Sex in America
Want to know what the average American is up to in terms of his or her sexual patterns, here you can find out.
David Brown reports in the Washington post on a new A sweeping survey of Americans’ sexual behavior
Evan Hughes provides a thoughtful review in TNR of Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think about Marrying by Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker.
Continue ReadingThe Apostate: Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology
Lawrence Wright spent over a year assembling evidence that makes it quite clear that Scientology is a cult rather than a religion. At the center of the story is, Paul Haggis, one of Hollywood’s most creative writers and producers, who spent 35 years climbing up the ladders of scientology. Haggis is the proverbial “smoking gun.” In the end, Haggis loyalty to his gay daughter proved stronger than the brainwashing of Scientology. He quit Scientology and is now battling the “church” with all that he has got. I cancelled my evening plans to be able to read this article from beginning to end in one sitting. Read the fascinating story in the New Yorker. It is the New Yorker at its very best. You don’t want to miss this report about how Scientology to date recruited and retained so successfully Hollywood celebrities. I am quite sure more federal law enforcement agencies will look more vigorously into the practices of Scientology after this expose.
18 Days of Eqypt: NY Time Photo Diary of the Remarkable Events
Click on photo to start the gallery.
The AP reports on Mubarak’s final hours: Desperate bids to stay
Continue ReadingDemocracy Watch: In the Middle of the Struggle in Egypt
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF files this dramatic report from Cairo for the NY Times.
Watching Thugs With Razors and Clubs at Tahrir Sq. Pro-government thugs at Tahrir Square used clubs, machetes, swords and straight razors on Wednesday to try to crush Egypt’s democracy movement, but, for me, the most memorable moment of a sickening day was one of inspiration: watching two women stand up to a mob.
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A Widow’s Story
Joyce Carol Oates has written a moving story about the last week of a long mariage. It reminded me a bit of the feelings I had when some years ago my best friend died in front of my eyes although the young body continued to walk on this planet as if nothing had happend.
February 15, 2008. Returning to my car, which I haphazardly parked on a narrow side street near the Princeton Medical Center, I see, thrust beneath a windshield wiper, what appears to be a sheet of stiff paper. At once my heart clenches in dismay—a ticket? A parking ticket? At such a time? Earlier this afternoon, I parked here—hurried, harried, a jangle of admonitions running through my head like shrieking cicadas—on my way to visit my husband in the Telemetry Unit of the medical center, where he was admitted several days ago for pneumonia. Now I need to go home for a few hours, before returning to the medical center in the early evening—anxious, dry-mouthed, and head-aching, yet in a state that might be called hopeful, for since his admission into the medical center Ray has been steadily improving.
Continue ReadingStorm Jameson on Happiness
Marageret Storm Jameson said:
Happiness comes of the capacity
to feel deeply,
to enjoy simply,
to think freely,
to risk life,
to be needed.
2010 in Pictures Courtesy of the New York Times & Spiegel Online
NY Times: 2010: The Year in Pictures
A more poetic version of the year appeared in:
Spiegel Online: 52 pictures of 2010
Picture: Child in Africa inspired by the World Cup!
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