There are three golden things that never perish: gold, honey, and the sun. An archaeologist friend of mine once put this to the test. She was excavating at the Bronze Age citadel built at Mycenae during the Greek Civil War when her team came across a large jar full of honey. They agreed it would … Read more
You need to kick-start your life, no? Aren’t you searching for that mystical buzz of inspiration that comes with seeing others achieve their dreams? Well, cheer up, Charlie. For a lucky few in our Twin Cities, and far more in places across the country, the dream of a creative and self-determined life has been found … Read more
Other countries’ politics are always a mystery. Of course, it helps to know some history. Then you can at least ask how they got here from there, rather than merely measure how different they are from us, how they fail to meet our highest standards of democracy, feminism, etc. But even disinterested interest is sometimes … Read more
Europe changes you. No one can deny that. You may go the first time with a young, cynical it-can’t-be-that-big-of-a-deal complex. They have churches. So what. You’ve seen churches. Stuff is really old, you get that, but what does Europe have that we don’t in the U.S.? And then it sinks in. Maybe while drinking your … Read more
There is a Gresham’s Law in music; bad tunes drive out good. On Sunday you hear a competent choir render a subtle and melodious anthem by Herbert Howells. You are then obliged to join in a repetitive praise chorus of the sort whose words and tune suggest that the righteous are those who have enjoyed … Read more
When you take stock of your life, you often start to appreciate the things you’ve taken for granted. At thirteen thousand feet above sea level, I had a moment like that. Walking over Dead Woman’s Pass on the Inca Trail, heading to Machu Picchu, I began to feel really lucky to have had such a … Read more
What price a good meal? The question posed in the preface of The American Home Cookbook of 1932 is readily answered by its publishers: “Barring the obvious cost of materials, there is that priceless ingredient—interest.” Oh, those sage prophets of cookery books replete with gems like deviled sardines and jellied venison. They had no idea … Read more
The late summer evenings take my mind back thirty years to a leafy lane on the Devon-Dorset border, the western edge of the countryside familiar to readers of Thomas Hardy’s novels. We had spent the day otter-hunting, the finest of all forms of venery, requiring intimate understanding of the habits of the otter, but offering … Read more
Just about everyone can name someone they know who hates meatloaf. Or yogurt, I bet you can find someone in your circle who categorically hates yogurt. But I dare you to locate someone who hates pizza. Sure, you can find a friend with tomato issues or one of those poor, lactose-intolerant freaks who cries if … Read more
You can find the best-looking man in Minnesota, my female colleagues tell me, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He is well over six feet tall, poses naked, and has a relaxed, arrogant look about him—there’s that jutty chin that women find irresistible. I am led to believe (by the same authorities) that the view … Read more