
AboutShe can be contacted at cheryl [at] americasfuture [dot] org. Read my other blog. The one that's not obnoxious and self-absorbed! Recent publications"Outsourcing Childbirth" in The Wall Street Journal "The Painless Peace of Twilight Sleep" in The New Atlantis "The Genius of Old New York" in The Claremont Review of Books "Parenthood At Any Price" in The New Atlantis "Modern Girls and the Moral Revival They Are Leading" in The Washington Times "Shocked, Shocked...But Not Much Else" in National Review Online "Do You Know Where Your Parents Are?" in The American Conservative ARTICLE ARCHIVE Links |
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Harry Potter Is For Kids! Once More, With Feeling. Will you do this? No. You will not. You will dabble at the crossword for a while. Later, you might get a yogurt. Eventually, you'll start reading pointless crap on the Internet. You see, you're doing it as we speak! Because: You are lazy. --Seth Stevenson Tuesday, May 13, 2008 If you're in the DC area, AFF will be celebrating the latest issue of Doublethink as well as the new Doublethink Online website on May 21st.The event takes place at Local 16 (1602 U Street) from 6-8:30 p.m. Hope to see you there! Also, take a look at Sonny Bunch's article on the Moving Picture Institute from the new issue. posted by Cheryl # 10:43 AM Saturday, May 10, 2008 --Joseph Epstein, from Joseph Tartatovsky's review in the Claremont Review of Booksposted by Cheryl # 1:48 PM Thursday, May 1, 2008 The spring issue of the Claremont Review of Books is finally out. Joseph Tartakovsky reviews the latest Joseph Epstein collection; Ross Douthat defends Christianity against the new anti-theists; and I quote all the funny bits from the new P.G. Wodehouse anthology. In bookstores now. (Or subscribe and read it in PDF.) Even tardier than the CRB is the spring issue of Doublethink. But have no fear, it's on the way to the printer now. Some highlights from the new mag:
Labels: Doublethink, shameless self-promotion posted by Cheryl # 4:45 PM--Wallace Stegner, from Philip L. Fradkin's biography, Wallace Stegner and the American Westposted by Cheryl # 4:27 PM Heather's Mommy Has Two Facelifts ![]() This definitely belongs in the Department of WTF: a book about plastic surgery for children. (Check out the other illustrations at the link above: Love the SUV and the Beverly Hills-style McMansion. Dr. Salzhauer clearly knows his clients.) If there's any justice in the world, this book will get remaindered. Labels: alas posted by Cheryl # 11:02 AMTuesday, April 29, 2008 "The Monticello of Massachusetts" Thirty thousand visitors came in the Mount's first full season of operation as a historic house, and although the upper floors remained unfurnished--Edith Wharton's bedroom contained no more than a bed frame--the gardens had been restored, at a cost of $2.7 million. (Efforts were made to acquire all twenty-three varieties of phlox that Wharton's gardeners had planted.) Copeland, responding to diminished fund-raising opportunities after September 11th, had decided that the grand public rooms on the first floor would not be faithful reproductions of Wharton's domicile, as planned; instead, the rooms would be interpreted by contemporary designers, in accordance with the principles expressed in "The Decoration of Houses." Libby Cameron installed a leopard-print carpet on the staircase, and Thomas Jayne equipped the den of Wharton's husband with a laptop computer. "I asked Libby why she selected the spotted rug, and did she do it because the spots mirrored the circles in the wrought iron of the bannister," Copeland recalled. "And she said, 'I did it because thousands of people will be going up and down these stairs, and you want to be able to disguise the fact.' And that is Wharton's theory of practicality!" One room that was not updated was the library, whose shelves Copeland filled by issuing an appeal for donors to scour their own libraries for appropriately aged-looking volumes."Unemployed" blogger Angela, who almost interned there, writes about the story here: Basically, for those of you who aren't going to read the article, no one wanted to go to the Mount, so to increase historical cache they purchased Wharton's original library for several million dollars, which no one at the time understood was a loan, and now they can't pay it back, which is sort of perfect when one considers the current foreclosure spree. Labels: alas posted by Cheryl # 12:35 PMFriday, April 25, 2008 Surrogacy itself seems to have come out of the mommy closet, to judge from recent media coverage. The New York Times and the Boston Globe have both reported on the practice of outsourcing wombs to poor Indian women. On a recent cover of Newsweek, the abdomen of a pregnant woman appeared with the words "Womb for Rent" emblazoned upon it. The issue's lead story, "The Curious Lives of Surrogates," ignited a small media frenzy with its sensationalistic revelations about military wives cashing in as surrogates -- in part by bilking their government-provided health plans. Labels: shameless self-promotion, third-party repro posted by Cheryl # 8:34 AMThursday, April 24, 2008 In a way, said Julie Gilhart, the fashion director of Barneys New York, "the dress is like the ultimate piece of clothing," to suit the velocity of contemporary life. While she was once a person who approached her closet the way a D.J. might, Ms. Gilhart said, she now "throws on a dress, and when I go traveling I put in five dresses, a long cardigan and a coat." Labels: girly stuff posted by Cheryl # 5:35 PMArchives December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 |