March 2018
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Nang yai is an intriguing form of Siamese drama, a shadow play with puppets, which, unfortunately, I have never seen performed — in fact, never been to Thailand, alas, or anywhere else in that part of the world. The "puppets" are large, almost three-quarters life-size, made of painted buffalo hide. A story, drawn from the…
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There are some words which one might read, study, and parse the dictionary definition and yet still not understand — words for which one has no intuitive or even rational conception. For example, there's the word "heaven." I know that "heaven" can mean "sky," a definition that poses no problem, but when "heaven" is presumed…
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Many a restaurant in New Orleans; and many visited by us during our latest stay. Two divergent experiences. Shaya, and Venezia. Shaya: Slick, elegant, ultra-modern, carefully designed. Waitpersons stylishly costumed and coiffed. Well-trained. Reservations mandatory. Customers: jacketed and tied, or on high heels. Price: whole wallet. The place to go if you're looking for wood…
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Dear Asher, Caleb, Luke, Lola, Ella, Oliver, Talia: These are pictures of your great-great-great-grandparents, Leib or Louis Hessel and Tsina Voloshen Hessel. They are the parents of Eta or Yetta Hessel, who married Isaiah Pearlman, your great-great grandfather, in StaryConstantine, Ukraine, sometime around 1895. I knew Eta, who died in 1962 when I was in…
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Numerous European websites are reporting that Barron Trump, the 12-year-old son of United States President Donald J. Trump, has been betrothed to Katerina Kabaeva, the 11-year-old daughter of Vladimir Putin and "first mistress" Alina Kabaeva. White House spokesman Sarah Huckabee Sanders refused to comment on the report. But another member of the Trump administration,…
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A few days ago Vivian de St. Vrain aka Dr. Metablog began his last year as a septuagenarian. His next birthday, 80. Astonishing. Unbelievable. And kind of miraculous. When I was boy, I thought that people of such an advanced age were very likely extra-terrestrials or possibly members of another species. I remember my ancient…
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The White House announced today that "naming rights" to stretches of the Trump Wall across the southern U. S. border are up for sale. Portions have been pre-sold. Among the corporations that will have their names in neon on the wall are Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby. The largest single stretch has been claimed by Koch…