Essays
A Brit Dissects America • 3/1/06
Pond Scum: Books Do Furnish a Mind
By Steve Finbow"I have dissected, defiled, and dusted down my book collection. The idea came to me after reading an article in The Guardian about how the world is becoming Americanised (Americanized). Well, I know that. That is why Pond Scum exists. Then I looked at my book collection and thought, ‘Hold on. I wonder how many American and British writers I have in my library?’..."
Pond Scum: punktuation
By Steve Finbow"It resembles a circus seal about to balance a ball on its wet and shiny nose. Or a tear just leaving a mascaraed eyelash. Or the plash from the first drop of rain to fall on the dark waters of Lake Baikal. Or a wink. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the semicolon..."
Personal Essay • 3/17/05
Ripping Lines: Sales, Sex, and Dying the Old Fashioned Way
By Dan McCarthy"I have one simple task: sell concepts. No tangible product in sight. Abstract, scripted pitches that seem to cover every angle like some slight-of-hand card trick contrived by a two-bit hustler. Figure out what a company does, claim that’s what we’re focusing on, smash and grab, take the money, and run. The best at their job leave the executive on the other end of the phone feeling like some frail woman who's just been raped by the Invisible Man..."
Personal Essay • 1/19/05
Gas Station Karaoke: Staggering Through NASCAR America
By Mike Hampton"Thirty miles from the track, I get the sense that something big is happening. Bubbas stand out by the interstate, stone faced and serious. They have flood lamps hooked up to gas powered generators at their feet, turning the night into noonday around their pick-ups, where signs hang off tailgates with three foot tall letters reading 'I Need Tickets...'”
1/12/05
Three Scenes from My Life
(With Special Guest Star Truman Capote)
By Richard Grayson"Suddenly, up walks Truman Capote, wearing a fur coat over blue linen pants that seem too light for this weather. I’ve read that he has been off drugs and booze for a year now, has taken to swimming a mile every day at the gym, to dieting..."
1/5/05
The Coldest New Year
By Mark Grueter"I turned to the drink as soon as I arrived in Russia. And a very good thing too, for the bottle bailed me out of many a situation. Three months into my two-year stint as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I was gargling vodka to entertain the masses. Most Americans confronted the whole ‘drinking thing’ with alarm and despondency..."
12/29/04
Dispatch from Greenpoint
By Lee Cohen"Every morning between the hours of five and seven there are anywhere from ten to thirty Polish men standing in front of my door. My time between five and seven is reserved for sleep, though I occasionally come home during these hours, sometimes shuffling along drearily, cranky for bed, other times bouncing, not at all tired. The Polish men are there no matter my mood, shifting their weight, coffee cups, working boots, grins and yawns..."
12/7/04
The Evolution of a Boston Red Sox Anti-Fan
By Mark Grueter"Having grown up forty-five minutes north of Boston, I have lived under the Curse my whole life. The Curse, not of the Bambino (which, obviously, never existed) but of having to live in the company of the face-painting, flag-waving, cap-wearing conformists who take 'sports' seriously..."
New York • 10/25/04
A Shaken Head at Solvency's Door
By Dan McCarthy"Worse still, there exists a category of people who earn a steady living this way [by temping], and even possess a generally good outlook about it; approaching every assignment with a pressed grin, hoping that perhaps this will be the one where they strike gold. While this may be true for them, it does nothing to quell the fury that others feel when a slop-position opens up, and a call is placed insisting that you accept this new challenge in the spirit of necessary capital gain..."
7.21 In Real Life? By Allen McGill
6.17 The Hopeful Glory of Morning's Fire, By Dan McCarthy
6.9 Liftoff, by Kellye Whitney
5.25 Lifelong Friends are Curiosities, By Sarah Stodola
5.18 The 1920's Sense, By Sarah Stodola
5.5 The Value of Cocoa Butter, By Kellye Whitney
4.21 Door Number One, By Sutton Stokes
4.14 Share the Bridge, By Moira Mclaughlin
