He is arguably the person most responsible for the end of the cold war. He was the last man to preside over the Soviet Union, helped end the political supremacy of the Communist Party, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But if your knowledge of the Eastern Bloc consists…
It may not have mint juleps and gaudy hats, but this year’s $150,000 Greyhound World Classic — billed as “The Kentucky Derby of Dog Racing” — featured two dogs that had owners, trainers, and industry players buzzing like touts at Churchill Downs. At the Mardi Gras Casino in Hallandale Beach,…
Kacey was blue. Not because someone had just awakened him. Not because it was 4 in the afternoon, and he was naked and confused. No, he was literally the color blue. His friends had drawn on his entire body with a blue Sharpie. A 21-year-old student at the University of…
Grass doesn’t get any greener than on major-league baseball’s spring training fields. It’s the annual dawn of each season, when vivacious young hopefuls play catch with millionaire all-stars. That was the scene on a February morning at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, spring training home of the St. Louis Cardinals…
If you’re watching a football game and start complaining about one of the referee’s calls and the petite woman sitting at the bar next to you says you’re wrong, simmer down. If she’s Erin Meehan, you probably are wrong. When it comes to the finer details of football — say,…
He came into the bookstore huffing loudly into his cellphone, ignoring turned heads and annoyed glares. His voice shot across the room, a harsh, grating sound, like broken glass in a blender. It jolted our hero as he thumbed through a Cormac McCarthy novel about soulless, murderous heathens. “Oh, that…
This is a story about failure. It’s about a particular kind of failure — an American kind. It’s about the failure of art measured in dollars and the failure it constitutes if there’s no place in the market for art that can’t sit neatly on a gallery wall. It’s about…
A few times a year, for eight consecutive weeks, Sean Cononie teaches a first-responder and emergency medical treatment class. The students learn CPR and what to do if someone has a seizure or goes into cardiac arrest. They learn basic ambulance training, like how to operate an automated external defibrillator…
A mother and her adult son wade through the furniture store in Fort Lauderdale, a line of rainwater marking their path. They test every other sofa until the son settles on a mocha leather number with square arms. It’s for her son’s first apartment, the mother tells the salesman. Bobby…
