RICHARD BROOKHISER ON NEW YORK. Via The Rat. Read more

POETRY WEDNESDAY: From Philip Larkin: The trees are coming into leaf Like something almost being said; The recent buds relax and spread, Their greenness is a kind of grief. [clipped] Read more

The harsh truth of the blogwatch eye Telling you more than you ever wanted to know… Priest-appreciation site. Via Welborn. Yale’s unions: an exercise in self-parody. Yale President Richard Levin = Pharaoh! This little news item would be funny if it weren’t real. Very Nietzschean–Christianity as a cover for pure, sweet ressentiment. Apparently, the teens jailed for the “wilding” attack on the Central Park jogger are innocent. Link via Body and Soul, though I’m not totally sure what she means... Read more

MUGABE AT NYC CITY HALL. I hope there are protests. Read more

HAVE YOU WORKED IN A JAIL/PRISON, OR BEEN INCARCERATED? I’m working on an article on the criminal justice system, and figured I might as well see if any of my readers have experience w/it. Drop me a line at [email protected]. Confidentiality assured, esp. since I won’t actually be interviewing you for the article or anything. Read more

THE GEFILTE FISH OF FATE. And much more. Read more

“Bzzz. Bzzzz. Bzzzz.” –Henry Fonda, “The Swarm” Read more

DONNA: This post and the next two are from Alexa Albert’s Brothel: Mustang Ranch and Its Women, excerpted in the Ottawa Citizen, June 3, 2001. [Ottawa Citizen intro:] When Harvard Medical School student Alexa Albert conducted a public-health study at the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada, the only state in the U.S. where prostitution is legal, neither she nor the women of the brothel could have predicted the result. Mustang Ranch had never before let such an outsider in, but... Read more

MUSTANG RANCH II: Almost every woman was financially supporting someone else — often her husband, sometimes other family members, and frequently pimps. Carrie, a prostitute in her early 30s, was taking care of her mother, who had turned her out more than a decade ago. …Forbidden to return home until she earned the quota her mother set, Carrie was frequently forced to remain at Mustang for weeks on end. …From 6 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Sunday, Mustang’s phone room,... Read more

MUSTANG RANCH III: Many of Mustang’s prostitutes, like Donna, worked despite having children at home. In fact, over one-third of the women who worked at Mustang Ranch were mothers. However, the sacrifices were significant. Licensed prostitutes couldn’t go home at the end of the day to cook their children dinner or tuck them into bed. Often away for weeks at a time, they had to rely on others to look after their kids — lovers, family, or friends. Irene, the... Read more