Every goddamn day: 05/09/26

"Ascending and Descending," by M.C. Escher     When people find out I am that most exotic of beasts, a newspaper columnist, the co...

     Most people leave few traces. An heirloom vase. A nice watch. A self-published family memoir that slumbers in a drawer unread. An amat...

     Not being a sports guy, I don't use many sports metaphors. It's never fourth and long in my world. I seldom swing for the fence...

      If I had to point to one history book that completely changed my thinking, the first one to come to mind would be Studs Terkel's ...

       I'm on vacation for the next few weeks. To give you SOMETHING to read, I've prepared a self-indulgent look at some of my favo...

Hedy Lamar as Tondelayo in the 1942 film "White Cargo." Thurber, writing in 1933, was referring to the book.       I'm not in ...

Actual bagels made in Brooklyn      A friend of mine flew out of Midway on Friday. Had she asked me, I would have strongly advised her to a)...