« October 2009 | February 2010 »

Claiming J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)

Let me get this little bit out of the way right now: Louis Menand of The New Yorker wrote the following about "The Catcher in the Rye" ten years ago and I don't think it's been said any better...

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The Crapper Centenary

Friends, I hope you all will pause with me to mark to the 100th anniversary of the death of Thomas P. Crapper, the famous English plumber who helped revolutionize numerous components of what we know today as the modern...

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The Best Nation

When a homeless person asks you "what's the best nation?" he or she is probably not waiting for you to say the United States of America. He or she would also probably not agree. If one is practiced in the...

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Colts 30. Jets 17.

Not trying to gloat or nothin' but...the Colts scored 24 unanswered points and won. Haiti won $100 from Justin and $54 from an anonymous reader (whom I've never met) who graciously pledged to send money to a charity that does...

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Eating Crow?

As I write this, the New York Jets are up 17-6 over the Indianapolis Colts. Do I fear? No. It's the second quarter. And I've been watching Peyton Manning destroy my semi-beloved Houston Texans two times a year for literally...

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A $100 Bet for Haiti

This Sunday: the culmination of a bet with my friend Justin over the AFC Championship Game between the Jets and Colts. Justin has bet me $100 that the Jets are going to beat the Colts. I have told him that...

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Dude.

I'm a good Dem, but I never liked John Edwards. Not in 2008. Not even in 2004. And especially not now....

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Israel's Disproportionate Response on Haiti

Peggy Shapiro writes a little bit about the impressive Israeli response to the agony and disaster in Haiti. She may be a little too anxious to point out the flimsy responses by other parties to the emergency, but for a...

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Naked and the Conflicted

Perhaps an indulgent exercise considering the tragedy we're all reading about, BUT... for those of you interested in following a controversy that is raging around the literary establishment these days (whatever any of that means), a few weeks ago, Katie...

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Gene Bernard

I suppose I've reached that time in my life where my peers, the people around me start their deriding of the generation behind us. Perhaps it's the new decade, but they use adult words and idioms to do it...

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I'm Back and It Feels Good

Dear TFR Readers: I've missed you since we've been apart. Since 2009, the site has been updated, expanded, no more truncations, no more sadness. I look forward to servicing you in the least sexual way that such a statement suggests....

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