Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a legendary play about a wealthy Southern family in the 1950s crumbling under the weight of its fractured legacy and tragic truths. A dramatic and moving narrative, Tennessee Williams’ play has much in common with the way I see the… Read full post »

 

I’m not a religious person (on paper). My parents, both Italian-Americans and both burdened by the religious dogma of their upbringings, decided not raise their children in the Catholic Church. Unlike many of my friends growing up outside New York City in the 70s, I did… Read full post »

Our Italian Year -February: AValentine for Karen

By Andrew Cotto

Andrew Cotto remembers the wife of an old friend.

Instead of delving into the details of a wet and… Read full post »

Melancholy arrived with the New Year. The novelty of our living in Italy had diminished somewhat. We’d fallen into a routine, and we also happened to be three months into a heavy rainy season. The sound of steady sheets on our terracotta roof had grown increasingly intolerable.… Read full post »

Our Italian Year – December… Read full post »

The continuing political battle regarding the debt ceiling in particular and the overall economy in general relates nicely to a scene in the… Read full post »

Dennis Lehane is the author of nine novels-including the New York Times bestsellers Gone, Baby, Gone; Mystic River; Shutter Island; and The Given Day—as well as Coronado, a collection of short stories and a play. He is currently at work on a new book set during prohibition/… Read full post »

As of last Sunday, the presidential election of 2012 is one year away, and while the general consensus from political pundits, 52 weeks out from the election, is that, given the economic plight of the nation, the Democratic administration is surely in jeopardy. But I’d argue it… Read full post »

I’m a social person. I do this well. I learned at the hip of my mother, who looked like a model and acted like benevolent royalty. She was engaging and inclusive. The woman could start a party in a line at the bank. She showed me the power… Read full post »

 

I remember talking to a friend in graduate school about a project I’d been working on outside the confines of our MFA program. It was a story about a charismatic kid from Queens, with the nickname of Domino, who gave up on the idea of being… Read full post »

I was born middle class. My father was a music teacher who drove a Greyhound bus in the summer. As a housewife, my mother worked toward her Bachelor’s degree and also became a teacher. I wore hand-me-down clothes and had/…

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Our Italian Year – September… Read full post »

I recently wrote about the Bruce Springsteen album Born to Run. It was the death of Clarence Clemons that inspired me to reflect on all the specific memories brought about by that iconic cover. Thinking about the photo of Clarence and Bruce on Born to Run, and all… Read full post »

Obama’s Speech Won’t Matter Because He’s ‘Black’

Lamb Chops, Jezebel, and Kate Chopin

Going Out to Eat Has Nothing to Do With the Food

500 Thursdays

For Andrew Cotto’s daughter, every Thursday is a special day.

My daughter was born on a Thursday.… Read full post »

Upon hearing that our second child would be a boy, I walked out of the doctor’s office, crossed 8th Avenue, and stepped into a Mexican restaurant to drink something with tequila in it.

Then I drank another.

My wife would have joined in the drinking, but she was far… Read full post »

I have a friend. He’s a brilliant writer. He’s into clothes and music and food. He probably spends too much time on Gawker. He’s kind and supportive and a little snarky at times, too. He’s also gay. His partner is a slightly-older scientist of some kind. They’ve been… Read full post »