“Our grapes are trucked in from California–so you know you’re getting California-quality wines.” ” If I were you I’d change up the narrative a bit. Tell people the wheat’s tended by scantily-clad teenaged virgins. Yeah…. Naked virgins.” “Who benefits?” Three lines that stuck to my brain pan the last few days. Where they all lead is … Continued
I’m headed back to the island tomorrow, and a concurrent return to regularly scheduled programming. But here’s a brief recap of what’s been an exhilarating, exhausting, and pretty much thoroughly awesome detour. In the last ten days I have visited the world’s most disorganized McDonald’s, sung Marine Girls songs through a Poconos traffic jam, and … Continued
I was interviewed for this article about the (apparent) boom in home pickling and canning last month; it just came out today. I would like to state for the record that I by no means consider myself a master of the pickling arts, wild, tame, or otherwise (that would be Vera). But I do love … Continued
I’m going to be on the road for the next few days–stay tuned for reports from Culture Shock 2008.
The season is ON. Downtown–aka the Mann’s Store parking lot–is jammed with Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota license plates. There’s an all-island potluck at the Red Barn park this afternoon, followed by a parade, which steps off from the Legion Hall at 7:45, and fireworks at the ball field after dark.* Tomorrow night the Island Players’ … Continued
Deanna Isaacs at the Reader has more on Oobleck’s 11th-hour off-Broadway debut. Which allows me to indulge in just a hair of schadenfreude. As she points out, neither of the first-string critics from the Trib or Sun-Times managed to make it to the show in any of its iterations over the last 15 months. If … Continued
“So there was this guy come up here years ago, all the way from Columbia University. A sociologist. He wanted to write his thesis on tourism and how small towns deal with it—or something like that anyway. So he gets a house up here and starts hanging around the bars and talking to people. Starts … Continued