When I walk in the forest, my eyes almost always scan the ground. That’s not because I fear to lose my footing, but because poking through the duff or loitering on a mossy log or squatting at the edge … Read more
Some writing comes together bit by bit, a mosaic of thoughts and observations gathered over days or months or years. Slowly or suddenly, a bigger picture emerges through a confluence of details and facts. Sometimes the writer doesn’t fully … Read more
Fred introduced me to Jerry Jeff Walker — by that, I mean that Fred sent me home, from the Lone Star State, with two purple CDs, one of which shimmered with a track called “Sangria Wine.” I labeled the … Read more
In a work-related Zoom meeting recently, a colleague referred to Reddit as “lightning in a bottle.” I’m not entirely sure what that meant, despite her best efforts to explain it to my dial-up mind, but it made me want … Read more
In case you missed it, Nieman Reports, one of our sister publications, featured a few pieces recently on poetry and metaphor. The discipline and the device serve narrative’s need for quick-stroke description, evocative imagery and attention … Read more
What do Silly Putty, Superman and Marilyn Monroe have to do with architecture? Short answer: Nothing. Long answer: Herbert Muschamp. In 1997, New York Times architecture critic Muschamp traveled to a then little-known industrial city in northern Spain to see … Read more
