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Diorama-o-rama Natural history dioramas are compelling artifacts, if everyone could just stop stripping them of any complexity.
By Jesse Smith |
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Eat Drink Actor Director What did it take for food to become a big-screen star? Oh, just the death of linear storytelling. You can't have it all, I suppose.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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There Is No Try To a kid growing up in a broken family with no religious training, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and D&D provided an escape from the world. But they also showed me how to live in it.
By Ethan Gilsdorf |
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Seed Money Every expo tries to sell a story. But at the country's biggest indoor farm show, what you see is what you get.
By Jesse Smith |
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Paper or Plastic? There is always a price to pay for new technology, but right now I'M JUST TOO EXCITED THAT MY KINDLE HOLDS 1,000 BOOKS!
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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The Bad Seed? Birdfeeder season has arrived. Ready for all that environmental, aesthetic, scientific, and financial responsibility?
By Jesse Smith |
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The Family Jewels It's Christmas! Let's haul out the holly...and breast milk and umbilical cords and foreskins and blood.
By David Farley |
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I'm Dreaming... Why do we make artificial snow? Uh, because we can.
By Jesse Smith |
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Bitch, Please Can't wait until Thanksgiving to know the winner of the National Dog Show? Neither could I.
By Jesse Smith |
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The Prose of Kierkegaard As this new translation of Repetition shows, the philosopher wrote lovely books that can actually be read and enjoyed by those outside the academy.
By M.G. Piety |
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Sports Animal Used to be a bear or a lion made a good team mascot. Then came the Phillie Phanatic.
By Jesse Smith |
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Peepin' Ain't Easy You think fall foliage viewing is just about finding a tree and staring at it? Wrong.
By Jesse Smith |
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Getting the Green Light Scientists have used gene therapy to correct color blindness in monkeys. Will humans now see the light?
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Getting Tanked Fishing for answers at the Annual Marine Aquarium Conference of North America.
By Jesse Smith |
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Pet Project Could there be any worse time to celebrate National Pet Health Insurance Month?
By Jesse Smith |
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Name Tags Taxonomy may be an evolved skill, but human subjectivity has no place in the lab. Or so we're told.
By Jesse Smith |
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Times Up Living in rural Maine, getting The New York Times every day on the Kindle feels like a small miracle. But nobody said miracles are perfect.
By Wayne Curtis |
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The Art of Politics The Federal Duck Stamp turns 75 this week. But why does the Interior Department run an art contest anyway?
By Jesse Smith |
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The John Hughes Canon Director John Hughes has died. Smart Set writers reconsider some of the director's most influential films, a cinematic world populated by nerds and jocks, computers and dogs, Seurat and Santa.
By Smart Set writers |
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Symbolic Gestures Ken Burns' upcoming film on the National Park Service will be full of beautiful images, but a more intriguing visual story is told through its symbols.
By Jesse Smith |
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Crossing the Tan Line We work hard to cover our breasts and penises. And then summer comes along.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Michael's Menagerie Everyone keeps saying Michael Jackson had a bizarre taste in pets. They were actually pretty boring choices.
By Jesse Smith |
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The Family Business The books of John and Dan Fante have long existed outside the spotlight. That could change this year, John's centennial.
By Nick Mamatas |
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Animal Crossing Economic trend: African safari, out; American drive-thru safari, in?
By Jesse Smith |
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Aging Stressfully Stop stressing over your age — research shows it only speeds up the process!
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Consider the Hermit Crab In praise of the hermit crab, our favorite animal of summer. And if it dies…well, there’s always next summer.
By Jesse Smith |
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The Elephant in the Room I hear complaints over Wal-Mart and McDonald's and McMansions, but what about the sameness of the zoo landscape?
By Jesse Smith |
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Duck, Duck, Goose The Ward World Championship is a competition for the only American art form grounded in deception: bird carving.
By Jesse Smith |
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Final Edition It's a cruel irony that as newspapers die, the death notices they run are more popular than ever. But football fans have Sports, so why shouldn't those terrified of death have Obituaries?
By Stefany Anne Golberg |
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On Reading Liebling A.J. Liebling said nobody better could write faster, and nobody faster wrote better. Marry that with the diversity of his beats — food, the War, boxing, the press — and you have a striking portrait of the mid-20th century.
By Michael Gorra |
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French Lessons A new exhibit explores Americans' obsession with French fashion (and the knock-offs they spawned at home).
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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In Memoriam Drexel University President Constantine Papadakis, 1946-2009.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Gorilla Warfare Government support of zoos is increasingly seen as frivolous. Not so in the Great Depression.
By Jesse Smith |
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A Brief History We bemoan the rise of Twitter, of limiting thoughts to 140 characters. Brevity, however, has a particularly noble lineage.
By Ryan Bigge |
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Experimental Nonfiction I'm often fascinated by scientists' intelligence, but I'm always impressed by their confidence.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Green Economy In this economy, stop and smell the roses. No, seriously, they're on display at the world's largest flower show.
