BOOKS & AUTHORS Banned Book Week It’s Banned Book Week, and what better way to celebrate it than with P.O.W. poetry? Join Magers and Quinn tonight — along with bookstores across the country — for readings from the University of Iowa’s Poems From Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak. This collection brings together 22 poems — originally … Read more
A 24-Hour Comic Book Day is shaping up across the nation. It’s set for October 20th, so reserve the date.
In July 2006 The Rake published an excellent essay by my good friend Peter Schilling in which he enthused about his SolarShield Fits-Overs – these, in essence, are some cheap and ugly-ass sunglasses that fit right over existing eyewear. Well, Mr. Schilling wrote today to inform he’s not the only male, Minneapolis-based media figure rocking … Read more
River Cities is selling floating condos that will travel from St. Paul to Port Isabel, Texas.
One of our correspondents the other day bemoaned our Strib coverage as appealing to “about 500 readers” and asked that we please write about something else. I hear you, brother (though I think the 500 number is WAY too high). I left the Strib because I didn’t want to think about it all the time … Read more
They not only wrote the story, they actually ran an AP photo of the men’s room, just in case you ladies don’t know what one looks like. (This cutline corrected from original.) We’ve been having a debate around my house for several months now…since about the time Par (Mr. Ethics) Ridder took over at the … Read more
LECTURE The Kids Are All Right Back in April, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a report on the possibility of regulating television violence that might be seen by children. Though they were unable to define what constitutes violence, they did suggest that it can be regulated constitutionally. Now, as we await the FCC’s next … Read more
Occasionally, I’ll give my creative writing students an exercise that goes something like this: take a candelabra, a piece of fishing wire, a map, a casual lie that can’t be taken back, and come up with a story. It must contain all of these elements, but beyond that the world of fiction is open to … Read more
After noticing my previous post, someone asked me how a Guido could afford an M3. Well there is a difference between common Guidos (also known as Larrys) and Gold Chain Guidos. Guidos work in the chain store, Gold Chain Guidos own multiple chain stores (likely through some Ponzi scheme.) An automotive badge frequently accessorized with … Read more
To know thyself. . . .no less a mind than Socrates said it’s important. And I agree. For example, I’m a food writer but I am not Ruth Reichl or Calvin Trillin. Culinary trends don’t rise and fall with my whims. And I’ve come to terms with this. OK, I’m working on coming to terms … Read more