December 11, 2006
A Note on Format
In the past, Short Takes have taken the Arts and Letters Daily approach of pulling a sentence or two (or paraphrasing a sentence or two) from the source linked. As […]
December 11, 2006
The Little Magazine in America I
It’s late in the semester and I’m weary–little rest beckons. My last fiction workshop is tonight, three hours at my house, over pizza. But between Christmas and New Year’s I […]
December 11, 2006
Short Takes
Willa Cather was a great novelist, whose greatness was unrecognized for a long time. Samuel Beckett’s work was centrally concerned with a paradox: the impossibility of finding any meaning in […]
December 10, 2006
An Interview with Michael Kimmelman, Part II
Michael Kimmelman is the main art critic for The New York Times. He also contributes to The New York Review of Books. His most recent book is The Accidental Masterpiece. […]
December 9, 2006
An Interview with Michael Kimmelman, Part I
Michael Kimmelman is the main art critic for The New York Times. He also contributes to The New York Review of Books. His most recent book is The Accidental Masterpiece. […]
December 9, 2006
Iranian Photographer to Receive His Pulitzer from 1980
The Pulitzer committee awarded an anonymous photographer the prize in 1980 for his photograph of Iranian firing squads. Jahangir Razmi’s editor withheld his name out of fear for Razmi’s safety: […]
December 8, 2006
Short Takes
Further along the block, another incident — this time we happened to encounter a kiss. So let’s say you’ve got a music dork (ahem) on your Christmas list and you […]
December 8, 2006
While we’re celebrating
It was, in fact, Noam Chomsky‘s birthday yesterday as well. The Language Log has a nice bit about the history of the birthday song, which could go out to Chomsky, […]
December 7, 2006
It’s Also Willa Cather’s Birthday
And I feel guilty for having neglected her. Project Gutenberg has some of her work, but not, alas, her masterpiece, Death Comes for the Archbishop.
December 7, 2006
Happy Birthday, Tom Waits!
It’s also the day that Leadbelly died. And Pearl Harbor was bombed. Somehow this all seems appropriate. Mr. Waits is 57 today, and in honor of his birthday, I am […]
December 7, 2006
Short Takes
They’re not bunnies, they’re rabbits (second item). One man’s tale of book promotion (via Conversational Reading). Sure, the end result is a nice New York Times piece, but I wonder […]
December 7, 2006
We’re All on Television
A few years ago, I was engaging in some friendly banter and repartee with a colleague when she turned toward her office wall and said, “You see what I have […]