Ann Bauer For his fifth birthday, in February of 1993, my older son received a watch from his grandparents. It was a black Timex with a rectangular face, digital read-out, and several complicated buttons for setting the date, time, and alarm. Waterproof, shatterproof. He wore it everywhere, including the bathtub and bed. Andrew was a child with … Read more
I’m midway through a novel called We Need to Talk About Kevin, which is both the most riveting and the most grotesque book I’ve read in years. Published in 2003 by a New York writer (female) named Lionel Shriver, the manuscript was rejected by reams of American publishers for being too dark — about a … Read more
I mentioned to Jeremy last week that I’d driven by a strange little place called Old Arizona, right at the southern end of Eat Street where Nicollet dead-ends. There was a cluster of brightly-painted, Southwestern buildings with a stone courtyard and a cloth sign strung from the posts that said Cafe and Wine Bar. "Yeah, … Read more
Have I mentioned how much I hate Trader Joe’s? A little over a year ago, when the California-based grocer moved into Minnesota, and located their inaugural store about a mile from my house in St. Louis Park, the POLICE had to be called in to direct traffic. It was like Lourdes: people streaming in from … Read more
We’re sitting at a table in Rice Paper, the little Asian-fusion restaurant in Linden Hills. When I asked Jim Harkness, president of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, if he would talk to me over dinner he said sure, I should pick the place. His house is in this neighborhood, I reasoned, and he … Read more
Were someone to tell me the world were ending tomorrow, I would pick up the phone immediately and make a reservation at Restaurant Alma. No doubt. Given a scenario where there wasn’t enough time to jet off to New York City or Paris, Alma would be my choice for a last meal. Actually, maybe even … Read more
It seems Dennis Lehane is our era’s Raymond Chandler, creating dark, brooding, atmospheric crime dramas. Only instead of the damp glitz of southern California, his working-class Boston — namely Dorchester — is like the Dublin of James Joyce and Jonathan Swift: a maelstrom of the poor and the poorer, people scrabbling for power, for dignity, … Read more
The website for Nau, a new-fangled “green” clothing company, is winning all sorts of awards. And some of their practices — such as small-footprint stores and discounts on orders shipped directly from their warehouse — seem right. But can ecologically-aware rhetoric explain the $40 sailor’s cap?
True story. Back in the mid-90’s, my friend M. got married. I didn’t much like the guy — he was shifty and weird — and for his bachelor party, his "friends" took him to a club downtown, where an exotic dancer slid her way across the bar, presented her spangled G-string to accept his $100 … Read more
The subhead on this looks like it was written by someone’s 8-year-old. But as someone who was on standby yesterday for something like 95 hours. . . .I couldn’t help but read.