She didn’t tell me exactly what I have to wear, she just said to “dress my ass up,” Char tells Stephan. The three dust-topped round bulbs over the bathroom mirror whiten her face to stark, a finger of pewter shadows like chalk drawings under her eyes as she leans in close, paints in tiny pointillism … Read more
Dan Buettner is best known as a writer and extreme adventurer who rode his bike around the world from east to west and from north to south through the Americas and Africa and Europe and Asia. He has crossed the roadless Sahara desert, numerous jungles, and active war zones. He has contracted dozens of diseases … Read more
A disheveled man paced the intersection of Snelling and University avenues, waving his arms as he described to passersby how his car had broken down and he’d been sleeping at the nearby Catholic church. If somebody would spare some change, he promised, he’d be on his way. The man had plenty of pedestrians to talk … Read more
We’re always invigorated by a brisk autumn of theatergoing; this year, the season has been even more robust thanks to a trio of theater-themed parties. There was no shortage of spectacle on the opening-night galas at the Guthrie Theater and the Children’s Theater, where the line between costume and couture was wonderfully blurred. Where else … Read more
Number, Name—Identifiers; Description 0, Calm—Skin tone normal; Passive agreement, no apparent problems 1, Flap—Dirty looks cast Long periods of silence, punctuated by grunts 2, Squabble—Eyes narrow Widespread nitpicking, mild name-calling 3, Dust-up—Some color in the cheeks; Ungrounded accusations, small threat of physical contact 4, Spat—Clenched fists, jaw; Open name-calling, disagreement on facts 5, Row—Notable presence … Read more
Libby Larsen has an athleticism and youthfulness that’s unusual for her fifty-four years. Her tiny, five-foot frame is lithe and wiry like a marathon runner’s. And she talks as fast as it looks like she can run. From the moment she walked into the D’Amico & Sons café near her South Minneapolis home, she was … Read more
Up to the 1960s, the apron served as a potent symbol of American womanhood. These lovingly adorned little swatches of cloth represented comfort and security and perfectly browned pot roasts. Then the women’s movement came along and the frills fell away. Since then, aprons have mostly been utilitarian and unisex, of the “Kiss the Cook” … Read more
Those fond of appropriating F. Scott Fitzgerald’s observation that “the very rich are different from you and me” rarely include the follow-up—the part about why they are so. “They possess and enjoy early,” Fitzgerald explained in The Rich Boy, “and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where … Read more
During my childhood, the whirl of the eating season that begins this month was usually ushered in with that most agreeable social function, the potluck supper. Friends gathering, sharing food of their own making–it is a humble community feast where everyone gives and takes and huddles against the encroaching cold. In the car, I always … Read more
The Orient, said Metternich, begins at the Ring. It is hardly surprising an Austrian statesman of the early nineteenth century should think the Near East was as close as the suburbs of Vienna. The Ottoman Turks besieged the Austrian capital at least twice and the favor was returned each time an Austrian army, arrayed boldly … Read more