Archive for February, 2007

On Presidents Day: neglecting translators & other allies

Tales of Iraqi translators being denied U.S. visas after endangering their lives to aid the American military remind me of a scene — and harrowing moment in history — from Tom Bissell’s The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam. South Vietnam has fallen. North Vietnamese soldiers are marching into Saigon. Yet the Soviets . . .

Read more




Origins, ceaseless homogeneity of; also, Twain’s DNA

I spent last weekend getting sucked into Ancestry.com, in search of information about ancestors like my mom’s dad, whom she claims was married thirteen times, and his hay-hook-wielding father and infant-murderess mother.* You’d think the census takers would’ve been moved to jot a few observations about these people in the margin, but no. I did find out where my grandmother’s . . .

Read more




The devil hates sex

Nerve looks at the propaganda of the most infamous ’70s sex cult, the Children of God, where the man who became my stepfather cut his teeth — we’ll call it — on Jesus. (Via.)

Read more



Newsletter Signup

For regular updates, subscribe to my free newsletter.