When I inform people that I have amputated that latest evolution in appendages -- i.e. that I do not lug around that which is commonly referred to as 'cellphone' or, in newspeak, 'smartphone,' and that by default my device is turned off and cached in a closet -- the response...

"There'll never be a bar on this block," Jeremy Spector, the chef/owner of the Brindle Room, assured me shortly after I moved into my new apartment, "you can't legally open one too close to the churches and the block association would fight against it tooth and nail even if you...

A year ago I wrote about my shady derivatives dealings during my time at Citigroup -- first in "Legerdemath," for the Boston Review, and then in "How to Deceive a Client Without Really Trying," for The Huffington Post. The corporate-derivatives team I described working in dealt...

Co-written with Casey Michael Henry

There are recognizable rituals to the post-burial coalescence of an author's legacy: the heartfelt memorial, the vaguely similar-to-visage-seeming New Yorker cartoon, the earnest and inspiring discussions of author and work by those who knew him well (and those who didn't), his familiar words...

A pretentious open letter, full of generalizations and exaggerations, to current and recent high school and college students:

The following is not a lecture, though it might seem to be. Nor is it an attempt to push my views of the world, though the medium sends that message. Nor is...

Ever since I converted to atheism, I have wondered what it means to be a Jew. Was I even Jewish anymore -- the 'ish' appending my classification suddenly appearing more appropriate? Such were my musings at thirteen, the only immediate change in my life a cessation of special prayers before...

Over the past few weeks I have followed, with something oscillating between frustrated interest and frustrated apathy, what now passes for political theater. Or, I should say, budget-minded theater, for never has a topic of debate so fitted its mode.

What bothers me most is not that the show contains...

In my first article, "Legerdemath: Tricks of the Banking Trade," I made brief mention of Treasury-rate locks:

"Most brazenly, we taught clients phony math that involved settling Treasury-rate locks by referencing Treasury yields rather than prices."

A number of readers expressed doubt that using a settlement method based...

Perhaps, over the past couple of weeks, you watched the movie version of The Lincoln Lawyer. And perhaps, as a result, you are thinking of reading the book. I can imagine such thinking taking place immediately after the purchase of a plane ticket.

To give you an idea of what...

Originally published by Boston Review

In the spring of 2000, I began a three-year stint on Citigroup's corporate-derivatives team. I was just months past my twentieth birthday, with no work experience to speak of, in a world beyond my imagination. As my boss summed me...