November 2009
5 posts
Letter addressed to an entity unlikely to respond
Dear Switzerland,
It’s been quite some time since my last visit, but I enjoyed myself in your country. What’s not to love about beautiful mountains, freakishly reliable trains, and a wide variety of chocolate? But I regret to inform you that, well, you officially fail as a country.
In a 57%-43% vote, your people amended your constitution to ban the construction of minarets. Your...
Thanksgiving, a day late
On a Wednesday afternoon in 1924, President Coolidge’s two sons—John, 17, and Calvin, 16—played a game of tennis on the south lawn of the White House. Wearing shoes without socks was something of a fashion among teenage boys of the era, a fashion trend that has come and gone repeatedly in the decades since, probably because it dovetails neatly with the laziness and studied slovenliness of...
Obsolete
Earlier this year, a photo developing store in my neighborhood posted this notice in its window:
With equanimity uncharacteristic of San Francisco—a city obsessed with keeping everything exactly the same as it is now, while also fancying itself the most forward-looking “progressive” place on earth—the owner accepted that there’s not as much use for film developing anymore,...
Friday Night List #1
Pixar’s ten feature films, ranked in order of my enjoyment of them:
The Incredibles
Up
Ratatouille
Finding Nemo
Wall-E
A Bug’s Life
Toy Story 2
Toy Story
Monsters, Inc.
Cars
Henderson, Nevada
Both of my parents turned 80 this year. It’s hard to get my head around that.
My mother has taken good care of herself, hasn’t aged visibly since her fifties, and has no serious health problems, so it’s hard to think of her as 80. My father is more physically infirmed, but that traces back to severe injuries suffered in a car accident that occurred on my 16th birthday in 1983,...