Essays

1093 results
Page 54

I remember Seamus Heaney and David Frost

Two who crossed my path: Heaney and Frost, remembered

I'm a celebrity hater at heart, except when two such exit on successive days: the Nobel Prize poet Seamus Heaney, followed by the TV interviewer David Frost. To one who knew them personally, as I did, they were not icons but warm and honest human beings.
Patrick D. Hazard

Patrick D. Hazard

Essays 4 minute read
Beneath David Cameron's mild exterior beats the raging soul of Henry V (above).

Taunt the British at your peril

This means war! (or at least a change of subject)

So you think the English are modest and self-deprecating? Did you see how Prime Minister David Cameron responded when a Russian insulted his country? That ought to show them!
David Woods

David Woods

Essays 3 minute read
Sally Rand couldn't get away with this in New York.

San Francisco: Free markets, free minds

The ultimate libertarian city

Many people think of San Francisco as an ultra-liberal nanny town, and a predominantly gay city, to boot. On the contrary, as I found on a recent visit, it's above all a place that welcomes contrarians and resents government.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Essays 4 minute read
German newspapers are serious about making reading fun.

Germany's next generation

Neither guns nor butter, but printed words: Why the future belongs to Germany

Germans are afraid the trashy Internet media will undermine print, so they're devising methods for hooking the next generation on the printed word.
Patrick D. Hazard

Patrick D. Hazard

Essays 4 minute read
Washington's newest odd couple: McCain's moment.

The U.S. "intervention' in Syria

Getting a little bit pregnant in Syria

Once again, America is headed down the road to war, a skeptical public and a dissenting world community notwithstanding. And once again, the evidence justifying military action is murky at best.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Essays 4 minute read
Rosie the Riveter, meet a survivor of child sex trafficking.

Five reasons to read women's magazines

Beyond liposuction: The serious side of women's magazines

Magazine people— even women— love to look down their noses at women's magazines. They should take another look. There's much more to women's mags lately than Kardashians and liposuction.
Rosella Eleanor LaFevre

Rosella Eleanor LaFevre

Essays 3 minute read

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College seems like so much fun— why can't I go too?

When a son leaves for college

Empty Nest Syndrome, or: How could my son do this to me?

After 18 years as my devoted companion, my son Brandon has departed for college. Now it's only a matter of time before he discovers that his old man isn't the most stimulating force in the universe.

Essays 2 minute read
Could you trim your remarks to 140 characters, Dr. King?

Dr. King and the lost art of rhetoric

50 years since Dr. King's dream: What we gained, what we lost

Martin Luther King was the last great American orator and rhetorician. In our age of Twitter and Facebook, who would have the patience to pay any attention to him?
Victor L. Schermer

Victor L. Schermer

Essays 5 minute read
Yesterday I was a struggling composer and radio host. And now, thanks to BSR....

My brilliant journalistic career

View from the summit: On making it in big-time web journalism

Who says journalists can't make it on the Internet? My budding career recently reached a new plateau.
Kile Smith

Kile Smith

Essays 1 minute read
In one corner of our minds, we're still 20. (Above: San Francisco's Mayor Ed Lee.)

The boys of winter: A basketball metaphor

The fellowship of aging men, or: The last basketball game

We never spoke much and barely knew each other, yet we hung out together for years. It wasn't love but basketball that kept us together. We're guys, after all.
Bob Levin

Bob Levin

Essays 7 minute read