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J.W. Waterhouse’s “Echo and Narcissus” (1903), oil on canvas. The myth of Narcissus, the youth who fell in love with his own reflection, lent its name to the narcissism we’re seeing today.

Klete Keller and America's narcissistic identity

January 25, 2021

In 2004, the United States and Australia — then swimming’s two powerhouses — faced off at the Summer Olympics in Athens. Four years earlier in Sydney, the American men had lost to the Australian men on their home field in one of the sport’s marquee events, the 4-x-200-meter freestyle relay, a race that the Australians, anchored by the legendary Ian Thorpe, had dominated for seven years.

In Athens, where the American men’s basketball Dream Team played to stunning mediocrity, the message to Team USA’s male swimmers was clear — shut down the Aussies and take back pride of place. The relay team would be led by Michael Phelps — on his way to six gold medals but not yet the supernova Phelps of the Beijing Games four years later — and his friendly rival, Ryan Lochte, who has the second most Olympic swimming medals of any man but at that time was even less of a known quantity. They were joined by Peter Vanderkaay and, swimming the last leg against Thorpe, Klete Keller.

The storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters has forced us all to put our cards face up on the table. It’s not a pretty hand. Photograph by Tyler Merbler. — The storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters has forced us all to put our cards face up on the table. It’s not a pretty hand. *Photograph by Tyler Merbler.*

Barbarians at the gates -- the events of 1/6/21

January 8, 2021

The late comedian Red Skelton had a humble way with an audience but a wicked sense of humor about the rich and powerful. When tyrannical Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn — the man who turned Margarita Carmen Cansino into Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Novak into Kim Novak — passed away, his funeral was well-attended, to which Skelton remarked, “It just goes to show you: Give the people what they want and they’ll turn out for it.”

Jan. 5, the people of Georgia turned out to send two Democrats — Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock — to the United States Senate, giving the Dems a one-vote majority in that body.

Jan. 6, President Donald J. Trump’s cult followers turned out, too, taking four years of disproportionate white, working-class grievance to the Capitol, where they acted like thugs — disrupting the Electoral College vote counting that would once again certify Joe Biden as president-elect; running through hallways, banging on doors, stealing mail and podiums, breaking windows and furniture; and generally disrespecting the place and the people who work there as their actions led to four deaths and countless injuries. Of all the terrible images, the one I can’t get out of my head is of one of the MAGAts posing with his red MAGA hat on a statue. If someone did that in my house, I would say, “Hats are for closets. Yours will be handed back to you as soon as you leave.”

President Donald J. Trump, seen here at an Arizona rally days before the election that would signal the beginning of the end of his presidency, is not going “gently into that good night.” Photograph by Gage Skidmore.

How the Trump stole Christmas

December 25, 2020

Pardons for convicted murderers of Iraqi civilians and loyalists who declined to cooperate with Robert Mueller’s investigation. A veto of the defense bill. Threats to the bipartisan Covid relief bill that would provide the unemployed and small businesses with the help they desperately need.

This Christmas, President Donald J. Trump is locked and loaded for bear.

American Vice President Joe Biden with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United States Embassy, then in Tel Aviv, in March 2016. In congratulating Biden on being elected president, Netanyahu reminded him of their warm relationship. Ne… — American Vice President Joe Biden with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United States Embassy, then in Tel Aviv, in March 2016. In congratulating Biden on being elected president, Netanyahu reminded him of their warm relationship. Netanyahu had been one of President Donald J. Trump’s biggest boosters, but in the words of French President Emmanuel Macron when he first met Trump: “Nobody is forever.”

Trumpian 'Sunset' as democracy's star rises

November 8, 2020

“This is one of the happiest days of my life,” a business manager told me yesterday. I couldn’t but concur. I , too, was happy, proud and content to be an American — something I haven’t been for four long, dark years.

In their victory speeches, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris struct the right notes about unity and hope. President Donald J. Trump’s “American carnage’ may have been fine for some when they were making oodles of money. But when everyone’s actually in American carnage, as we are with the coronavirus, systemic racism, a crashed economy and climate change denial, people want change. They want a leader who can create a vision for going forward together, communicate that vision and execute it. And that’s what Biden laid out Saturday night, while Harris in suffragist white gave women of color in particular a symbol of belief fulfilled.

American carnage denied

November 1, 2020

Four years ago I pivoted this blog from an exclusive sports/culture focus to a more political one as Donald J. Trump ran for the presidency and, improbably, won it. I hate to give him credit for having that kind of power, but we would be kidding ourselves if we didn’t admit that he has transformed our lives in various ways over the last four years — and not for the better. But such is the nature of some change agents, even if he didn’t know he was one.

The image of Kate Gosselin, star of the reality TV series “Jon & Kate Plus 8” is often used to crystallize the look of a “Karen,” a privileged, demanding white woman — itself a stereotype.

He, she, they: the politics of gender and a place in the sun

October 11, 2020

Recently, I had an experience that redefined the right and the left for me. I interviewed two individuals who began by presenting me with their pronouns, as if they were ambassadors presenting a head of state with their credentials. One of the inidividuals’ pronouns was “she” and “her.” So if I were quoting her, I might say “she” on second reference. But the other person’s pronouns were “they” and “them.” (For the purpose of this post, I’ll call them S and T.)

When I explained that from a journalistic perspective, I worked for a company that used the Associated Stylebook — which allows for “they” in single usage when clarity is not at stake — and standard English, in which the masculine is still the default singular pronoun, as in the sentence “Everyone deserves his place in the sun,” well, things got a bit tense.

Harvard Yard in 2005: Fewer students will be attending Harvard University in person this fall, because of the coronavirus, leading to a crisis for those who rely on the school for more than just academic learning.

What price school?

July 12, 2020

In Agatha Christie’s much-admired, oft-filmed “Murder on the Orient Express,” her irresistible Belgian detective, the great Hercule Poirot, finds his “little gray cells” stymied by a case in which everyone is a suspect. Everyone has it in for the loathsome victim, a child murderer on the order of the Lindbergh baby kidnapper, the inspiration for Christie’s villain.

I think it fair to say that we have reached the “Murder on the Orient Express” portion of the people versus the Trump Administration, and the denouement is at hand. Each day brings some fresh outrage against a group that won’t be voting for him. (Roger Stone-pardon critics and New Yorkers, anyone?) Recently, the wheel turned to educators and parents whom the president and his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, are trying to bully into getting kids back into the classroom this fall as the virus still rages and no clear plan is in sight.