CATEGORIES

NO WAY BACK

The resurgence, in the past decade, of Paul Schrader as one of the most accomplished and acclaimed contemporary movie directors is part of a bigger trend: the self-reinvention of Hollywood auteurs as independent filmmakers.

6 mins |

THE CHOOSING ONES

The saga of my Jewish conversion began twenty-five years ago, when I got engaged to my first husband.

HELLO, HEARTBREAK

Heartbreak cures are as old as time, or at least as old as the Common Era.

ENEMY OF THE STATE

Javier Milei's plan to remake Argentina begins with waging war on the government.

OBSCURE FAMILIAL RELATIONS, EXPLAINED FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Children who share only one parent are half siblings. Children who have been bisected via a tragic logging accident are also half siblings, but in a different way.

2 mins |

NOTE TO SELVES

The Sonoran Desert, which covers much of the southwestern United States, is a vast expanse of arid earth where cartoonish entities-roadrunners, tumbleweeds, telephone-pole-tall succulents make occasional appearances.

PRIMORDIAL SORROW

\"All Life Long,\" the title of the most recent album by the composer and organist Kali Malone, is taken from a poem by the British Symbolist author Arthur Symons: \"The heart shall be weary and wonder and cry like the sea,/ All life long crying without avail,/As the water all night long is crying to me.\"

6 mins |

TOUCH WOOD

What do people do all day? My daughter loves to read Richard Scarry's book of that title, though she generally skips ahead to the hospital pages.

LET'S MAKE A DEAL

\"Death Becomes Her\" and \"Burnout Paradise.\"

ANTI HEROES

\"The Franchise,\" on HBO.

THE TEXAS EXODUS

Amid stringent abortion laws, ob-gyns are fleeing the state.

GETTING A GRIP

Robots learn to use their hands.

NOW YOU SEE ME

John Singer Sargent's strange, slippery portraits of an art dealer's family.

WILD SIDE

Is Lake Tahoe's bear boom getting out of hand?

BADDIE ISSUES

\"Wicked\" and \"Gladiator II.\"

6 mins |

FELLOW-TRAVELLERS

The surprisingly sunny origins of the Frankfurt School.

WITHHOLDING SEX FROM MY WIFE

In the wake of [the] election, progressive women, who are outraged over Donald Trump's victory at the ballot box, have taken to social media with public, vengeful vows of chastity. - The Free Press.

4 mins |

DEADLINE EXTENSION

Old age, reborn.

PARIS FRIEND - SHUANG XUETAO

Xiaoguo had a terror of thirst, so he kept a glass of water on the table beside his hospital bed. As soon as it was empty, he asked me to refill it. I wanted to warn him that this was unhealthy - guzzling water all night long puts pressure on the kidneys, and pissing that much couldn't be good for his injury. He was tall, though, so I decided his insides could probably cope.

A LONG WAY HOME

Ordinarily, I hate staying at someone's house, but when Hugh and I visited his friend Mary in Maine we had no other choice.

THIS ELECTION JUST PROVES WHAT I ALREADY BELIEVED

I hate to say I told you so, but here we are. Kamala Harris’s loss will go down in history as a catastrophe that could have easily been avoided if more people had thought whatever I happen to think.

2 mins |

HOLD YOUR TONGUE

Can the world's most populous country protect its languages?

REBELS WITH A CAUSE

In the new FX/Hulu series “Say Nothing,” life as an armed revolutionary during the Troubles has—at least at first—an air of glamour.

AGAINST THE CURRENT

\"Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!,\" at Soho Rep, and \"Gatz,\" at the Public.

GAINING CONTROL

The frenemies who fought to bring contraception to this country.

GET IT TOGETHER

In the beginning was the mob, and the mob was bad. In Gibbon’s 1776 “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” the Roman mob makes regular appearances, usually at the instigation of a demagogue, loudly demanding to be placated with free food and entertainment (“bread and circuses”), and, though they don’t get to rule, they sometimes get to choose who will.