Let’s start with the red lightning, but that’s just part of it. In Ben Fountain’s kinetic new novel “Rasputin Swims the Potomac,” published June 9, a president whose name is redacted has been approved by the Supreme Court to run for a third term. Then a “weeping sickness” sweeps the country, tanking a sputtering economy […]
Alison Osius
Posted inOpinion
Guest Opinion: The day my mother had a stroke and no one noticed
Sometimes I think the trouble started on Saturday, and sometimes, with yet more chagrin, earlier. I remember noticing on that day before Easter that my mother’s walking had deteriorated. She looked wobbly. But walking has increasingly been, due to neuropathy, hard for her. “Well,” I thought, “age may finally be catching up.” Last year we […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Your chance to see ‘This Is Spinal Tap’
Three musicians sit in a garden, faces solemn because they are being filmed and are explaining how their drummers keep mysteriously dying. One drummer expired in “a bizarre gardening accident,” and that’s all that is said. Of the subsequent drummer, as Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) says, with some delicacy, “The official explanation was, he choked […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
‘For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday’ mines playwright’s family history
Children at Crystal River Elementary School have been reading “Peter Pan,” the story first published as a play 122 years ago. They like the book (an abridged version), know all about Peter’s lost shadow, Tinkerbell, flying and the dog, Nana. Across town, and up the age spectrum, a team of veterans is acting in “For […]
Posted inEspañol
JC Food Truck y Crystal Theatre organizarán un concurso de silbidos
Trino Camacho nunca ha organizado un concurso de silbidos. Ni siquiera ha asistido a uno.“Es la primera vez”, dice. Su motivación es simple y a la vez significativa.“A la gente simplemente le gusta silbar”, dice desde su puesto en el JC Food Truck, estacionado junto a la autopista 133 en Carbondale. “Es universal. Todos pueden […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
JC Food Truck and Crystal Theatre to hold a whistling contest
Trino Camacho has never run a whistling contest before. He’s never even been to one. “First time,” he says. His motivation is both simple and resonant. “People just like to whistle,” he says from his perch in the JC Food Truck, parked off Highway 133 in Carbondale. “It’s universal. Everyone can whistle. You don’t have […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Puzzle and Pie Night: How fast can you go? Or how long can you last?
Headlamp, all charged up. Spatula. Baking sheet. Those in the throng arriving early to Sunday’s annual Puzzle and Pie Night clasped the items under their arms. None of which I’d used, despite duly bringing them, last year, but still I arrived thus armed for the fifth annual Puzzle and Pie Night at the Carbondale Recreation […]
Posted inNonprofits
The Buddy Program: Hitting marks and other fortunate events
Rafael, 11, tipped his head, stared at a spot on a massive elk target, its rack curving skyward, in a stand of trees. He drew his bow, intent, and released an arrow. Thwack. “That was a perfect shot,” Mike said. My husband, Mike Benge, and his friend Franz Froelicher were walking courses with Rafael Gonzalez, […]
Posted inColumns
In a world of streaming services, you still can’t beat the big screen
The Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia. Searing, shimmering heat. In “Lawrence of Arabia,” T.E. Lawrence (Peter O’Toole in his first major role) and Sharif Ali (world, meet Omar Sharif) lead their soldier band at night through the “Devil’s Anvil.” One man, exhausted, falls off his camel. I saw this film probably in the ‘80s, but still […]
Posted inOpinion
My little holiday miracle
Get a rental car, don’t get a rental car, yes, get one. Who will be in which car, who is picking up whom from trains or the nursing home, who can go to the store again? We were traveling to a relative’s house for Thanksgiving, in two cars packed with boxes and food, a wheelchair, […]