Spring Spring
Larvae harden into adults, into the complexity of distinct anatomy— windowed wings, legs like stitches—tossing off the sodden blanket of the soft body, their innocence lisping over the pig, oomphs and fizzes forming a transcript of triumphs, but what does it mean to win, out here? Spring’s raffle: who will live, who’ll become distressed and wish for a place to climb in. I’m watching the air fill with the born-again, resting on the corpse of the rotted oak. Tomorrow I’ll drag it, chain-sawed to thick tablets, into the woods. No tragedy to watch it go. The insects have broken from that burrow into warm air. Snow has melted from bark and pooled. With nowhere to turn.
Feb 17, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Paula Bohince
Being in the World: On James Miller Being in the World: On James Miller
With Examined Lives, James Miller offers a serious and readable study of the relationship between philosophy and life conduct.
Feb 17, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Richard Wolin
All Alter-Review Slacker Friday All Alter-Review Slacker Friday
Reviewing two shows in the Lincoln Center's "American Songbook" series, plus the Cowboy Junkies.
Feb 11, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman
Dishonoring Reagan Dishonoring Reagan
The former president set in motion a sizable slice of the fantasies destroying America.
Feb 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Alexander Cockburn
The Dying Swan: On Jennifer Homans The Dying Swan: On Jennifer Homans
Jennifer Homans thinks ballet is dying, its masters dead and gone. But ballet, which exists in time and leaves no record, is always dying.
Feb 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Marina Harss
Crooked Sticks: On Utopianism Crooked Sticks: On Utopianism
At the utopian community of Fruitlands, vegetables were not only eaten. They were also imitated.
Feb 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Brenda Wineapple
Amazement in Reverse: On Martin Creed and Gabriel Orozco Amazement in Reverse: On Martin Creed and Gabriel Orozco
Martin Creed and Gabriel Orozco reduce the artistic gesture to the smallest effective intervention into reality.
Feb 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Turning Oil Into Water Turning Oil Into Water
After a plan to tow icebergs from Antarctica ran aground, the Saudis used their oil wealth to build desalination plants for watering their desert kingdom.
Feb 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Frederick Deknatel
The Chutzpah Hall of Fame The Chutzpah Hall of Fame
Eric reflects on Martin Scorsese and Reed dissects the Groundhog Day mentality of Fox News's climate change "science," plus reader mail.
Feb 3, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman
Why I Call Myself a Socialist Why I Call Myself a Socialist
Is the world really a stage?
Feb 3, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Wallace Shawn