http://www.tylerzander.com/wordpress I go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way - Augie March Thu, 16 Feb 2006 18:59:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Expect the posts on this blog over the course of the next nine to ten months (and perhaps thereafter) to be sparse and intermittent. My new job, working for the illustrious AmeriCorps, has me out in the wilderness of the Grand Canyon State, far away from the internet, for ... http://www.tylerzander.com/wordpress/?p=373 Considering Don DeLillo’s apparent premonitory powers - as evidenced in the gas spill in White Noise that presaged the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal or the eerie front cover, featuring the WTC twin towers, of Underworld - perhaps it’s unremarkable that he painted a fairly accurate allegoric portrait of the ... http://www.tylerzander.com/wordpress/?p=372 On this day in which the President delivers his State of the Union address, and with apologies to the departed Saul Bellow, I hereby submit this open letter to Mr. John Forbes Kerry, a brief note in which I am all too flattering of him, really. After all, Moses ... http://www.tylerzander.com/wordpress/?p=371 “Rock and roll has a right to exist but only if it is melodious, meaningful, and well-performed.” Pravda, October 1986 Reprinted in Tony Judt’s Postwar, Page 602 http://www.tylerzander.com/wordpress/?p=370 This made me laugh out loud in a public place, thus fulfilling a sufficient condition necessary for me to reprint it on this estimable and reputable blog. NPR has also pumped its cred up a couple notches by gaining a new sponsor for “All Songs Considered”: none other than “Hipster Handbook”-approved ... http://www.tylerzander.com/wordpress/?p=369 One thing that seems remarkable to me is the extent to which the President can shepherd his herd-animal followers in being outraged about specific issues and completely blithe about others. For example, plenty of Americans pay lip-service to the blows this country’s military has struck in the cause of ... http://www.tylerzander.com/wordpress/?p=368 Ed Harriman has a sobering look at the reconstruction of Iraq in the most recent issue of the LRB. Money has been spent, but an untoward amount has been lining the pockets of CPA officials, Iyad Allawi’s apparently thoroughly corrupt American-backed interim government, and our reliable friends, the transnational ... http://www.tylerzander.com/wordpress/?p=367 Travelling 1900 miles by bus in the U.S. is guaranteed to turn up some interesting stories and characters along that seemingly interminable journey, which in my particular case started in Bismarck, North Dakota and terminated in Flagstaff, Arizona. Thankfully, for most of the journey, I had two seats to ... http://www.tylerzander.com/wordpress/?p=366 One would think that, in order to suggest to a population that bicycling is indeed a viable alternative to driving automobiles anywhere and everywhere, widening streets about eight feet or so to add two bicycle lanes for cyclists traveling in opposite directions is a marvelous idea. This way there ... http://www.tylerzander.com/wordpress/?p=365 Well, this whole thing was an unmitigated disaster, you might say, yet even those need closure, at least the according to the way I see things. At the same time, I don’t care much for living in the past, so I’ll be snappily brief with my remarks on each ... http://www.tylerzander.com/wordpress/?p=348