By Jesse Smith |
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Happy Camper I couldn't imagine a worse time to have a motor home sale. But at the 2009 Reading RV Show, I realized some dreams can't be put on hold.
By Jesse Smith |
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Hot Wheels From Baghdad to Berlin, Shanghai to Dubai, new Ferris wheels are going up all over the world. Can a symbol of the 19th century remain iconic in the 21st?
By Stefany Anne Golberg |
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Nature vs. Nature When is the natural world like The Real World? When we're choosing its seven 'official' Wonders.
By Jesse Smith |
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A Sense of Loss Ever heard how you can't eat just one chip? You might soon be able to blame biology!
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Fat Cats Celebrate artifice: Feed a zoo animal.
By Jesse Smith |
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Poe at 200 Two centuries after he was born, the creator of modern horror is taught in almost every school in America. How well is another matter completely...
By Nick Mamatas |
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Wintry Mix New research reveals why winter is chock full of such discontent.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Skeletal Remains Happy 140th birthday, dinosaur displays! You don't look a day over 65 million.
By Jesse Smith |
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Dear John We take the toilet for granted, but almost half the world lacks access to one. On World Toilet Day, we consider its impact on longevity, safety, education, and even tourism. (Bonus: Do you squat in the East or Southeast Asian manner?)
By Sara Blask |
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A Giant Problem The large mammals are our closest relatives. So why is our relationship with them so tense?
By Jesse Smith |
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A Hairy Predicament Siberians once threw lice on visitors to show love. After getting lice myself, I can say Siberians had a weird definition of love.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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A Temporary Uplift Want to end patriarchal oppression? Don't burn your bra — just get one that fits.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Green Politics Golf was once such a simple sport, back before it involved human rights, Nelson Mandela, and murder.
By Todd Pitock |
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Ocean View At the Smithsonian's new Ocean Hall, the drama of the seas plays out alongside that of the modern natural history museum.
By Jesse Smith |
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The Pale Cast of Thought For David Foster Wallace, good art was a guide through dark times. Sometimes, alas, good art is not enough.
By J.M. Tyree |
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Boob Tube A 50-inch plasma TV feels gauche, but that's the shuffling progress of civilization for you.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Guiding Light The Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America celebrates its creator's centennial this month. But why do we still need field guides?
By Jesse Smith |
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The Death of the Monoculture Why no summer jam this summer? Blame the death of the monoculture.
By Ryan Bigge |
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Refueling Think things are slow on the NJ Turnpike? Try eating at its rest stops.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Got Gout? Once the "disease of kings," gout is back with a vengeance.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Power Hungry Plants, wind, and sunlight make good energy. Oil, coal, and the atom make good exhibits.
By Jesse Smith |
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Zookeeping Small-town zoos lack the pizazz of those in New York, San Diego, and D.C. Sometimes that's a good thing.
By Jesse Smith |
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Have Tour, Will Travel In the market for a trip to China's Three Gorges, before the dam makes it one giant liquidation sale.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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What's up, Doc? Werner Herzog's made a film about life on Antarctica. Too bad nature documentaries don't matter anymore.
By Jesse Smith |
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Smell Ya Later? We can measure eyesight and hearing. So why not smell?
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Sex? All the talk on Sex and the City misses both what's right and what's wrong with the film.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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The Sweet Smell of Species Success Our noses don't like the smell of BO, but maybe our brains do.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Perused Furniture Take furniture out of the context of all restrictive impediments and you've got the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Now Just Relax... Meditators always thought happiness could be learned. Now scientists are agreeing.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Body Service How Brazilian waxes make our era less like the freewheeling '60s and more like the Victorian years.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Great Expectations People don't read anymore. Translation is expensive. The Internet! At the London Book Fair, the sky was most definitely falling.
By Jessa Crispin |
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Losing My Mind My terrible memory makes me worry I have Alzheimer's. Luckily hints are emerging as to what exactly that means.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Bag Ladies Class struggles, identity, democratization, and postmodernism. They're all tied up in the shopping bag.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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D Day If vitamin D is something everyone takes for granted, why are we talking about rickets in 2008?
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Open House The open house: Sunday afternoon voyeurism.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Bottled Water World I was a judge in an international water contest — tap waters, purified waters, spring waters, sparkling waters. It was almost enough to make one forget there's an H2O crisis looming.
By Anne Janette Johnson |
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The End of the Affair I loved reading books. Buying them. Writing them. But in the age of the megastores, the love affair is over.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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The Mosquito and the Itch Mosquito bites make us feel itchy. But scratching one may actually be an emotional response.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Home Bodies A home show is a domestic circus, with homeowners as its Super Mop-buying freaks.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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All Made Up Clothes cover and festoon a large expanse of the body, but makeup
interacts with that smaller, more expressive part of the body — the
face.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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The Oily Truth The connection between ibuprofen and olive oil may finally end the healthy diet debate.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Night Terrors Chronic sleep loss leads to bad decisions, obesity, and disease. An argument for the nap.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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The Art Catalog The theorists are always arguing about what makes something art. 30,000 Years of Art says let's just move on and look at some more of it.
