Other
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
Watch out for the solar flare you guys. On plate tectonics and the origins of monkeys vs apes. Children of the 1980s build the city of the future. We all need some industrial disaster porn from time to time. And…
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On Loitering
In Charles Moore’s iconic black-and-white photograph, Coretta looks on stoically, lips parted, hands clasped in front as her husband, Martin Luther King, has his right arm bent behind his back by a police officer in a tall hat.
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Is Neuroscience the Future of the Humanities?
As science and technology dominate our lives more and more each day, those of us in the humanities find ourselves increasingly on the defensive. One way to demonstrate the humanities’ relevance is with neuroscience. Brain scans not only show us…
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The Death of Chick-Lit?
Are the days of chick lit finally over? The Atlantic seems to think so. There’s a new genre in town, and it’s called farm-lit. Novels about women who abandon their high-stress city lives to go live on farms and small,…
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Women Are Bitches
“Women are bitches,” says a young man as he sits down. Apparently a woman at the bar wouldn’t give him her number.
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Brooklyn Public Library’s Hurricane Sandy Oral History Project
The Brooklyn Public Library is inviting all Brooklyn residents to participate in its Hurricane Sandy Oral History Project. News articles and statistics don’t equate to personal narratives recounting the emotional impact of the storm. Participants will be interviewed for 20-30…
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
The time has come for vintage Swedish movie posters. Perhaps there is a submerged continent off the coast of Brazil. I imagine we’ve all wondered what New York City would look like on different planets. A NASA scientist explains to…
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The Next Letter for Kids: Kristen Kittscher
The next Letter for Kids, going out tomorrow, is from Kristen Kittscher! Kristen is the author of The Wig in the Window and The Tiara on the Terrace, the first two books in a mystery series for middle-grade readers. She grew up all…
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Props from a Fellow Funny Woman
Poet, memoirist, and Beat figure Hettie Jones is, like most of us, unhappy about sexism in the publishing industry. In a blog post on the subject, she discusses VIDA statistics, Deborah Copaken Kogan’s Nation essay, and (drumroll!) Elissa Bassist’s amazing Funny…
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A Zealot and a Poet
I like to imagine him out there on his beast of burden, vast grey country on all sides and a book of poetry open in his hand. It is a romantic image and, when I think only of it, I…
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The Buzz on Spelling Bees
For Merriam-Webster’s website, Peter Sokolowski details the history of spelling bees and the etymology of the term itself: This kind of spelling duel was carried over to America, and Benjamin Franklin himself recommended the practice in 1750, with the addition…