My take on President Obama’s narrative problem. Appeared in The New Yorker Online, January 10, 2010 It has always seemed to me that one of a president’s primary responsibilities is first and foremost to be a storyteller. We all know the importance of narratives, of stories; … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2012
“Predictions for 2010”
A small forecast. Appeared in Speakeasy Blog, The Wall Street Journal Online, January 1, 2010 2010: a prediction. We won’t cure cancer or AIDS or poverty. We won’t win the war on drugs. On terror. On adult illiteracy. On unemployment. We won’t win. But you know some of … [Read more...]
“Apocalypse”
The first half of a longer polemic on the Haitian Earthquake. Appeared in Boston Review, May 2011 ONE On January 12, 2010 an earthquake struck Haiti. The epicenter of the quake, which registered a moment magnitude of 7.0, was only 15 miles from the capital, … [Read more...]
“The Dreamer”
An essay about my mom as a girl trying to get her education. Appeared in More, May 2011. “I think of my mother, of course. She’s one of those ironwill rarely speak figures that haunt. See her in New Jersey, in the house with the squirrels in the back that she feeds … [Read more...]
“Tokyo”
Written shortly after the Fukushima catastrophe. Appeared in Newsweek. March 28, 2011 I always had a sense that I would fall in love with Tokyo. In retrospect I guess it’s not that surprising; I was the generation which had grown up in the 80s when Japan was ascendant (born … [Read more...]