Columns, pieces and posts
George W. Bush is back, big time. In fact with a roar. He seemed to lie low this summer, but Wednesday he re-emerged to lead the nation and stand for all it has been through this year. He spoke of mourning and memory, of our purpose and our plans. He was inspiriting. Did you see […]
Rudy Giuliani said the other day that he wasn’t absolutely sure the next morning, on Sept. 12, that the sun would actually come up. When it did, he was grateful. And so we are today, as we mark the anniversary of the day that changed our lives. We are all busy remembering. A friend in […]
Everyone here now asks, “Where will you be?” They don’t say “on Sept. 11.” They don’t have to. Everyone knows. Most everyone has a plan. Some people are leaving town. They just don’t want to go through it again, through the nonstop TV and the weeping families and the memory of the smoke and the […]
This is written for you to read when you come back from vacation, either this weekend or next week if that applies. So just park it if you like, and come back. I want only to say: Welcome back. Maybe you are tired, and need a vacation from your vacation. Or maybe you’re a little […]
The Gore-Lieberman feud is a minor political classic, something to read the newspaper for in this so-far-quiet August. The Republicans are enjoying it because it’s Democrats fighting. Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman are enjoying it because everyone’s watching them, which underscores their view that they’re the two most interesting men in the party. And the […]
I am thinking about the moment in history in which we are immersed, and as usual my mind turns to the words of a great writer of the movies. In Robert Bolt’s screenplay of “Doctor Zhivago,” Lara and Zhivago, near the end of their drama, are huddled at his family’s old estate in the Ural […]
The pope’s trip to the Americas has ended in Mexico with the canonization of the fabled Juan Diego of Guadalupe, the 464th saint recognized by the church since John Paul’s papacy began. The pontiff has now recognized more saints than all his predecessors combined. His readiness to canonize is in service of an eagerness to […]
It is hot in New York. It is so hot that once when I had a fever a friend called and asked me how I felt and I said, “You know how dry and hot paper feels when it’s been faxed? That’s how I feel.” And how I felt all day yesterday. It is hot. […]
Maybe he was thinking Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. Maybe it was visceral, not so much thought as felt, and acted upon. We don’t know because he won’t say, at least not in public. Which is itself unusual. Silence is the refuge of […]
I mark the coming holiday remembering the words of a friend of Samuel Johnson, who said, “I meant to be a philosopher, but happiness kept breaking through.” Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, and we must celebrate. Let us hold high a single sparkler to honor those American institutions that, in this interesting year, did […]