James Buchanan was a lousy president and probably loved another man. What does the museum at his home in Lancaster, PA, have to say?
The polite omissions of James Buchanan’s Wheatland tour
history
New Zealand, Savior of American Cinematic History
Ironically, the heedless way the world viewed silent movies was the very thing that allowed these copies to survive unnoticed at the end of the consumption chain.
The stupid symbolism of the new World Trade Center
The new World Trade Center’s symbolic height is wrongheaded, jingoistic, and ultimately embarrassing.
Boston Marriage in Old Atlanta: An iPhone rings a silent Bell
A forgotten poet was resurrected by AT&T, which normally can’t raise a signal much less the dead. But with a little smartphone gumshoeing, I had deciphered an enduring lesbionic relationship hidden in plain sight in the middle of Atlanta’s staunchest Rebel cemetery. It was like a gay Da Vinci Code!
Lovely luncheon by General Worth’s tomb
Near the northwest corner of Madison Square Park, in an concrete traffic triangle bordered by Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 25th Street, a squat obelisk is encircled by an iron fence. You’ll never believe what lies inside.
The Modern Minstrels
We don’t need minstrel shows or vaudeville now. We have YouTube. Are Sweet Brown and Antoine Dodson the newest version of the old minstrel show?
Hatch Show Print in Nashville: iconic style, letter by letter [WATCH]
You may not know the name Hatch Show Print, but you know the style. Its block letters are visually synonymous with Nashville and country music history. I was lucky enough to be invited behind the scenes, and my video shows just how damn cool it is.
Manzanar, where decent Americans were destroyed [WATCH]
The history of the United States could fairly viewed as a succession of excuses for not living up to its contractual obligations. All men were not created equal, according to the Declaration of Independence: Slaves were allowed. The Supreme Court said the Cherokees were a sovereign nation: The South took their land anyway. Every citizen… Read more »
The mass grave under Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park [WATCH]
I am tremendously excited about this video that I researched and hosted for AOL On’s “What Remains” series. It takes off from my popular blog post about the mass grave in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park. I think the broadcast-quality production these guys put together is phenomenal. The short version is explained in my post, linked… Read more »
Scenes from the dedication of the FDR memorial in New York City
In a way, the monument is as much to Louis Kahn as it is to FDR, as proven by how many times each of the speakers invoked both of their names. Former President Bill Clinton, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Tom Brokaw, Ambassador William vanden Huevel, Mayor Michel Bloomberg. All nodded to Louie. It’s odd: The son’s impetus to memorialize his architect father is what led us, even enabled us, to memorialize the president. From small questions rise large deeds.