IF HOLLYWOOD DECIDED TO GIVE EVERYTHING A GRITTY REBOOT: One of the funniest reader-contest results I’ve seen. Charlotte’s Web, the California Raisins, and much, much more. Read more

YOU ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, JENUFA! Last week I saw In the Red and Brown Water at the Studio Theater (through February 14). I may be reviewing it for money, so you might see that soon; if not I’ll post the review here. But I wanted to post right now to tell you to get a ticket if you can! Although there are some flaws–some of the stylizations didn’t work for me, though others really made the play more stark... Read more

“LIVE THROUGH THIS”: My column at Inside Catholic. The Catholic Church is not a box of answers. (Also, “goon” is not a typo!) Read more

I couldn’t, of course, be the athletic or heterosexual man he wanted. He knew I was homosexual, although we never discussed it. I’d told him in a letter in order to get the money I needed to see the shrink, Dr. O’Reilly.—The Beautiful Room Is Empty The guy who created the sublime Daily Mail-o-Matic also made a widget to generate policy proposals from Labour politician David Blunkett. I have no comment on the accuracy of this or any other furrin... Read more

MANY, MANY MORE PLACES TO DONATE FOR HAITI–focusing on Haitian-run organizations. This is a post at the personal journal of someone with family in Haiti, not all of whom are accounted for, so your prayers for her specifically would also be welcome. Read more

I glanced at my watch and realized I had to hurry back to school for the ringing of the next bell–I was on waiter duty at supper time. “How wonderful it must be to have long hours of freedom,” I said. Behind the glinting, anarchist’s glasses Paul’s eyes looked exhausted: “Someday you’ll have more freedom than you’ll want.”—The Beautiful Room Is Empty Read more

TWO ORGANIZATIONS FOR THOSE SEEKING TO DONATE TO AID EFFORTS IN HAITI: Mercy Corps; and the American Refugee Committee (Ratty notes that they are non-sectarian). Read more

“GAY TEEN WORRIED HE MIGHT BE CHRISTIAN.” From The Onion; you knew I had to. Read more

IT’S THE FEAST DAY OF ST. HILARY OF POITIERS, protector of exiles. Read more

His silences were enough like my father’s to fill me with grave anticipation. But he himself was completely different–as thin as my father was fat, as deferential as my father was overbearing, as open to new ideas as my father was closed to them.–Edmund White, The Beautiful Room Is Empty. Not the best prose in the book so far–which I’m very much enjoying–but I like that he draws out this familiar connection between deference and intellectual openness. We seem to... Read more