one. But that’s a relatively recent [...]

Jingles: my titties hurt me: hahahahahahaha   did you get a purple nurple last night? Jingles: nah   too many pushups yesterday me: oh i see   you got the MANLY titty-hurt Jingles: yes   the manliest   these manboobs aint going to sprout themselves   at least, not in a sexy way

When cultural gatekeepers turn on one another, things can get ugly… or kind of interesting, as in this piece from n+1 on the history of Pitchfork.  (Is elitism additive, or multiplicative?)  I freely admit that my interest in the essay is motivated largely by selfishness, as I have tried for over a year to learn [...]