In my two previous posts, I began to explain my choices for the Facebook book challenge I completed May 16 (seven covers over seven days, no explanations), addressing my interest in crime, both fictional and real. I now turn away from crime (fictional and otherwise) and toward something far more sinister and horrifying. Politics. ********** … Continue reading Why I chose…Dynamics of the Party System
Category: My life
Why I chose…Murder, Inc.
In my last post, I described the Facebook seven-day book challenge I completed May 16 (seven covers over seven days, no explanations). Freed from the challenge rules governing, however, I now explain my choices. In this post, I explore my fascination with true crime by discussing… Fictional crime has fascinated me since I was seven … Continue reading Why I chose…Murder, Inc.
Why I chose…The Big Knockover
I am not generally a fan of Facebook “challenges.” Nonetheless, when my friend Rebecca nominated me for the seven-day book challenge, I accepted. The rules were simple: on each of seven consecutive days, post a book cover, with no explanations, while also nominating another person for the challenge. On May 16, 2018, I completed the … Continue reading Why I chose…The Big Knockover
Two worlds collided…
(with apologies to INXS). One of the unanticipated pleasures of writing my book is that I get to spend hours reading old newspapers. This is an amateur historian’s idea of heaven. Last August, I introduced a key character in my book: a powerful Philadelphia attorney named Herman M. Modell. Modell, who knew my father and … Continue reading Two worlds collided…
Questions of identity
Since my previous post (March 31), I have been singularly focused (perhaps even obsessed) with on-line detective work: constructing family trees for my genetic family. As I explained last July, I was adopted in utero; my “legal” parents, David Louis and Elaine Berger, brought me home to Havertown, PA when I was four days old. … Continue reading Questions of identity
A Musical Mosaic
When I enrolled at Yale in the fall of 1984, I was undecided between majoring in political science or mathematics. A less-than-stellar experience in Math 230—required for freshman mathematics major—quickly decided me: political science, it would be. Luckily, two courses I took sophomore year taught by Professor Edward Tufte—Data Analysis for Politics and Policy and … Continue reading A Musical Mosaic
The Smithereens: Film Noir where you least expect it
I have previously described how I manipulate mix tape/CD/iTunes playlist data to generate lists of favorite tracks (a term I prefer to “songs”), albums and artists, organized by year, musical “genre,” etc. Being a meticulous (obsessive, even) organizer of data, no sooner had I started using my current version of iTunes in January 2013 (when … Continue reading The Smithereens: Film Noir where you least expect it
NOIR CITY 16: A photographic epilogue
In this follow-up to the chronicling of my recent trip to NOIR CITY 16 in San Francisco, I take considerable artistic license with photographs of San Francisco. To read the entire series, please start here (or with this related, more analytic post). It is an open question whether I would have grown so inordinately fond of … Continue reading NOIR CITY 16: A photographic epilogue
NOIR CITY 16: An unexpectedly Super ending!
This is the ninth—and last—in a series of posts chronicling my recent trip to NOIR CITY 16 in San Francisco. I base these posts on 102 pages of notes in my little black Moleskine notebook, 254 photographs and my memory (supplemented as necessary). In this post, the festival ends in a Super way, and I … Continue reading NOIR CITY 16: An unexpectedly Super ending!
NOIR CITY 16: Listen…to…the…sounds…
This is the eighth in a series of posts chronicling my recent trip to NOIR CITY 16 in San Francisco. I base these posts on 102 pages of notes in my little black Moleskine notebook, 254 photographs and my memory (supplemented as necessary). In this post, I listen. A lot. You may read the first … Continue reading NOIR CITY 16: Listen…to…the…sounds…
Just Bear With Me... 