Posts Tagged: Choices
Asking for a Friend
53

Where Do Liberals Say They'll Move Now if Obama Loses?

| April 3rd, 2012

With the news that Monterrey is no longer a functioning city, with the police force literally controlled by organized crime, and Mexico City not much better, the old "I'm moving to Mexico if the Romney-Rubio ticket wins" is pretty much right out. And with the imminent collapse of the EU, moving to much of Europe—particularly Spain—seems like a not great idea. To what locale will disgruntled Americans (particularly those who can't take the cold of Canada or Berlin or Sweden) pretend they're going to relocate now in the event of a rightward turn in the White House? I guess Istanbul isn't a bad choice, unless Iran gets nuked? Is [...]

Opinion
34

The Census: "What Is Person 1's Race"?

| April 16th, 2010

When my German-American mother married my black-American Indian father, her dad and stepmom disowned her immediately. They would have been upset had she married an Irishman–"Those people kiss the filthy Blarney Stone," my grandfather would say–but a dark man was practically incomprehensible, like marrying an ironing board. "Race-mixing," as my grandfather called it, was an abomination.

The last thing my mom remembers her dad saying as she walked out of his modest Akron home is, "I never want you in our lives again."

One Last Thing
80

Do You Have Garbage Taste in Music? A Quiz

| November 4th, 2011

1) Who is your favorite Beatle? A) John: +0 points. B) Paul: +1 point. C) Ringo: +0 point. D) George: +5 points.

2) Who is your favorite musical Jackson? A) Michael Jackson: +0 points. B) Janet Jackson: +0 points. C) Wanda Jackson: +0 points. D) Jackson Browne: +5 points.

3) How many members of the Indigo Girls can you name? For each one, +5 points.

4) Do you own any jazz records? A) Yes, many: + 0 points. B) No, none: +3 points. C) I own one jazz album, “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis: +3 points. D) Yes, I own several Kenny G albums: +5 points. [...]

The Way We ____ Now
18

Don't Re-Elect the Internet

| June 7th, 2011

"I’ve never had any luck with publishing companies. Nobody has, really—discounting the handful of Famous Bestselling Authors you read about in the NYT. It occurred to me, a few weeks ago, that I personally know about forty people who have sold books to big or medium-sized publishers, and their experiences are all the same: Long after you’ve written it and long after you’ve spent the advance on food and rent, a forgotten little bundle of words with an inscrutable cover is released in the night, you might do a few readings in empty Barnes & Noble stores on a weekday, and then four or five years later you still [...]