“Watch the kids of the bucket brigade, gathering waves, slopping them into carefully dug craters, creating for a moment a personal ocean.”

South Florida moments; Oscar post-mortem; Jury Duty; Viva Verdi; Pamuk on The Political.

“You can almost sense the instrument and the hand itself, making mark after mark, the careful caress of bristle on canvas.”

Brush with Greatness, Reruns, Nina Conti, Julio Torres, All the Arts News That’s Fit…

“Resistance is futile. But even if you avert your eyes, steel yourself and turn the corner, you’ll likely contend with the come-hither glow of a Halal cart”

I’ll Take Eat Manhattan, NYCB, Dwight Garner, Pilsen Murals, Annie Dillard

“When the sun finally shows itself on the horizon, you feel more than the end of a story. You’ve witnessed something profoundly human, and that’s the thrill that a long dramatic journey affords.”

The Long and the Short, 50 Years of Pickering, American Symphony, Tom Shales, Toby Keith.

“I once happily reveled in the whitewash of background radio—Top 40 hits and ads that urged me to visit the Great Lakes Dragaway on SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!!”

Quiet Please, Cello Cello, Frankly Faure, Greatest Grammys? Christian Wiman.