Hopeful Romantics

You are browsing the archives of 2008 December.

As I do every holiday season, I make the rounds and watch people do their Christmas shopping.  I not only find it interesting, I believe it is among the best barometers to tell what is really going on in the economy and in society in general.   It is not only a matter of how much [...]

Nobody likes to be alone.   At least most people don’t like being alone.   Especially over the Holiday Season.   Even more especially during over the Holiday Season during a rotten economy.   Because there is nothing like the Holiday Season to make your being alone feel really, truly lonely. It’s shopping alone for gifts for friends and [...]

In most cities you can find one or two places that are in their own way models of democratic activity.   I am not talking about voting, or democratic activity with a big “D.”  Instead I am point to the unique qualities of a certain location where people from all walks of life come together on [...]

A year ago the world’s hookers were being pinched by their flush clientele.   Now the same prostitutes are feeling the pinch.  Life is a lot tougher out on the streets and in the bordellos of the world.   The economic downturn is hurting the world’s oldest profession. In Prague, long known for its post-communist bohemian scene [...]

Our best critics are dying.   And with it a form of writing and assessment of our cultural has been downgraded to a lower form.   Where critics once served to educate their readers and point to new directions in our arts and culture, most criticism today is either boosterism or narcissism.   It is a shame, really, [...]