The Barbershop

Good Night, Sweet Babe Magnet

It's as if two men are talking fondly about a woman both of them were once married to.

A Few Favorable Words About Jud Heathcote

I understood immediately why Skiles was a Spartan and I was not.

The Economic Value of Streetcars

Although you would hardly know it today, Baltimore was once a city of streetcars. Crackling densely across the city’s center like fissures in old...

In Praise of the Children’s Choir Accompanist

Every few weeks, in what I assume is a uniquely Protestant ritual, a dozen small children stand at the front of our church and...

Reading Chatwin in Silesia

When I moved to Poland it was the first time I had left Britain. I have lived in the same town for four years...

A Tale of Two Tragedies

This past week, the Baton Rouge district attorney announced he would not press charges against the two police officers who shot and killed Alton...

“Anything Less than Ownership is Unacceptable!”

Many Americans do not need a data visualization to see that their places, especially their cities, are sharply divided along racial lines. Even so,...

AirSpace Colonizes the College Town

As a localist and a voracious reader, it is only natural that I would be deeply devoted to my local independent bookstore. Here in...

Naftzger Park, Planning, and the Problem of “Growth”

Naftzger Memorial Park was a small, pleasantly run-down city block of trees, grass, and benches, near the center of downtown Wichita, KS, just a...

Blowing Up the Bert: The Outside Story

Two years ago I witnessed the abrupt transformation of an old and distinguished literary magazine. For the people doing the transforming, of course, the...