“Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head”: Me on VS Naipaul

Last updated on: July 12, 2013 at 10:38 am By Eve Tushnet

at Acculturated: From Gothic novels to indie-rock lyrics, the house is a mirror of the troubled family within it. V.S. Naipaul’s 1961 novel A House for Mr Biswas is another one of these broken-home narratives; the Trinidadian novelist presents a surprisingly moving satire of arranged marriage and thwarted ambition. Mohun Biswas—always referred to by the narrator as “Mr Biswas,” even while he’s still a baby—lives in a makeshift, repurposed, patched and jerry-built world. Every surface is described so we can... Read more

Photographs of Moms Being Treated for Painkiller Addiction

Last updated on: July 9, 2013 at 9:48 pm By Eve Tushnet

at the Wall Street Journal: A small but growing number of clinics for mothers-to-be are cropping up around the country in response to a prescription-drug epidemic, which has triggered a rise of addicted mothers giving birth to drug-dependent babies. Between 2000 and 2009, the number of newborns showing symptoms of withdrawal from opioids, which are commonly used to treat pain, rose in the U.S. to 3.4 births per 1,000, according to a 2012 study in the Journal of the American... Read more

Internet Easter Eggs

Last updated on: July 9, 2013 at 9:40 pm By Eve Tushnet

#19 is amazing. You’ll note that I have two separate theology tags inspired by the lost kingdom of Zork. Read more

“Heeding Cries for Help from Discarded, Disconnected Young Men”: LA Times

Last updated on: July 9, 2013 at 9:36 pm By Eve Tushnet

feature–and do read to the end: …Fifteen years ago, Ruett and Rhonda Foster were grieving parents in a courtroom. Their 7-year-old son Evan had been shot and killed by a gang member at Inglewood’s Darby Park. Evan was clutching his soccer trophy in the back seat of the family car when bullets aimed at someone else tore through the windshield and struck him in the head. Three young men were convicted and sent to prison. And the Fosters began performing... Read more

From Christopher R. Beha, “What Happened to Sophie Wilder”

Last updated on: July 9, 2013 at 9:30 pm By Eve Tushnet

Sometimes too we spoke about our classes, but only to disparage them. “They wanted to talk about what we learned from Keats,” Sophie said. “It’s like asking what you learned from getting laid. I learned that I like how he makes me feel.” (yes, I’m reading it) Read more

“Advice for Couples: Give Less Advice”: WSJ

Last updated on: July 5, 2013 at 5:37 pm By Eve Tushnet

Here’s a feature article on one of my many obsessions. And yes, I hate “studies have found” too, but much of this rings true. I wish they’d elaborated more on the problems with simply recasting advice as, “When something similar happened to me, I…” storytelling. I’ve found that people giving advice on how to give advice typically think that will “work,” but in practice it often causes offense (how dare you suggest that my occasional extra Snickers bar is like... Read more

It’s the Feast of the Jailers of Sts Peter and Paul

Last updated on: July 2, 2013 at 6:14 pm By Eve Tushnet

St Processus and St Martinian, who converted under the influence of their prisoners; they’re the patron saints of wardens, jailers, and prison police. Read more

This Mockingbird Article About Sex and Internet Porn

Last updated on: June 30, 2013 at 2:09 pm By Eve Tushnet

quotes literally all of the good bits of the Alain de Botton piece it’s riffing on; dodges de Botton’s more banal or wrongheaded generalizations (AdB writes as if internet porn is a male problem not a human problem, and says sex can get in the way of “other things we care about, like prosperity, safety, and happiness,” which is a list of three things I don’t care about all that much); and adds some gentleness of its own. You should... Read more

UPDATE to Mexican Drug-War Journalism Story: Plagiarism, Self-Promotion?

Last updated on: June 30, 2013 at 1:38 pm By Eve Tushnet

At least some part of this story may be false. See here and here. THANKS to GJP on Facebook. (If you try to click the Blog del Narco links here they’re broken, but you can see the stories on BDN’s front page and they do pretty clearly seem to be plagiarized.) Read more

“Mexico Relies on Social Media for Drug War News”: The Fix–UPDATED

Last updated on: June 30, 2013 at 1:36 pm By Eve Tushnet

reports: With most mainstream media sources silenced by fear of the drug cartels, social media has become a safer way for Mexicans to stay informed about the drug war-related violence continuing to rage throughout the country. more [UPDATE: At least some part of this story may be false. See here and here. THANKS to GJP on Facebook. (If you try to click the Blog del Narco links here they’re broken, but you can see the stories on BDN’s front page... Read more