Archive for May 2007
Long Way Round
It’s spring of 2004. Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman are trying to decide what to do with their summer. They come up with an incredible plan. Both are motorcycle enthusiasts and they want to do something unique. They decide to take the summer off and ride motorcycles around the world. They plan to start in […]
Into Thin Air
In March of 1996, Outside magazine sent Jon Krakauer on an expedition to climb Mount Everest. Krakauer’s editors wanted him to write about the increasing commercialism of the summit. Krakauer stated he had given up mountain climbing long ago. He agreed to the climb for purely professional reasons. He later revised this statement, confessing a […]
On Rivalry
I will never understand the rivalry that exists between the fans of Chicago’s two baseball teams. I think it is something that develops at birth. I was not born here. I did not grow up here. I missed out. I came to Chicago as an adult. Granted, a tabula rasa when it came to professional […]
It Can’t Happen Here
Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist and playwright. His novel, Main Street, was to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. The Columbia University Board of Trustees overturned the jury’s decision. Five years later, Lewis again was awarded with the Pulitzer, this time for his novel Arrowsmith. Lewis refused. In 1930, Lewis became the first […]
Fast Food Nation
Eric Schlosser levels the following charges: fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. That’s a bold statement. Schlosser first wrote about the unsanitary and discriminatory practices of the fast food industry in a two-part series […]
Above the Fold
I am tempted to start this entry with a quote from Agent J from Men In Black II. “Old and busted; new hotness.” I know that phrase fails to capture either the tone or the facts of the latest change in my life. Still, I like the humor in it. It makes me smile. In […]
