Home
Latest Posts
Click title to read full posts
What makes a great fictional character?
Hint: It doesn’t take a great work of literature or a wonderful human being.
Scarlett O’Hara — the Southern belle at the heart of Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind” — may be as self-centered as they come. But her refusal to accept defeat — no, nor none of her kinfolk, as she famously vows — in the face of the Civil War grabs you by the throat, holds you and won’t let you go.
In 1976, Anne Rice’s “Interview With the Vampire” — inspired by her grief over the loss of her daughter, nicknamed Claudia, to childhood leukemia — introduced us to another indomitable spirit. Over the course of the 13-volume “The Vampire Chronicles,” the French-born, 18th-century vampire Lestat de Lioncourt would earn a place in the pantheons of Gothic and gay literature as well as pop culture.
On May 4, The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in Manhattan inaugurated its new Costume Art galleries in the space once occupied by The Met’s late, lamented book and gift shop. (The shop, relocating to the lower level, will open next summer.)
This tells you everything you need to know about American culture in the digital age: We are a visual society, and I don’t mean that in the sense of deconstructing a Van Gogh. I mean that in the sense of the iPhone, TikTok and Instagram, here’s an influencer with a fabulous piece of Moissanite jewelry; here’s a recipe for scrumptious blueberry muffins; here’s a dress that looks gold in one light and blue in another, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Read more…
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence — marking the official birthday of the United States of America Saturday, July 4 — I keep coming back to the title of Fairfield University’s yearlong cultural programming on the subject, “America 250: The Promise and Paradox.”
On the one hand, many have said they are in no mood to celebrate. They point to the Iran War, the harsh treatment of migrants, the coopting of civil liberties and the loss of a standard of living despite the soaring stock market. Even the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision to uphold birthright citizenship and President Donald J. Trump’s redesign of Washington, D.C. strike them as losses. (In this I’m reminded of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and the need not to let others rob you of your joy.)
On the other hand, the U.S.’ co-hosting of the World Cup has been a smashing success, with foreign visitors praising the hospitality, culture and food of rural, suburban and urban areas from sea to shining sea. America is a big country, these marveling posters say — big in size, big in portions and big in heart.
What is going on here?
When I started this blog some 13 years ago, it was dedicated to the power dynamic in sports and culture to accompany my series of novels. But once President Donald J. Trump was elected in 2016, I began to write more about politics, which, the analytics suggest, has garnered me a larger audience.
Still, cultural writer that I’ve been for more than 46 years, I’ve never stopped writing about sports, which like politics, religion and the arts fall under the cultural umbrella. Indeed, sports — like the arts, my actual area of expertise — are often a metaphor for life, as we’ve seen in the strategic, come-from-behind New York Knickerbockers’ championship victory over the San Antonio Spurs, which not only captured the essence of workaday New York but said something profound about the nature of winning and losing and thus the Iran War.
Recently, Pope Leo XIV spoke about sports as a unifying factor, teaching athletes teamwork and respect for other traditions.
But is that true? With the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup and the World Cup all in play, there has probably never been a bigger moment for nations to come together through sports. And yet if sports bring people together, teams and fans alike, they also divide.
As with everything concerning President Donald J. Trump — including the boos that greeted him for Game Three of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan Monday night — much has been written about his on and off Freedom 250 concert series. It included an array of performers from country music’s Martina McBride to funk and soul’s The Commodores — until it didn’t.