Events

I keep wondering if the Trump administration keeps doing the things its doing to destroy the Republican Party because they're secretly Democrats. Mark Theissen hints at this, but sarcastically: Stephen K. Bannon and his alt-right movement have helped accomplish something no one in a quarter-century has been able to do: get a Democrat elected in the state of Alabama. Alabama is one of the most reliably Republican states in the country. The last time a Democrat was elected was in 1992, and no Democrat has...

A few days ago I lined to a story in the New Yorker by Kristen Roupenian called "Cat Person." I enjoyed the story, and identified to some extent with both characters. My takeaway was that being 20 sucks, and some guys are dicks. Apparently the story got a lot more heated reactions than I imagined: The story has run the gamut of viral reactions – from the initial chorus of sharing "this story is important", "everyone should read this", "it's almost too real"; to the inevitable backlash (over the...

Then one day you find ten years have got behind youNo one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.—Roger Waters

Chicago's largest auditorium north of the Loop needs saving soon, or it might be lost forever: At the intersection of Lawrence, Racine and Broadway in Uptown, the massive, once-grand Uptown Theatre, a shuttered movie palace that has awaited restoration for nearly 40 years, is slowly deteriorating. Its reopening—an expensive proposition that would require public and private funds—is key to the neighborhood's vitality and could make it a premier destination for live entertainment. Preservationists say...

I spend almost all my time in cities with world-class public transport systems. San Francisco is one of them. And yet there are odd gaps. Today I discovered, at 6:45 am, that I was not, in fact, going to take BART to the airport, as it didn't actually start running for more than an hour. I mean, really, San Francisco.

I'm about to head to SFO after this very-quick trip to California. My sleeping Surface will have these articles waiting for me to read: The Economist's Gulliver blog grumbles about airlines squeezing bathrooms to make room for more seats on planes. The Atlantic has a history of how the Agile Manifesto came about. In this era of heightened awareness about sexual harassment, it's comforting to know some Silicon Valley companies continue quaint traditions like hiring models to pose as party guests. New...

The following appeared in my inbox while I was in the air. I'll read them later: I started reading Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation on my flight. I'm already 3/4 done. (Thank you to my co-worker MK for the loaner.) Andrew Sullivan thinks it was a big mistake to sue the no-gay-wedding-cake baker. I agree, for mostly the same reasons as he. Ted Genoways outlines some of the problem the east-cost press has in covering the rural Midwest. Joe Cahill lists the 5 best and 5 worst CEOs in Chicago. Illinois'...

I'm traveling for the weekend in one of the six cities I've experienced year-round. Updates may be spotty. Right now, I just need a nap.

I was thinking back to a somewhat strange question: where in the world have I experienced all 12 months of the year? I mean, I think you have to do that in order to say you really know a place. Before I get to that, let me explain the post's title. The second time I ever set foot in New York was 30 years ago Monday, on 4 December 1987. (The first time was 23 July 1984.) New York is also the second place in the world, after Chicago, where I experienced all 12 months of the year. I crossed that finish...

New Republic has excerpted How Democracies Die, by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, to be published this January. Salient points: If constitutional rules alone do not secure democracy, then what does? Much of the answer lies in the development of strong democratic norms. Two norms stand out: mutual toleration, or accepting one’s partisan rivals as legitimate (not treating them as dangerous enemies or traitors); and forbearance, or deploying one’s institutional prerogatives with restraint—in other...