Right beneath our noses, an underground clutch of vintage appliance enthusiasts is quietly buying up all of the redeemable old stoves and classic refrigerators. To the uninitiated, it looks like a hobby, not unlike repairing and collecting classic cars. But some of the new converts to the vintage appliance game aren’t buying them because they … Read more
There are few things as merciless as office air conditioning. When I graduated from college and started temping in giant office buildings I made the grave mistake of dressing as if it were summer. Armed with a vague sense of professional attire and deep conviction that I had a cute post-collegiate bod, I had purchased … Read more
The first ride I ever had in a Mercedes sedan was on the German autobahn in 1975. In case you aren’t familiar with the autobahn, it’s a speed freak’s dream: There is no speed limit, and the German autobahn cops drive Porsche Turbos so they can keep up. The right lane moves along at about … Read more
Seliga, splitting the water, slipping over its surface. Se-li-ga. Three syllables sliding off the tongue: Se—sibilant and schwa; Lee—light-hearted, quick, cascading into the primitive finale of Ga. That would be Joe Seliga, specifically, a maker of canoes—of craft—for the water. A wood-canvas canoe, generically. The shape familiar: the sides rising from the water, seventeen feet … Read more
A couple of years ago, Pacific Drift, a public radio show produced in Southern California, featured a segment on “three very successful writers who all got their start,” according to host Ben Adair, “in sort of a surprising place—Hustler magazine.” In particular, they all credited as their mentor Allan MacDonell, the former executive editorial director … Read more
I had a German grandmother who could cook, but she lived in Michigan. During our summer and holiday visits, this silly American girl didn’t know how to appreciate her cooking. I thought meat wrapped in pancake was weird and wondered why the potato salad was pink. When I finally realized what I could have learned, … Read more
It is a drear thought that if you can remember the Pudding Shop on the north side of Divan Yolu in Istanbul you must be well into middle age. “Those were the days, my friend,” the Seekers sang, “We thought they’d never end, we would be young for ever and a day.” As the Roman … Read more
My husband and I recently went over our wills. This was pretty easy for me, since I don’t actually own anything of value. In fact, the only thing I am leaving my husband is a postmortem “honey do” list. The first thing on that list is to throw away all of my notebooks and journals. … Read more
After winning the DFL endorsement at the Fifth Congressional District Convention in May, Keith Ellison has come closer than any black person (or Native American, Latino, Hmong, or Somali, for that matter), to representing Minnesota in Congress. If he wins the September 12 primary in the overwhelmingly Democratic Minneapolis, about the only thing that could … Read more
Wabasha is a mighty fine place to see an eagle. The city is a ninety-minute drive south of Minneapolis on U.S. Highway 61—yes, Dylan’s Highway 61—one of several old settlements wedged between the five-hundred-foot bluffs and the Mississippi River, built in deference to the commanding geography. Originally established as a fur-trading post in the 1820s, … Read more