Survey Says. . . (No. 14)
15 Seconds of Fame. . . As some of you know, or may have noticed, a letter I wrote to NPR’s “Morning Edition” was read on Friday. The letter was…
A New Rambler Supplement and a Very Short Survey
STATISTICS There are now 114 subscribers to The New Rambler. In age they span about seven decades, in geography, three countries. RANDOM NOTES & ILLUMINATION ROUNDS Over the past few…
Exercise
A short time ago I was watching a TV newscast in Chicago, which took a short break from politics, sports, and mayhem, to report on a breathtaking new phenomenon: there…
Men and Women, Take One (No. 12)
“There have been parallels, individuals who’ve made great leaps foward in understanding–Galileo, Newton, Stephen Hawking–these men. . . .” –Mulder, The X-Files, 5th season finale, emphasis mine Several weeks ago…
The White Guilt Issue (No. 11)
MY PEOPLE The night is beautiful, So the faces of my people. The stars are beautiful, So the eyes of my people. Beautiful, also, is the sun. Beautiful, also, are…
On Not Knowing Math
8 May 1999– for Ruth Greenwald, with immense gratitude, and Eugenie Hunsicker, with best wishes for the future The other day I was talking to a girl from my English…
(Untitled)
There’s a show on VH1 (MTV, but without the edge, you know), called something like “Before They Were Stars,” whose purpose is to dig up embarassing footage of people who…
Poetry
As many of you are probably aware, a terrible disease has overtaken this country, a disease whose primary symptom is the renaming of all months, days, and weeks, so that…
In Praise of Elizabeth Wurtzel
If I were to ask the students in my class to quote any one line of ‘Ozymandias,’ I doubt that one of them could do it. Almost all of them,…
But Can She Type?
Ides of March 1999 I feel this issue ought to be about the Ides of March, or at least the number nine (number nine. . . number nine), but I’m…