David Gutowski, the writer and editor of Largehearted Boy, annually compiles a list of all of the lists of the best books of the year. As of this writing, Gutowski's list of lists includes 60 lists starting with the letter "A." Assuming the same number of lists start...

How can we expect Congress to solve a problem if it can't even describe the problem with an accurate metaphor?

That is the question I've been asking myself these last few days.

I'm talking, of course, about the fiscal cliff. You know, the steep drop-off we are rapidly approaching,...

This week at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery you can experience some of the coolest modern and ancient Chinese art you are likely to see for a long time.

On Friday at 3 p.m., to the north of the gallery on the National Mall, in what promises to...

All week, Mitt Romney and the Republican Party sought to convince us that Romney is a wise decision-maker and a good manager, and that Paul Ryan is someone we can trust.

But two unlikely events in the past week revealed the truths behind the Romney campaign's carefully constructed narrative.

The...

From the New York Times we learn that, in an interview to be broadcast Monday by ABC news, Dick Cheney says that Sarah Palin was not qualified to run for Vice President in 2008, and that John McCain's nomination of her was "a mistake."

Woah, stop the film!...

The stories in Tania James's new collection Aerogrammes are about characters longing to cross impassable divides.

There are Gama and Imam, for example, two Punjabi wrestlers in London in search of challengers and a shot at the world championship. "NO ONE BARRED!! ALL CHAMPIONS CORDIALLY INVITED!!" their...

I'm a big fan of Etgar Keret, and I missed his reading last year at the 6th and I Street Synagogue, so when I see he's going to do a reading at the Jewish Community Center, I ask a friend if she wants to go.

And she says, Who?...

The Mike Daisey Rehabilitation Tour came to Washington's Woolly Mammoth Theater on Tuesday, in the form of an audience Q and A at Woolly's Melton Rehearsal Hall led by the theater's Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz and its Managing Director Jeff Herrmann.

The evening also featured a repentant Mike Daisey,...

As we waited on Monday night to order beers at the Club Iota bar, I asked my friend Kendall Jackson, the singer, songwriter, and guitarist for the Highballers, to explain the D.C. rockabilly band's recent run of success.

"It's Tara," he...

In the year 2012
The much assailed electorate
Decided that it wanted
A charlatan for president.

Grown weary and suspicious of
The man who dreamed and dared,
It threw its weight instead behind
A man of craven cares.

A man who studied...

Welcome to the second entry in my series of posts on the best books from 2011 (or 2010) from local(ish) authors, some of whom are friends of mine. Read the first entry here.

I Was the Jukebox
Poems by Sandra Beasley
2010 by Norton / 2011...

Shortly after I finished Leaving the Atocha Station, Ben Lerner's brilliant novel about the promise and the impossibility of salvation in the experience of art, and one of the best books I've read in years, the Sunday New York Times Book Review arrived, with its annual list of the Top...

Everyone, it seems, has a Christopher Hitchens story.

And why shouldn't they? The iconic journalist was outspoken, recognizable, and he traveled everywhere. He was the kind of person you remembered, like a literary character brought to life, refined but vaguely disheveled, perpetually slumped and tired. He often seemed slightly...

CNN Anchor Gloria Borger: And now we go live to Tahrir Square, where our correspondent Sean Carman is standing by. Sean, what's the mood down there?

Sean: Utter jubilation.

Gloria: It looks like quite a party down there.

Sean: Gloria, it's the biggest party I've ever seen. Fireworks. Dancing. Muslims...

Great. You have to give a speech. In public. Surely this is one of the most distasteful obligations of public service?

Still, you don't have any choice. There's apparently a crisis going on, and your vice president, the new one, who you installed last week (praise be to Allah,...

The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It is late January/early February 2011. President Obama is holding a briefing with his National Security Team.

The President: OK, what's the situation?

The Secretary of State: Well, the peaceful citizens of Egypt are gathered in Tahrir Square, singing songs and chanting slogans for...

They came from Baltimore, Chapel Hill, and San Francisco. From Seattle, Laramie, and Western Pennsylvania.

They traveled on the Bolt and Mega Bus from New York, which both cost $20 and have free wi-fi. But they also came on busses chartered by media tycoons. Those busses were free and, as...

This week, NPR fired Juan Williams for saying that airline passengers in "Muslim garb" make him nervous.

There has been a lot of talk about what NPR should have done in response to Williams' comments. I've been wondering what would have happened if, instead of firing Williams, NPR had invited...

I failed to attend Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" gathering at the Lincoln Memorial this weekend.

I thought about going. I mean, America's honor has been stolen. By "Them." That's pretty serious. Someone should do something.

Frankly, I can't believe They would do such a thing. Who do They think They...

Guard #1: Hey Joe.

Guard #2: Yeah?

Guard #1: Isn't this the box where we keep America's honor?

Guard #2: I think so.

Guard #1: Well it's gone.

Guard #2 (coming over): It's what?

Guard #1: It's not here.

Guard #2 (shining flashlight): Holy [expletive deleted].

Guard #1: First America's...