Holiday
In the 15 minutes of Googling I did about home renovation, the best advice I found was from Steve Watson. “You bought [your home] for a reason, because you liked…
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A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But a Sandwich
Politicians, journalists and experts rarely agree, but they have all named the current opioid situation a plague. It’s an appropriate word, with historical and biblical connotations; in every generation, our…
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What’s Up, Doc?
“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged,” writes G.K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy, “They always say, ‘Do it…
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The Snowman
Sometimes a film is good because of when we see it and sometimes because it’s just good; The Snowman is both. I can’t pinpoint the first viewing, but I was…
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Claudine
“I have known this woman all my life,” Diahann Carroll writes in her autobiography.* “We grew up together in the same neighborhood.” Lest someone might interpret that statement as metaphorical,…
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Carnival of Souls
Nothing quite agitates an artist like asking to explain their art. Perhaps it is the perceived implication that they didn’t communicate effectively, or that you aren’t willing to fully engage…
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Sapphire
“We’re all the children of God,” a black sophisticate remarks to her boyfriend, after he has interacted with the police. “Forget it.” The exchange is brief — the actor isn’t…
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The Boys in the Band
In June I went to the library to pick up Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band, and while walking to the video section, I passed a display table of…
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Take a Giant Step
“The truth is the truth and should be spoken at all times,” proclaims Grandma Martin (Estelle Hemsley), from the top of a stairwell, no less. It’s a bold mandate, especially…
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Klute
Early in Klute, Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda) returns home from an afternoon appointment with a John, has a bath, lights some candles, pours a glass of wine and sits at…
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