The comic book has come a long way since Superman,with graphic novels now (rightfully) garnering literary cred andoccupying their own constantly expanding section at the local Barnes& Noble. But with his unique brand of “cartoon journalism,” Joe Sacco has put his influential stamp on the medium. When Sacco applies his “comic book” treatment to subjects … Read more
Melissa Fay Greene made her big splash with National Book Award finalist (and perennial book club favorite) Praying for Sheetrock, a social history of a tiny Georgia county struggling to come to grips with the challenges and ramifications of the Civil Rights movement.In all of her work, Greene combines meticulous historical research withthe dogged chops … Read more
New York Times columnist and Princeton economist Paul Krugman could have chosen a better title for his new book than The Conscience of a Liberal, which he cribbed from the late Senator Paul Wellstone. (Wellstone himself was riffing off Barry Goldwater’s 1964 book, The Conscience of a Conservative.)Krugman’s book is less a manifesto of liberal … Read more
Paul Muldoon is a curious character, even by artistic standards, andhe’s been on a serious roll of late. To his growing list ofaccomplishments—including ten collections of smart, allusive, and oftenvery funny poetry, as well as a Pulitzer Prize—he recently landed theprestigious (and influential) gig as poetry editor at The New Yorker.That’s all impressive scuttlebutt in … Read more
(UPDATED 10/22) I am not without a sense of humor (anybody see the Ambiguously Gay Duo/Minneapolis police spoof on SNL Saturday?) and I am a big, big fan of the Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert week-nightly comedy hour on Comedy Central. So why don’t I find this recent “I’m running for president as both a Democrat/Republican in … Read more
While hunkered down at the cabin over the long MEA weekend watching a monsoon-like system refill northeast Minnesota rivers and lakes I had to laugh at a front-page (above-the-fold) story in the Duluth News Tribune. It seems Duluth NBC affiliate weatherman Karl Spring, formerly of KSTP and WFTC here in the Twin Cities thinks Al … Read more
Hey, Presidential wannabes, it’s time to cry uncle. You’re all toast. Chuck Norris: King Maker
This from Patty Brand, the Maven of the Friends of the St. Paul Farmers’ Market: Many of you may know that there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the Indoor Market Hall/Market Flats Project in mid September. Since then work has progressed on digging the hole. We have waited considerable time for this to happen and … Read more
Snapshots from a drive home from work while listening to the new Ween album, which is fantastic if you like Ween, and I do: Three shiny balloons trapped in the branches of a tree above a baseball diamond. A long strip of aluminum foil tumbling like an acrobatic hallucination down the middle of LaSalle Avenue. … Read more
ART Win, Place, Show A prosthetic arm covered with gilt and pink Swarovski crystals. A photograph of a suburban treehouse whose tree is being dismantled. A line — nothing more, nothing less — that runs across the gallery floor, busts through a floor-to-ceiling window and, thus liberated, continues through the city to … well, you … Read more