Contents
March-April 2012
A Serious Woman
What the critics–and a lot of men–don’t get about Oprah by Caitlin Flanagan, from The Atlantic
Gilding the Big Apple
New York has been conquered by the One Percenters, and it wants nothing to do with your tired, your hungry, your artistic–or you by Christopher Ketcham, from Orion
Ransom Notes
A member of Mexico’s beleaguered business class crosses the border to escape kidnapping, extortion, and murder by Melissa del Bosque, from The Texas Observer
Wet Dreams
A new water ethic is not only essential–it’s possible by Cynthia Barnett, from Blue Revolution
Spirit of the Waters
Let’s heal our relationship with this irreplaceable liquid by Osprey Orielle Lake, from Uprisings for the Earth
EMERGING IDEAS
No Sweat
A U.S.-owned factory in Latin America marries profit and workers’ rights by Peter Dreier, from The Nation
All Guts, No Glory
Recognizing female soldiers in combat by Molly M. Ginty, from Ms.
Babies Are Us
Early childhood development curbs poverty by Jonathan Cohn, from The New Republic
GLEANINGS
Sugar Daddy
After growing up with a miserly father, a young woman auctions off her affections by Chidelia Edochie, from Gulf Coast
Night Moves
Hustling chess in Zuccotti Park by David Hill, from McSweeny’s Internet Tendency
The Ice Machine
How to make a delicious, non-deadly sno-cone by June Melby, from Water~Stone Review
MINDFUL LIVING
The Sweetest Thing
Searching for lost youth and luscious apricots by Adam Leith Gollner, from Lucky Peach
Father Fiction
Great stories gives us back our human shape by Kevin Hartnett, from The Millions
The Last Mermaids
Jeju Island’s remarkable sisterhood of free-diving grandmothers by Alison Flowers, from Bust
MIXED MEDIA
True Lies
How documentary film set the stage for reality TV by Sally Blake, from Point of View
Revenge of the Window Dressers
The underappreciated innovators of storefront display by Max Mosher, from Worn Fashion Journal
Reviews:
Film
Simply Transcendent: a review of The Kid With A Bike
Detroit Crop City: a review of Urban Roots
Storyville: a review of Masters of American Music
Music
Snow Angel: a review of 50 Words For Snow by Kate Bush
Bouncing Back: a review of Making It by Stew and the Negro Problem
Bossa Minnesota: a review of Selva Surreal by Buffalo Moon
Books
Subsidize Me: a review of The Big Handout by Thomas M. Kostigen
Of Amateurs and Patriots: a review of Karaoke Culture by Dubravka Ugresic
To Thine Own Self: a review of In The Presence of Absence by Mahmoud Darwish
Editor’s Note
by David Schimke
Forward
by Eric Utne
Dispatches from:
The Weekly Standard, The Progressive (Aborted Rights)
Discover, Scientific American (Modified Mosquitoes)
Stanford (Stone Age Sex)
New Internationalist (Guns into Guitars)
The Futurist (Tsunami Students)
Audubon Magazine (Lily White Greens)
IEEE Spectrum (The Big Clock)
Psychology Today (Comfort Food on the Brain)
Harvard Business Review (The Nature of Praise)
The Chronicle of Higher Education (Legal Fees for Dropouts)
California, Audubon Magazine (Pirate Preservationists)
The Nation (The Great Green Wall of Africa)
Scientific American Mind (Bookworm as Social Butterfly)
Dead Letters (Dead Head Snail Mail)
Meatpaper (The Whalers’ Muse)