How I came to understand Christmas Even as a child, I was attracted to university catalogs and course guides. It was a nerdy obsession, to be certain, but it promised such a rosy menu of options. Colleges had a way of wrapping up an entire lifetime for you, in gift paper: Take Economics 101, then..
Category: Culture - page 30
Film, Television, Sex, Music, Literature, Pop
Doing the Dictators Proud Here is what I still find startling about the entire GLAAD public communications manifesto: removing sexuality and religion from the discussion for a moment, the precedent of any group declaring a preemptive ban on criticism feels creepy and totalitarian. Imagine yourself unable to express, say, any negative opinion about Republican leadership..
“God Hates Rural Jackasses” Or… A Few Thoughts on Pastor Michael Hiltzik’s Recent Sermon in the Los Angeles Times If you never grew up in a religious community, you might not understand how religious you really are. Even if you claim to be a proud, free-sailing atheist, you do have a religion; you do..
The Market Place of Approved Ideas A few of my friends are Phil Robertson scoffers, not because they disagree with his position on New Testament sexual morality, but because they feel certain the controversy was manufactured. A revelation of this sort makes the already shrill gay lobby scream bloody murder, and the faithful rush..
In the summer of 2004, we took all the kids back East to see Boston, Concord, Gettysburg, Mt. Vernon, and Williamsburg. One day, when we were out searching for a pizza place near Harvard, we walked past a crowd of young guys who didn’t quite know how to handle the prospect of such a large..
Some films almost feel as though they deserve a workshop over a review, and Touchy Feely–with its invitation to participate in painfully awkward, claustrophobic family conversations and vast stretches of unexplained premise–certainly qualifies. You don’t wait 20 minutes to understand the story here. You get to wait forever. Directed by Lynn Shelton, Rosemary DeWitt..