From the category archives:

Woolgathering

Middle-aged guys with shoulder-length hair

by Philip Weiss on April 28, 2009 · 5 comments

is a category that includes rock stars–
Keith Richard, Gene Simmons–
but also independent intellectuals:
Leon Wieseltier
Thane Rosenbaum
David Rieff  (formerly)
John Prendergast.
Why, oracle?

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A Chomsky dream

by Philip Weiss on April 3, 2009 · 7 comments

In my dream last night I was interviewing Chomsky at his place. Chomsky's full name is Avram Noam Chomsky, and I asked him, "What's with the Avram? Why did you lose it?" And he got angry at me. He said, "You asked me this before and I answered you."

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The man from the planet Mambo

by Philip Weiss21 February 2009

I fear that I’m losing my ability to socialize. I’ve never been a very good socializer, but now in my 50s I’ve become more impatient in social situations, and as the conversation wanders here and there superficially, my mind disappears…

18 comments

My entitlement issues

by Philip Weiss24 January 2009

My experience of the journey of self-knowledge is that every time you turn the corner, there’s a new issue. That is, if you’re conscious and engaged in that process; and not everyone is. The poet Robert Bly once said (at…

19 comments

Between Father and Son: The Shaving Covenant

by Philip Weiss30 November 2008

My father just turned 83. At Thanksgiving the other night we went round the table giving thanks and he said he would wait for everyone else to say thanks before he said his. By the time we finished people had…

17 comments

Pia’s ‘As You Like It’ Hummus

by Philip Weiss23 October 2008

I put out a request for the hummus recipe at Anna Baltzer’s talk the other night in Kingston, N.Y. Here it is, from the maker, Pia: I’m glad you liked my hummus and I’m glad to send you the recipe….

5 comments

Dinner Guests Impart Russian Wisdom to My Wife

by Philip Weiss22 October 2008

On Saturday night I had a new friend to dinner, a Russian Jew who lives in the city who I met a few months ago thru this blog. He grew up in Siberia, spent a year or two in St….

17 comments

Could Spitzer Have Done More than Paterson to Avert the Financial Meltdown?

by Philip Weiss21 October 2008

I liked Eliot Spitzer. He’s real smart, he knows Wall Street, he went after some parts of Wall Street. I like David Paterson but I’ve never been that impressed by his intelligence. Innocent questions: Could Spitzer, who was brought down…

18 comments

In Defense of Stephen King Reading During Playoff Game

by Philip Weiss15 October 2008

On TBS last night a camera caught novelist Stephen King, in his first-row Fenway box, reading a book during the Rays’ slaughter of the Red Sox in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. I found his behavior emulable….

3 comments

The Sudden Socialism of the Servant Class

by Philip Weiss14 October 2008

This morning I did one of the most servile things I’ve ever done. A friend had left her daughter’s homework in her country house over the weekend. Daughter needed it. Instead of all the productive activities I could be doing…

18 comments

I Have a Dream About Dual Loyalty

by Philip Weiss10 October 2008

I had a dream last night about a guy I’ll call David, who is a lawyer in a New York firm with a strong Jewish character. He’s a Zionist, and does some pro-Israel work, on the side. In the dream…

9 comments

Masturbation and Porn

by Philip Weiss28 September 2008

I keep meaning to do this post and have finally found a rainy day. A month back I saw an old friend, my age, 53,who looked great, young. I said, How do you do it? His family was there and…

22 comments

Be a Mama’s Boy and Get Ahead

by Philip Weiss7 September 2008

McCain is a mama’s boy. His mother, the astonishing 96-year-old Roberta, said that was the secret in the video about him they played at the convention. His father seems to have dropped out of the picture a long time ago….

9 comments

The Pavilions of Alan Dershowitz

by Philip Weiss24 August 2008

I’ve been on Cape Cod for the last few days and had a few more observations about elite east coast culture. The impression I had earlier this summer of cohesion of Jews and gentiles in the ruling class is just…

27 comments

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