MPA 4634 and DIA 8499. Those strings of alphanumeric characters, as might be surmised, are licence plate identifiers. More precisely, they were the licence plates for the same car, a Fiat 1100D that was our family car for over twenty years. Over those years, I graduated from the back of the car to the front, toContinue reading “Ode to a Beloved Clunker”
Category Archives: General
Growing up with Guns
I grew up with guns. Two of them: a 12-bore shotgun and a .25 automatic. I do not remember the make of the former but the latter, I’m pretty sure, was a Browning (a ‘Baby’; again, if I remember correctly). They belonged to my father (and thus, our family): he had purchased them overseas afterContinue reading “Growing up with Guns”
Writing Away From Home
I am writing today’s post in a coffee shop. This fact would not be so interesting were it not for the fact that I am often tempted to do so, but almost never do. Today, circumstances compel me to write away from home and so, here I am. But writing at venues other than myContinue reading “Writing Away From Home”
Anxiety and Anxieties
A few days ago, I wrote a post on ‘The Sunday Evening Blues.’ My purpose in writing that was to try to capture the nature of that evening’s particular mood, which over the years has acquired its own set of peculiar characteristics. In doing so, I was, of course, barely scratching the surface of aContinue reading “Anxiety and Anxieties”
If Not a Perfect God, Then a Imperfect God Maybe? Contd.
A couple of days ago, I wrote a post responding to Yoram Hazony’s article at the Stone. In response, Corey Robin sent me the following comments by email: I was thinking about yours and Norman Geras’s post about Yoram Hazony. I don’t think there’s any question that you’re both right about what the implications ofContinue reading “If Not a Perfect God, Then a Imperfect God Maybe? Contd.”
My First Thanksgiving
My first Thanksgiving introduced me to the trials and travails of the paid-by-the-hour worker. In 1987, while in graduate school, I worked in the university cafeteria. I made $4.25 an hour for: on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, taking soiled dishes off one conveyor belt, and stacking them on another (the dishwasher); and on Saturdays andContinue reading “My First Thanksgiving”
The Sunday Evening Blues
It is almost a commonplace that Monday mornings are terrible things, hallways of the melancholy and gruesome, abiding disasters of returns to reality. The weekend over, the oppressed resident of the week must return to his normal haunts, the workplace, the company of others, the strains and oppressions of routine. This is the accepted wisdom, enshrined inContinue reading “The Sunday Evening Blues”
Sandy: Master Interdictor of Supply Chains
It was on Wednesday morning I finally began to understand New York City had been hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, because that symbol of the 24/7 city, the subway, wasn’t running. Since then, there have been dozens and scores of unsettling images: neighborhoods under water (if you can call a foul toxic sludge containing oil,Continue reading “Sandy: Master Interdictor of Supply Chains”
The Snowtown Murders: John Bunting and his Barrels
Snowtown (aka The Snowtown Murders) is one of the most difficult movies I’ve ever seen. It took me three viewings to finish watching it: I called the first one off because the accumulated horror and dismay had become too much; I restarted it hours later, stopped again after a few minutes, and then finally, onContinue reading “The Snowtown Murders: John Bunting and his Barrels”
Sandy: A Royal Pain in the Arse
It is Wednesday morning, October 31st, Halloween, here in Brooklyn, in New York City; the sun is out, the winds have died down even as they retain their fall nip, and the subways aren’t running. That little nugget of information should tell you all you need to know about why it’s not business as usualContinue reading “Sandy: A Royal Pain in the Arse”
Samir Chopra 