By Morgan Meis |
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Buying a Fountain Pen Like the rifle and the sports car, the fountain pen is a fetish.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Bobby Fischer Read Here He rose to fame as an international chess whiz, but spent his last days in the back corner of a sleepy Reykjavik bookstore.
By Sara Blask |
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Car Parts Chinese manufacturers, assembly lines, spinning stages, and sparkly dresses. Our correspondent reports from the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
By Jesse Smith |
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Replacing the Volvo Deeply entrenched in a suburban lifestyle, I'm supposed to love my Volvo. But the car is not lovable.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Beauty Secrets There's Classical beauty. And then there's Make Me a Supermodel.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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In the Spirit of Arts and Crafts William Morris championed useful, pretty things. I agree. That's why I bought a wicker chair and chintz cushion.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Allergic Response Why twice as many people now suffer from allergies, and why that won't change any time soon.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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The Oberlin Experiment There was a time when sports and politics were inseparable, and Oberlin College launched a lunatic revolution of Radical Athleticism and "jock liberation." It may be the great unwritten chapter in American sports history.
By Anne Trubek |
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Shopping With Henry Jaglom Going Shopping is Henry Jaglom's third film on female neurotic desires. Is he a genius or a jerk?
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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At the Body, Mind, and Spirit Expo I heard pets speak from the grave, had a picture of my aura taken, and got sucked into a Scientology pitch. And that was just the first day.
By Emily Maloney |
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What's Your Doomsday? We fear death. So why don't we fear the things that will truly bring it on?
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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A Visit to the Sneaker Gallery Sneakers were once utilitarian objects for high school gym. Now they're art.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Department Store Elegy Department store culture belied the fact that women had nothing to do but shop. But they were an experience, smoky aisles and all.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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The Blusher Darwin said blushing is the most human of all the expressions. He was obviously not a chronic blusher.
By Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Sequins & Scandals Figure skating is the quintessential American sport. It's both fiercely individualistic and incredibly conformist. And athletes and fans have an extraordinarily high tolerance for corruption. Our correspondent reports from Skate America.
By M.G. Piety |
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The Official Typeface of the 20th Century Helvetica turned 50 this year. A profile of the font that gave shape and tone to our visual culture.
By Ryan Bigge |
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Thrift Shop Buying To some, thrift stores are disgusting. To me, they hint at lives I'll never know.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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In Praise of the Town Library Its budget is never enough. Its collection is often small. But I have not yet visited one, not even in the drowsiest rural village, in which a child could not find enough to get started.
By Michael Gorra |
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The Handbag The handbag is either a symbol of nesting or a tool of enslavement. Either way, buying one's a bitch.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Here's To the Death of the "Death of" Article Stephen King asks: What ails the short story? That question misses the point entirely.
By J.M. Tyree |
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Souvenirs Leather belt from Rio or fur hat from Russia, the souvenir is not so much a remembrance of things past as a promise of things to come.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Old Like Me Can empathy be taught? I put corn in my shoes and almost pee on the floor as I undergo aging sensitivity training.
By Jason Wilson |
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The Impossibility of Gift-Giving Mauss said gift-giving was more about form than content. He must never have been gifted an ugly bracelet.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Menckenmania How do you celebrate a grouch like Mencken? Our correspondent went to Baltimore for his 127th birthday and found that it involves torture, opera, pit bulls, and cheese.
By Jesse Smith |
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Trans Phat At home, our columnist normally denies her deep-seated junk food urges. In Denmark, she didn't have to. How a McDonald's in Copenhagen is better than one in the U.S.
Jennifer Fisher Wilson |
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Supermarkets Why a supermarket is never quite right.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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Northeast Kingdom The apple can be robust or whithered, delicious or deadly, beautiful or terrifying. A photo essay with text by John Wood.
By Andrea Modica |
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A Dilettante's Guide to Art 1001 Paintings You Should See Before You Die acknowledges the question "What is Painting?" The answer: "Who cares?"
By Morgan Meis |
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Small Businesses Blink and you'll miss them. Tiny free-standing businesses are the proverbial canaries in the coal mines, the first to go when gentrification comes knocking. A photo essay.
By Lisa Anne Auerbach |
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Scopes Revisited Every few years Darwin gets hauled into court. We revisit the most famous case of all, the Scopes Trial.
By Anne Janette Johnson |
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Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara Science exists whether humans exist or not. A Q&A with paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara.
A Smart Set Interview |
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The Last Taboo To praise shopping is to breach the last taboo of academic culture.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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