Category Archives: Uncategorized

Which party is the one that holds America hostage–over and over and over again?

In the apotheosis of Sergei Vikharev’s restoration of Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty, as pictured in my squib on Vikkarev  in Ballet Review, I want to point out something I’d forgotten: amid the assembled suspended in the sky is not just … Continue reading →

If Trump has taught us anything, it should be that the mindless veneration of the rich encouraged by the “mainstream” media as well as so many deferential politicians is catastrophic. No, government should not be run like a business. No, … Continue reading →

Hey, is Sen. Murphy thinking of running for President? Unlike most Democrats, he’s got a foreign policy handle that isn’t an anemic me-too-ism,trailing after the GOP. Sen. Murphy tweets: “These days, when U.S. troops head off to a complicated, tribal-based, … Continue reading →

And so I was walking up to the CUNY Graduate Center for my first Proust class almost a year ago.  I opened the door to the lobby. . . and stepped back forty years.  back to the B.Altman department store … Continue reading →

They repel and fascinate me by their shlockiness and disturbedness. Watching again video of his meltdown with Schumer & Pelosi last week. Contrast him to the expressive but economical command of gesture by the two Democratic leaders. Trump’s, on the … Continue reading →

He’s much too beholden to the corporate behemoths of oil and gas to rouse enthusiasm among members of the Democrats’ national base. Norman Solomon at Common Dreams spotlights a slew of examinations of O’Rourke’s actual record, representing quite a wake … Continue reading →

The disgraceful giveaway to Amazon comes amid a city in which overwhelming majorities struggle from week to week. Bob Hennelly at Salon reminds us that the ghosts of poverty-stricken NYC Christmas’s past are alive and well in the post-Bloomberg “luxury … Continue reading →

and I can tell you what it: Brecht’s Arturo Ui at the Classic Stage Company. Director John Doyle understands the broad strokes and overt theatricality of Brecht and his anti-illusionism, pro-illusionism theater of alienation. Brecht’s dramatic tract-a-clef was written in 1941 … Continue reading →

The  Times’ editorial board endorses a long-overdue, urgently-needed package of bills being considered by the City Council. But what do they mean exactly when they say that some of the bills “could be streamlined?”