The Sword And the Sandwich
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A Lineup of Midsummer Classics
$ · July 9, 2023
Welcome back to Culture Club, a feature where David and I write about what we’ve been reading, watching, playing, and listening to, for paid subscribers....
“There Are More of Us Than There Are of Them”: How To Be A Feminist in 2023
July 4, 2023
247 years ago today the United States declared independence, and it only took another 144 years to pass the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the vote. The...
The Best of National Geographic
$ · July 2, 2023
Welcome back to Culture Club, a feature where David and I write about what we’ve been reading, watching, playing, and listening to, for paid subscribers....
Summer Special: A Notable Soup
June 30, 2023
With the temperatures getting higher, the air harder to breathe, and a book deadline looming like an angry sun, this seemed like an opportune time for the...
"You Have To Kill Mom Every 20 Years": How To Be A Feminist in 2023
June 27, 2023
It’s been a year since the landmark Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. It’s been a terrible year for women in America — a year of increased...
Bits and Bobs
$ · June 25, 2023
Welcome back to Culture Club, a feature where David and I write about what we’ve been reading, watching, playing, and listening to, for paid subscribers....
Notable Sandwiches #66: Fish Finger
June 23, 2023
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, the series where I, alongside my editor David Swanson, trip merrily through the bizarre document that is Wikipedia’s List...
Down the Rabbit Hole
$ · June 18, 2023
Welcome back to Culture Club, a feature where David and I write about what we’ve been reading, watching, playing, and listening to, for paid subscribers....
Notable Sandwiches #65: The Fishcake Butty
June 16, 2023
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, the series where I, alongside my editor David Swanson, trip merrily through the bizarre document that is Wikipedia’s List...
An Agoraphobe in Paris
June 13, 2023
Hi all, Many thanks to my favorite editor and not incidentally damn good writer David Swanson for pinch-hitting last week, as I was off … in Paris of all...
Among the Thugs
$ · June 11, 2023
Welcome back to Culture Club, a feature where David and I write about what we’ve been reading, watching, playing, and listening to, for paid subscribers....
Notable Sandwich #64: Fischbrötchen
June 9, 2023
Welcome to Notable Sandwiches, the series where Talia and I trip merrily through the ever-evolving document that is Wikipedia’s List of Notable Sandwiches in...
Whitman and Baldwin and Ginsberg, Oh My
$ · June 4, 2023
Welcome back to Culture Club, a feature where David and I write about what we’ve been reading, watching, playing, and listening to, for paid subscribers....
Notable Sandwiches #63: Falafel
June 2, 2023
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, a weekly feature in which my editor David Swanson and I nibble our way through the bonkers document that is Wikipedia’s...
There Comes a Time for Boycotts
May 30, 2023
An Irish National Land League rally, January, 1881 On Sunday, September 19, 1880, in the town of Ennis, County Clare, the Irish politician Charles Stewart...
Tears Amid the Alien Corn
May 26, 2023
Today is the start of Memorial Day weekend for America, a time of cookouts and car sales and patriotic flag-waving. But at the moment, in the nation-within-...
Poetic Mixtape
May 23, 2023
Artist’s book from the Orphist movement, art by Sonia Delaunay and poem by Blaise Cendrars, 1913 Every once in awhile—especially after writing too much—I...
The Ultimate Guide to Back Issues
$ · May 21, 2023
Welcome back to Culture Club, a feature where David and I talk about what we’ve been reading, watching, playing, and listening to, for paid subscribers....
Notable Sandwiches #63: Egg
May 19, 2023
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, a weekly feature in which my editor David Swanson and I nibble our way through the bonkers document that is Wikipedia’s...
On the Naked State of Madness
May 16, 2023
there’s been a kind of fug of bloodthirst in the air lately—you can feel it—the way people are lined up behind a subway strangler, calling him a superhero,...
Open World
$ · May 14, 2023
Welcome back to Culture Club, a feature where David and I talk about what we’ve been reading, writing, and (once again) playing, for paid subscribers. Please...
Notable Sandwiches #62: The Elvis
May 12, 2023
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, a weekly feature in which my editor David Swanson and I nibble our way through the bonkers document that is Wikipedia’s...
A Country Devouring its Children
May 9, 2023
This past weekend, a gun-man opened fire at a mall in Allen, Texas, killing eight, including three children. Due to Talia dealing with illness—and rather...
Battle Dad
$ · May 7, 2023
Welcome to Culture Club, a weekly feature where David and I discuss what we’ve been reading, watching, or—in this case—playing, for paying subscribers. Enjoy...
Notable Sandwich #61: Dyrlægens Natmad
May 5, 2023
Welcome to Notable Sandwiches, the feature where Talia and I trip merrily through the ever-evolving document that is Wikipedia’s List of Notable Sandwiches...
Strike! Strike! Writer's Strike!
