What Will Become of the Word “Ponzi”?
When Bernard Madoff described his investment business as a ‘giant Ponzi scheme’, he gave a somewhat obscure phrase, used to describe a swindle that pays early investors using money from…
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Rumpus Articles
Detroit’s Brewster Projects: What’s Left
Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson and Mary Wilson lived out their early lives in the Brewster Projects in Detroit, the first federally funded public housing for African Americans. Unfortunately, the abode…
The Fine Art of Quitting
To see what is right, and not do it, is want of courage, or of principle. — Confucius
War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery
With echoes of 9/11, the protagonist of Jim Knipfel’s novel flees the ubiquitous surveillance of a not-so-futuristic government.
Film Bites
Though Gravure: The New American Journal touts itself as a fashion journal, its online presence offers a portal into a standout cultural corridor. Check out these three great short films…
The Rumpus Book Blog Roundup
It’s Wednesday, which means that it’s time for another roundup of things we think you might want to read from book blogs around the Internet. Since last time, the Internet…
Ariane Conrad: A Poem I Love
You’d think Stanley Kunitz, near 70 and hobbling through “Touch Me” would have slid off my 19 year old self. But it was the only poem that stuck, from a…
Morning Coffee
13 Scientific truths that do not make any sense at all. Frustrated by the state of the stock market? Perhaps trained rats could do a better job. Biology Today, a…
Scott Carrier
After hitchhiking from Salt Lake City to NPR’s national office, Scott Carrier became a unique radio producer, interviewing schizophrenics and amnesiacs. Here is a This American Life episode dedicated to…