PinnedPLAINS THINKINGFrom The Attic — for a kinder, cooler America NEW YORK MILLS, MN — SECOND SATURDAY IN JUNE — Across the Plains, spring is melting into summer. Corn is knee-high and farmers are in high season. But in one prairie town, hundreds have gathered in the spirit of Socrates.Great American Thinkoff6 min read
PinnedTHE WOMAN IN THE MINEFIELDSFrom The Attic — for a kinder, cooler America Thousands march for peace, millions hope or pray. Peacemakers get busy. The landmine has been called “the perfect soldier: Ever courageous, never sleeps, never misses.” By the 1980s, some 100 million landmines lay buried and millions more sat in stockpiles. Long…Peace5 min read
PinnedTHE AUDACITY OF VIOLINSFROM The Attic — For a Kinder, Cooler America HARLEM — 2004 — It was “Showtime at the Apollo” and every act was on edge. Please the tough audience and you got applause, a chance to go further in the competition. Suck and you got booed off stage. …Black Lives Matter5 min read
Sep 27WHEN JACKIE SAVED GRAND CENTRALWHEN JACKIE SAVED GRAND CENTRAL From The Attic — for a Kinder, Cooler America BENEATH MANHATTAN — Bound not for glory but for Midtown, this train rumbles below the city south of Harlem. Dark tunnels echo with the clatter of rails, the screech of brakes. When the train stops, you…Grand Central Terminal6 min read
Sep 12COUNTRY’S WACKY WORDSMITHNASHVILLE 1950s — Country music was in a dark hollow. The Opry was still Grand but getting Old. Every lanky guy with a git-tar wanted to be Hank, every gal with a perm and pressed blouse wanted to be Patsy. But sittin’ ‘round drinkin’ with the rest of the guys…Nashville5 min read
Aug 16RIDING THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RRRIDING THE MIRACLE RAILS — “NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD” From The Attic — for a Kinder, Cooler America SIERRA NEVADAS, CALIFORNIA — We are 21st century Americans riding a train through history.Transcontinental Railroad5 min read
Jul 11WHO WOULD GO NAZI?From The Attic — for a Kinder, Cooler America MANHATTAN, SPRING 1941 — All the people at this party seem true blue American. Well bred, well fed, well read, not the kind of rabble drawn to dictatorship. But as “a somewhat macabre parlor game,” the tall woman in the corner…Journalism5 min read
Jul 6VICTORIA FOR PRESIDENT — IN 1872From The Attic — for a Kinder, Cooler America MANHATTAN — 1870 — It was an off-year election, but voter fraud was expected. On that brisk November morning, three women gather in a posh Manhattan brownstone. When the ladies are seated, one recites the 14th amendment. “No state shall make…Victoria Woodhull6 min read
Jun 27KEROUAC ON THE BRINKFrom The Attic — for a Kinder, Cooler America ROSS LAKE, WASHINGTON, 1957 — Wind and rain rocked the North Cascades. Jack Kerouac slept little. The next day he would cross the lake, then ascend to a cabin in paradise. But after riding a horse up switchback trails, drenched in…Jack Kerouac5 min read
Jun 27THE MUSEUM THAT CONQUERS TIMEFrom The Attic — for a Kinder, Cooler America Early in the 1960s, John Rice Irwin dropped in on an auction in his native Tennessee. There he saw the past being sold to the highest bidder. Kitchen tools went for a song. Rusty farm shovels and hoes went unnoticed. Meanwhile…Appalachia5 min read
