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George Balanchine, Patriot
George Balanchine loved America. This Russian émigré choreographer, who founded the New York City Ballet with Lincoln Kirstein, delighted in everything from the songs of George Gershwin to the city's ''Don't Walk'' signs. When…
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From Beirut, “the Freedom Haven of the Arab Middle East,” Joumana Haddad on “Crime in Ramallah”
A Palestinian Novel Unearths Dirty Secrets in the Arab World / by JOUMANA HADDAD / July 3, 2017 We are a people of dirty secrets hiding beneath a veil of fake morality. That’s the first…
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“To Independence” (Steve McQueen) and some prose “In Favor of Peace” [by David Lehman]
It is July 4th in The Great Escape and in the POW camp dominated by Brits, Steve McQueen lifts his glass of homemade rotgut and says "Independence." In one word he characterize an entire…
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Weather Report [poem by Sharon Preiss]
Weather Report by Sharon Preiss In the year of our lord, zip code 12198, in the summerOf abstract art, I wrote a book. It read like this: Her name is Nina, her name…
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Groucho Raises a Toast to Lydia [by David Lehman]
Listen to thispraise of Lydiathe tattooed lady,the most gloriouscreature under the sun:"She has eyes that folks adore soand a torso even more so. . ."in The Marx Brothers At the Circus (1939)On her back…
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A Home for All God’s Children: What Is America To Me? [Paul Robeson]
I've always been deeply moved by Frank Sinatra's original recording of this song (music Earl Robinson, lyrics Abel Meeropol under the pen name Lewis Allan. You can find it here.) but this version by Paul…
