Blood Sport/Steve Bromberg
The smell of death lingers on the savannah. Big Game hunting is a sight to behold. It’s the ultimate expression of the hunter’s feelings of alienation and inadequacy and his frustration with interpersonal relationships. Now, with the discovery of the illegal killing of Zimbabwe’s beloved lion Cecil, “sport” killing has become a searing hot topic.
Bookstores of New York
The prognosis for the future is mixed in Uptown Manhattan. Among the last of the independents on the Upper West Side is Book Culture, at 536 West 112th, around the corner from the gates of Columbia University and down the block from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The store has long leaned to the scholarly, but the academic book business is in a slump, given the dwindling number of students applying to and pursuing Ph.D.s in the humanities. In business since 1997, owner Chris Doeblin decided to diversify. In 2009 he opened a new store, Book Culture on Broadway, that also carries “non-book,” i.e. scarves, toys, and knickknacks, along with more popular titles. But sales in the main store are declining. Doeblin ascribes the sorry state of affairs at least in part to an industry at odds with itself…
Field Notes from Cuba/Jim Palombo
In this edition, our Politics Editor Jim Palombo presents his provocative and timely observations following a month-long stay in Cuba.
Stephanie Golisch/CNF
Blue Eyes slinkily stares me down like he’s caught me shoplifting and he’s going to let me walk out of his store with whatever I want. His impish grin is like callused hands tickling my neck. I immediately tell myself I’m imagining things. I’m the sweatiest, smelliest and most disheveled I’ve ever been in my life…
Steve Bromberg / Life Always Seems to Surprise Me
The last time I was in Vegas I lost. Dr. Heart Stat!
What does it mean to be at that moment between the last breath and nothing, when everything slows down just before it ends and you know it’s the end and you see yourself for who you really are. Can you imagine? Really see yourself for the first time and think holy crap and then think wait! I can’t go yet…
Stephen Verona / MAO to NOW
In 1980 I was sent to China to direct a movie staring Ingrid Bergman. It was to be the first American-Chinese co-production in over forty years. Filming was to take place in Peking (now called Beijing), Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai. It was mid- September-early October and the weather was beautiful. I had never been to China…