I know this is an impossible long shot, but we have good friends who are leaving the area (sigh!) and need to sell their house, so just in case anybody out there is in the market for a place in western Massachusetts, here it is. Beautiful place.
Splitscreen: A Love Story. Beautifully edited, and shot on a Nokia phone.
The Road to Gay Marriage in New York. Fascinating account.
Great, hilarious Bloggess post: And that’s why you should learn to pick your battles.
Jennifer Egan on Madonna. “And so this woman who has long irked me has come to embody a mystery: How did she do it? It seemed time for an examination of not just Madonna’s oeuvre and the reams of patter she’s inspired from the halls of academe to the pages of People magazine but also my own gripes: the things I’ve always held against her. Is she an idol despite these many failings, or have I been wrong all these years?”
The Role of the Prison Guards Union in California’s Troubled Prison System. “The growth of California’s incarceration system, and the decline of its quality, tracks the accession to power of the state’s prison guards union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (“CCPOA”). The CCPOA has played a significant role in advocating pro-incarceration policies and opposing pro-rehabilitative policies in California. In 1980, CCPOA’s 5,600 members earned about $21,000 a year and paid dues of about $35 a month. After the rapid expansion of the prison population beginning in the 1980s, CCPOA’s 33,000 members today earn approximately $73,000 and pay monthly dues of about $80. These dues raise approximately $23 million each year, of which the CCPOA allocates approximately $8 million to lobbying. As Ms. Petersilia explains, ‘The formula is simple: more prisoners lead to more prisons; more prisons require more guards; more guards means more dues-paying members and fund-raising capability; and fund-raising, of course, translates into political influence.'”
Greatest pairing of book and reader ever: Go the F**k to Sleep, read by Samuel L. Jackson.
Underworld: Belowground with Coal Miners. Whole ‘nother world.
Loving this video reminding us that Jordan is still the greatest.
Smash: Hardbat Ping-Pong Champ Marty Reisman Story. One of my favorite pieces of sports writing in recent memory. How sponge bastardized table tennis and punished a champion who clung (and still clings!) to the old ways.
Understanding Corruption. I did not appreciate the complex cultural differences in defining what corruption is.