Articles

Norman Lear, who brought social commentary to the sitcom, dies at 101
An article in The Washington Post
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With devastating quips, Dame Edna foretold a vacuous era of fame
An article in The Washington Post
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as ‘succession’ ends, let’s unlock its literary meanings
An article in The Washington Post
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Conservatives don’t get liberal America. Where is their ‘Hillbilly Elegy’?
An article in The Washington Post
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How Gay Were America's Presidents? A Ranking
An article in Advocate
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What did Lincoln see in Mary Todd? Maybe that’s the wrong question
An article in The Washington Post
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So What If Lincoln Was Gay?
An article in The Paris Review
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Personal Best: A Paper Trail
"Why don’t you throw it out?” my 14-year-old asks. “Or digitize it or something?”
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Downton Abbey: The Exhibition 
Homesick for Downton Abbey? Here's a Way to Go Back There 
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Picture Imperfect 
An aging novelist contemplates the face he presents to the world 
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Obituary for William Shakespeare 
William Shakespeare, Playwright and Poet, Is Dead at 52 
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Chesapeake 
A short story from Louis Bayard 
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Obituary for Elmore Leonard 
Elmore Leonard dies: 'Get Shorty' author was 87 
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Mom, Meet Dad. He Promises He's Not Going To Break The Kids. 
Another day, another New York Times feature—and another plunge into unexamined biases. 
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A Tiger Mom Shares Her Secrets 
A lot of other tigers ask me: Why do South Chinese tigers raise such successful cubs? 
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Can James Franco write? Yes, but ...
The actor's new collection, "Palo Alto," shows promise—and an undeveloped obsession with youth and violence
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Miss Universe and the death of the beauty pageant
Even as a gay man, I couldn't find joy or fun in last night's monument to wax figurines and Donald Trump.
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Having kids made me a movie wuss
I always thought I'd be a rational father. But seeing a child in danger drives me over the edge.
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My antidepressant gets harder to swallow
As studies shed doubt on certain psychiatric drugs, I wonder: Do I really need my little white pill?
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The best "Christmas Carol" ever
Forget Patrick Stewart, Alastair Sim and (please!) Jim Carrey. Nobody gets Dickens like George C. Scott.
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John Edwards' scorned confidant spills
"20/20" turns ex-aide Andrew Young's confessional into a hoary Victorian melodrama with a sex-tape finale.
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Radio Show
National Endowment of the Arts show on Edgar Allan Poe.
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Crying foul on Martina Navratilova
The tennis star's legal woes remind us that even gay icons have some growing up to do about same-sex marriage.
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Gay marriage, so what?
Maybe I should be more grateful, but the California Supreme Court hasn't told me anything I don't already know.
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Attention, all you memoir fabulists!
In light of recent scandals, we will now require arrest records and stool samples from all autobiographers. And can someone fact-check the Gospels?
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What Mary Cheney should expect while she's expecting
Forget morning sickness and weight gain and get ready for nine months of right-wing hand-wringing and embarrassed silence.
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Open the closets on Capitol Hill
Silence about gay politicians is a relic of an era when gayness meant secrecy and shame. It's a disservice to gay people, to voters, and to the politicians themselves.
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Who is Louis Bayard?
I won on "Jeopardy." I lost on "Jeopardy." For consolation, I turned to the tart insights of 74-game champion and master-geek Ken Jennings.
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Come again!
Our inn had a guest book that should have been rated X.
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