May 2, 2023
The Writer’s Guild of America is on strike. Author’s note: Hello ladies, gents and gentlethems! After the past week’s much-needed breather I am back on the...
Stray thoughts/hiatus
April 25, 2023
Hi all, Just a notice to say we’re off til next Tuesday, at which point we’ll surge back, cresting a wave of no doubt brilliant newsletters emerging from my...
Brain Storms: The Best Books on Madness
$ · April 23, 2023
Edinburgh, 1920 “In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood, For I had lost the right path.”— Dante From time immemorial, man’s...
Notable Sandwiches #60: Doughnut
April 21, 2023
Welcome to Notable Sandwiches, the feature where I, alongside my editor David Swanson, trip merrily through the ever-evolving document that is Wikipedia’s...
The Vanishing Act
April 18, 2023
Author’s note: Please excuse the great length, late arrival, and wooly wandering of this column; I have given David some extremely well-deserved days off,...
Notes on Rock Books
$ · April 16, 2023
Welcome to Culture Club, a series where Talia and I share what we’ve been reading, playing, artistically admiring, watching, and listening to. This is a...
Notable Sandwiches Special: Now They Spin
April 14, 2023
Welcome to Notable Sandwiches, where Talia and I trip merrily through the bizarre document that is Wikipedia’s List of Notable Sandwiches in alphabetical...
The Collectors
April 11, 2023
Harlan Crow’s library Harlan Crow, as much of America has recently discovered, is a Dallas developer with a comic-book villain name and a suspiciously cozy...
Culture Club: Tears of a Funny Girl
$ · April 9, 2023
Welcome to Culture Club, a feature where my editor David Swanson and I talk about what we’ve been reading, playing, artistically admiring, and—this...
Notable Sandwiches #59: Doubles
April 7, 2023
Welcome to the latest installment of Notable Sandwiches, where Talia and I trip merrily through the bizarre document that is Wikipedia’s List of Notable...
Happy Trump Indictment Day!
April 4, 2023
Why is today different from other days? Donald Trump is off to lower Manhattan for crimes, Wisconsin and Chicago voters are off to the ballot box for...
The Gangster as Tragic Hero
$ · April 2, 2023
Welcome to Culture Club, a feature where my editor David Swanson and I talk about what we’ve been reading, playing, artistically admiring, and—this...
The Gangster as Tragic Hero
$ · April 2, 2023
Welcome to Culture Club, a feature where my editor David Swanson and I talk about what we’ve been reading, playing, artistically admiring, and—this...
Stormy With a Chance
March 31, 2023
As a nation, we owe a lot to Stormy Daniels. I personally owe her more than most. Five years ago, the erstwhile porn star, progressive hero, and Donald Trump...
Stormy With a Chance
March 31, 2023
As a nation, we owe a lot to Stormy Daniels. I personally owe her more than most. Five years ago, the erstwhile porn star, progressive hero, and Donald Trump...
On the Rights of the Child, Part I
March 28, 2023
Author’s note: this is the first installment of a series on right-wing attitudes in the U.S. towards the notion of children’s rights. Part two will follow in...
On the Rights of the Child, Part I
March 28, 2023
Author’s note: this is the first installment of a series on right-wing attitudes in the U.S. towards the notion of children’s rights. Part two will follow in...
Culture Club: On Tetris
$ · March 26, 2023
Welcome to Culture Club, a feature where my editor David Swanson and I talk about what we’ve been reading, watching, artistically admiring, and—this...
Notable Sandwiches #58: Donkey Burger
March 24, 2023
Welcome to the latest installment of Notable Sandwiches, where I, alongside my editor David Swanson, trip merrily through the bizarre document that is...
Hope is a Discipline
March 21, 2023
“Spring Beauty” by Andrew Wyeth, c. 1953h Yesterday was a lot of things: the twentieth anniversary of America’s invasion of Iraq; another day in the bans on...
Culture Club: Boston Noir
$ · March 19, 2023
Welcome to Culture Club, a new weekly feature where David and I (and sometimes both of us!) talk about what we’re reading, watching, and listening to each...
Notable Sandwiches: St. Patrick's Day Special
March 17, 2023
Welcome to the latest installment of Notable Sandwiches, the feature where I, alongside my stalwart editor David Swanson, nibble my way through Wikipedia’s...
There Will Always Be Blood Money
March 14, 2023
Strike-busting troops gathered in Colorado in 1914, after the Ludlow Massacre It was spring in Colorado when the National Guard killed the strikers: April,...
Culture Club: In Praise of the Genre Mash-Up
$ · March 12, 2023
Welcome to Culture Club, a new weekly feature where David and I (and sometimes both of us!) talk about what we’re reading, watching, and listening to each...
Notable Sandwiches #57: Doner Kebab
March 10, 2023
Welcome to the latest installment of Notable Sandwiches, the feature where I, alongside my stalwart editor David Swanson, nibble my way through Wikipedia’s...
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