Beyond Classification Archive

“The Best” of 2017 - If you don’t do a “best of” feature, you’re not considered Serious Media. So I’ve made one. The best books aren’t listed in order, though the 3 novels of Mohsin

“There is a rose in Spanish Harlem.” Correction: There was a rose…. - Walking the track in East Harlem the other day, I spotted this flower. I thought, “There is a rose in Spanish Harlem,” so I snapped a photo and sent it

“We’re All We Have” - I suggested it was time for the 9.5-year-old to make her list for Santa. She wiggled two fingers on each hand --- air quotes – and said, “Santa?” “Whoa,” I said. “You

2010: Hey, hey, goodbye - With this edition, I kiss 2010 goodbye and, like the butler/chauffeur of “Sabrina,” head off to spend the holidays with my family in our modest but cheerful apartment over the

2011: The Bad and the Beautiful -   “The first cure for illusion,” Philip Slater wrote, “is despair.”   This was the year in which certain things became clear to me.   They were an invitation to despair.   l) There’s no political solution

2012: The Best Videos - “Hello darkness my old friend.” Paul Simon sang "Sounds of Silence” at the funeral for a teacher killed in Connecticut, and in this month of bad news, it feels like

2014: The Greatest Hits - With this edition, I take a break. Going away? No. This happened, and now I’m writing the script. So far, so much fun. But I also have a pile of

2015: The Best of the Best - THE AMAZON LINK: There are now two ways to get to Amazon and support this site. The old: Click on the “Buy it from Amazon” link on any review and

2016: As the year ends… - THE AMAZON LINK: There are now two ways to get to Amazon and support this site. Old: Click on the “Buy it from Amazon” link on any review and go

9/11: “Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” - It seems to be an unwritten law for writers with web sites and members of the Bloviating Class that something must be said about 9/11. I have thought about this, and

A Child’s Holiday, 2016 - Let us take a collective breath and lay down our daily cares and national concerns and remember what the December holiday is about. The dark days end. Light is

A David Bowie Story: “Here’s a mask. It’s magic. Invisible. Put it on…” - NEIL GAIMAN tells this story. I published it long ago as a Short Take, at the bottom of the main screen. I think about it often, more now than I

Aaron Swartz: An open letter to his prosecutor - I had a piece ready to publish about Highclere Castle, the English country house --- okay: castle --- featured in "Downton Abbey." This seemed more important. That is, "important" in

August, 2013: On the way out the door - I finished my book. I've said that so many times I lack credibility. But this time there is a cover and galleys and a publication date in early 2015. Fool

August, 2014: Until We Meet Again - We’re just back from a week on St. John. Islands in the off-season --- that’s us. The planes are cheap, they practically pay you to occupy houses that are unaffordable

Bob Wooldridge (1961-2006) -

Bonjour Paris Special Subscription - BonjourParis.com

Books by Friends and Neighbors - “Another book?” the child says, as the doorman hands her one of the thick, padded envelopes that arrives each day. I wish I had a Flip video of that moment,

Books for Thirteens - An obsessive reader turns 13 and stops reading. Cold. Is it the weekend blur of Bar Mitzvahs? The lure of video games and Second Life? Or

Butler readers on Smith College’s racial crisis: “Toxic wokeness,” “tone-deaf administrators,” and more - Last week, I republished Michael Powell’s New York Times article, Inside a Battle Over Race, Class and Power at Smith College and invited you to weigh in. I have