by Stephen Maouyo | March 18, 2010
(+1)There are definitely certain situations in which it is appropriate to read “The Catcher in the Rye.” Generally these fall into the following categories: if you are between the ages of 13 and 18 and (1) have been assigned it in school, (2) have been discouraged from reading it by a parent, teacher, or school [...](read more...)
by Patricia Ball | March 15, 2010 (+2)I first read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” in the novel’s original Spanish. Marquez’s rhetoric transported me into a world that I didn’t suspect I would ever again inhabit—a world in which pleasure is glorified and sought, where women have the temperament of a bull and the heart of a dove, in [...](read more...)
by Stephen Maouyo | March 5, 2010
(No Ratings Yet)I am so happy that this week is over. Rarely would I refer to myself as ecstatic, but I’m there. And I’m banking on the fact that you’re pretty happy too. Even if your week wasn’t hellishly filled with exams and essays and academic whatnot, it’s still finally spring break. Hallelujah. Now every year, I consider [...](read more...)
by Patricia Ball | March 5, 2010 (+1)“I Was a Teenage Illiterate,” is the title of the New York Times article by Cathleen Shine my father emailed me earlier this week. “Seriously, Dad?” was my initial reaction as I opened the email. I am aware that no person who has yet to read the “insuperable masterpieces” of Joyce’s “Ulysses” and Tolstoy’s “War and [...](read more...)
by Patricia Ball | February 19, 2010 (No Ratings Yet)Yesterday I was officially initiated into the society of the Baker Street Irregulars. It wasn’t actually an official induction—I would probably have to be in London for that to occur, not to mention, be a little bit more informed in their field of expertise—but I considered my professor’s proclamation that I belonged with this esteemed [...](read more...)
by Patricia Ball | February 12, 2010 (+7)You know how there’s always this one person or event, or this one incident that once you’ve encountered, you are never able to liberate yourself from? This thing, person, or exploit haunts you in your sleep and looks over your shoulder when you’re trying to accomplish something great. It clouds all your successive achievements and [...](read more...)
by Stephen Maouyo | February 10, 2010 (+1)To Whom It May Concern (yes, you, tragically cool, intolerably fashionable, higher-educated young adult): vintage is in. But of course you knew that. Everyone knew that. Which is probably why broken-in jeans cost hundreds of dollars, why throwback looks are ooh-ed and ah-ed over, why people are claiming vinyl sounds better (it can, but often [...](read more...)
by Patricia Ball | February 7, 2010 (+1)On a recent episode of the popular television show “How I Met Your Mother,” the protagonist, Ted Mosby, laments on the perils of the dating life. He says, “When you date someone, it’s like you’re taking one long course in who that person is, and then when you break up, all that stuff becomes useless. [...](read more...)
by Stephen Maouyo | February 2, 2010 (+4)You might have noticed that this week is “Doppelgänger Week” on Facebook. And if you didn’t know, then either some of your friends have incredibly similar looking celebrity twins or none of your friends are choosing to participate. I fall into the latter category, as I couldn’t find anyone between Carl Weathers, Don King, and [...](read more...)
by Patricia Ball | January 29, 2010 (+9)My life is boring. There is no other way to spin it. I almost never go to bed after 10PM and I like to wake up at 6AM to watch the news on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC. Sounds exciting. Right? I eat scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast, bundle myself up in the puffiest articles [...](read more...)
