PicoBlog

A Little Civil Discourse In the middle of all the high stakes political maneuvering going on in Washington, we shouldn’t overlook the importance of a little civil discourse in our own lives. Like the elegantly simple statement being made by the woman in front of me in line at the airport this morning who was nice enough to let me snap a photo. ncG1vNJzZmirpZfAta3CpGWcp51kjau72Jycr5memLJwus6tnGibXWqGc32Wb25v

I recently saw a post on Facebook about stories as songs. In the comments, someone shared a link to the poem The Highwayman set to music, which made me think about Robert Service’s poem The Cremation of Sam McGee, which led to a quick Google search to see if anyone had ever set that poem to music. Apparently not, but I did find a recording of Johnny Cash reading it, which is absolute gold.

One of Israel’s most-most respected and most-read journalists, Ari Shavit actually predicted this war. In writing. He said that the internal battles over judicial reform were going to lead to an external battle for which we were not ready. He got a lot of it right. In a two part conversation, the first today and the second on Wednesday, we hear Ari Shav… ncG1vNJzZmickaO2prjGqKmdoaNjwLau0q2YnKNemLyue89oq6GdXZnCrq7Ip55mnJ%2Bsu267xWagrKqRmrmqec%2Boo6KsmZjAbn7AaQ%3D%3D

This is a monumental episode of America’s Next Top Model, maybe the most famous one ever. The title tells us what’s coming. Tiffany is struggling to fit in with model life and to get through the different challenges. At a restaurant, tuna tartare, calamari and cappuccino all overwhelm her. The models get a lesson in acting from Larry Moss. He keeps switching his accents, so I can’t tell if he’s really British or American.

“God! The restaurants!” a character pronounces at the start of John Guare’s wickedly funny 1990 comedy of manners, Six Degrees of Separation. “New York has become the Florence of the 16th century. Genius on every corner.” The Menu, which is as good as or better than any American film I saw in 2022, takes that sentiment and makes a meal of it. There were two major American films last year—two that I saw, anyway—about the pitiless tyranny of art.

Well, hi everyone, and I’m writing this on my (65th!) birthday (Saturday night).  I had a great day: worked hard on my book all day, then we took our dog on a walk and grabbed Thai food, and Paula has my favorite from childhood, Angel Food’s cake with strawberries and whipped cream, all lined up. (A perfect birthday.) ncG1vNJzZmiflaS%2FqLHSmqynnJWnwG%2B%2F1JuqrZmToHuku8xop2ismJp6s7vCpKeipJVir7p5yZqknqtdl66tsNaipQ%3D%3D

THE SADDEST MAN ON EARTH… ignored how the rain felt as he left home for the last time Wore down his boot heels searching for the woman of his dreams, but never understood that life is a woman Lived in a town where sadness was illegal and where grinning cops ticketed his face so often that he lost his license to cry... -- Alan KaufmanncG1vNJzZmirpZfAta3CpGWcp51kjbG7xK2gnKelqbmiw9JopaislWSwboGSbG9rbmFs

There’s a reason why Our Town is consistently performed by High Schools, beyond its evergreen pathos, budget-friendly construction, and being sublimely royalty-free— allowing for any man, woman or Muppet to legally muck up its text. It provides an opportunity for young thespians pouring their hearts into playing Emily Webb with no costume, prop, or shield to hide behind. It allows audiences to fully surrender, constructing the Grover’s Corners of their individual mind palaces.

Surf’s up, dudes and dudettes. My latest story, “The Surfer,” is on fire today at The Forge, one of my favorite literary magazines. Gnarly interview I did about the story, and stories in general, with Elizabeth Mitchell, too. That’s here. I thought I’d offer you some photos as an accompaniment. Looks nice, huh? Vonore is a great little town to escape to, especially in the summer when you need some quiet writing time.