Love Stories: Black and White, His and Hers, Then and Now
Bob Liss gives love for love in this review of Earl Monroe’s history of basketball…
TV Diary II: “My Brilliant Friend”
Laurie Stone has been posting on My Brilliant Friend–the TV adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novels—as each episode appears…
Gilets Jaunes: The Turning Point
PARIS—As I write this, Emmanuel Macron is about to make a major speech addressing the protests that have disrupted his nation. He’s expected to show a new side of himself, more consultative than when he took office in 2017 and the press dubbed him President Jupiter. Now he’s more like a black hole, invisible yet immensely powerful, since his deputies control the Assembly. What will he say? Will he raise the minimum wage, as the protesters have demanded? (Unlikely.) Will he speak of dialogue with his “co-citizens?” (Very likely.) Will he stick to the reforms that have widened the gap between the rich and rest of France, or will he give just enough to satisfy a center that has yet to make its intentions felt? Stay tuned. But don’t expect the American media to convey the full significance of what has happened here over the past month. Our image of the French reflects an ancient Anglo-Saxon bias: They’re chic, but dangerous when they take to the streets. In fact, for all its uncertain and unsettling aspects, the uprising of the Gilets Jaunes offers a model of participatory democracy that we can learn from.
Brigitte Bardot En Marche
Attack of the Yellow Vests
Richard Goldstein filed this piece the day before the French government rolled back the proposed fuel tax increases that have sparked protests throughout the country.
The Case for Macron (& Merkel)
H/t to Bruce Jackson for steering your editor to this Vox photo of our nasty, goofy President smiling at Putin while Macron and Merkel look harder.
TV Diary: “My Brilliant Friend”
Laurie Stone has been posting on My Brilliant Friend–the TV adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novels—as each episode appears. Here are her first three shots.
Part Three (Redux)
Karen Hornick’s 2015 post on Elena Ferrante’s novels–and the uses of seriality–is right on time again.
Baader-Meinhof Blues
I’ve made love in every way possible, she said. I don’t believe you, I said. In every way possible? In every way, she said, and I didn’t say anything (I preferred to shut up, maybe I was embarrassed) but I believed her.
Gelernter the Galoot
Many years ago, I reviewed one of David Gelernter’s books for my college newspaper. It was, and remains, one of the worst books I have ever read, so poorly written and badly reasoned that it stayed in my mind more vividly than a lot of better books did. Bad books have a way of haunting us, which is probably why we hate them so. The worst movie you see in your life will be gone from your head by the next morning, but the worst book you were forced to read in school will be with you till you take your last breath.
The world and I moved on, but David Gelernter did not stop writing. Now he’s written an essay for The Wall Street Journal in which he claims to have solved the mystery of why “the left” hates Donald Trump so much.
Anchoring an Argument: Leo Chavez’s “Anchor Babies and the Challenge of Birthright Citizenship”
Donald Trump is under the impression that he can abolish birthright citizenship at will — more evidence, were any needed, that he should have taken up Khizr Kahn’s offer to borrow his pocket edition of the U.S. Constitution. Scott McLemee first posted the article below five months ago, but, as he notes, “now is the time to drum up readership for it…”
What America Looks Like (Redux)
See the trailer for What America Looks Like below. Dennis Myers’ documentary about the first two days of the Trump administration, complete with swearing in and swearing, will play at the “Cinema on the Edge” festival in Santa Monica this weekend. If you’re going to be in that town on Sunday around 1:00 p.m., you can see it on a big screen (and get a ticket discount with this code FRIEND10). Or you can watch it online here.