Notable Sandwiches #75: Grilled Cheese
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, the feature where we trip merrily through the bizarre and mutable document that is Wikipedia’s List of Notable...
Halloween Column: Hexes for Your Exes
Last week, as part of my general declaration of witchcraft and retirement from society, I offered to hex your exes if you wrote in with a request. Today is...
Christopher Lee: The Lord of Horror
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Notable Sandwiches #74: The Glasgow Oyster
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, the feature where we trip merrily through the bizarre and mutable document that is Wikipedia’s List of Notable...
I Have Decided to Become a Witch
“The Witch” by Andy Warhol, 1981 In accordance with the season (spooky) and apropos of my current mood (desolate and capricious) I have decided I am going to...
A Brief History of New York Punk
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Notable Sandwiches #73: The Gerber
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, the feature where I, alongside my editor David Swanson, trip merrily through the bizarre and mutable document that is...
America's Apocalyptic Cheerleaders
“One of the things I think about a lot—for self-preservation reasons—is how a particularly odious swath of evangelicals in this country are Real Weird About...
All the Things I Want
Late Saturday night I found myself writing a piece of antipropaganda. It turned into something between a poem and a shopping list. I confess lately I have...
Notable Sandwiches #72: The Gatsby
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, the feature where I, alongside my editor David Swanson, trip merrily through the bizarre and mutable document that is...
Speech and Speechlessness
“Girl Before a Mirror” by Pablo Picasso, 1932 In her new book, Doppelganger: a Trip into the Mirror World, the author Naomi Klein offers a meditation on...
The Making of Donald Trump: 2000-2015
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Notable Sandwiches #71: Fried Brain
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, the feature where I, alongside my noble editor David Swanson, trip merrily through the ever-shifting document that is...
American Noir, Part I
A man with a troubled past sits behind a desk and a woman — in a hat and veil or a clinging sheath number or a pressed suit depending on the decade — walks...
The Making of Donald Trump: Parts I — IV
Over the last few months I’ve been going through the media’s coverage of Donald Trump, from his arrival on the New York real estate scene to his dalliances...
It's Always Midnight in Petroleum City
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Notable Sandwiches #70: Fricasse
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, the feature where I, alongside my editor David Swanson, trip merrily through the strange and mutable document that is...
The Confession
“The Sun” by Edvard Munch, 1911 - 1916 I am by genes and time and bad luck a madwoman. A madwoman is shut in her own mind, but she can speak more freely than...
Gone fishin'
Hi beloved readers, With me having just handed in the manuscript for my second book (about the Christian Right, much of it inspired by the work I did for...
Labor Pains and Gains
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Notable Sandwiches #69: French Dip
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, a weekly feature in which Talia and I nibble our way through the bonkers document that is Wikipedia’s List of Notable...
The Christian Right's Masculinity Problem
There’s a diagram that’s instantly familiar to a good many people who have been educated as evangelical Christians. It was originally designed and...
The Making of Donald Trump: The Nineties
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Notable Sandwiches #68: Francesinha e Francesinha Poveira
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, a weekly feature in which Talia and I nibble our way through the bonkers document that is Wikipedia’s List of Notable...
The Rise & Fall & Rise & Fall & Rise & Fall of Rudy Giuliani
By the time you read this, Rudy Giuliani will have surrendered at the Fulton County jail in Georgia for his role in the racketeering case against Donald...
What is "The Great American Novel"?
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 Special: Flashback
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, a weekly feature in which Talia and I nibble our way through the bonkers document that is Wikipedia’s List of Notable...
Herman Melville Goes to Maui
Ed. Note: When my grandparents moved to Maui in the 1930s, they settled in Lahaina. That’s where my grandfather was as he watched several Japanese bombers...
Notable Sandwich #67: The Fool's Gold Loaf
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...
The Making of Donald Trump: The Eighties
In Sunday’s Culture Club post for paid subscribers, we took a look at how the media covered Donald Trump’s rise in 1970’s New York, as the flashy real-estate...
The Making of Donald Trump
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: Fluffernutter
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...
The Christian Right's Deal With the Devil
“Witches' Sabbath” by Francisco Goya, 1821-23 It was a frigid desert-winter day on January 15, 1992, when a couple on the run were apprehended by Las Vegas...
The Village Voice's Hip-Hop Nation
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Oppenheimer, Shatterer of Worlds
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....
A Killer Reading List
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....
A Lineup of Midsummer Classics
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
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
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Summer Special: A Notable Soup
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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...