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The Middle Distance 1/18/13: The Only Possible Grace

On January 17, 2013 By

The Middle Distance 1.18.13: The Only Possible Grace
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My friend Cate said she squirmed through the first half of Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen’s comedy film The Guilt Trip, seeing a bit too much of herself in Streisand’s character, Joyce, an unrelentingly overbearing Jewish […]

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The Middle Distance 1/11/13: All The Light We Used to Have

On January 11, 2013 By

The Middle Distance 1.11.13: All The Light We Used to Have
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Nearly every wall of my mother’s house is lined with tables, bookcases, or a chest with drawers. And every time I come for a stay, I go through all of those drawers, one at a […]

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Blue Nights

The Middle Distance 1/4/13: Blue Nights

On January 4, 2013 By

The Middle Distance 1.4.13: Blue Nights
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Here is an African proverb that showed up in my email inbox on December 31: “Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty […]

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The Middle Distance, 12/21/12: Reweaving the Social Fabric

On December 21, 2012 By

The Middle Distance 12.21.12: Reweaving the Social Fabric
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This week’s mini-blizzard provided respite I’d been hoping for — no appointments, too cold to even think of going outside voluntarily, and streets packed with snow. I stayed in with the dogs, reading and cleaning and […]

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monarch butterfly migration 14

The Middle Distance 12/14/12: In A Fractured World

On December 14, 2012 By


The Middle Distance 12/14/12
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Last night on a downtown street, someone busted out the front passenger window of my car to dig around inside it. Whoever it was — a passerby who, conveniently, had a brick or a big rock in his hand […]

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This photograph was taken by the author via the technology of an iPhone.

The Middle Distance 12/7/12: The Image Becomes a Phantom

On December 7, 2012 By

The Middle Distance 12.7.12: The Image Becomes a Phantom
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In her treatise on photography, Susan Sontag said, “Today everything exists to end in a photograph.” Witness any public event in the 21st century, crowd members’ arms extended outward with smartphones pointed in every direction and understand […]

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"Unknown Woman" by Alvaro Cardona-Hine, 1993

The Middle Distance 11/30/12: Unknown Woman

On November 30, 2012 By

The Middle Distance 11.30.12: Unknown Woman
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She resides in a painting — a simple stretched canvas, unframed — emerging from a slate blue background, her hair and dress the same silver-gray. Her breasts sag low, as if from the natural weight of years.

She hung in […]

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Tobacco Farm

The Middle Distance, 11/16/12: The Scent of Smoke

On November 15, 2012 By

The Middle Distance 11.16.12: The Scent of Smoke
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It is nearly Thanksgiving and in the early mornings my turn-of-the-20th century neighborhood smells like wood smoke. Nights are cold, the neighbors cranking up their fireplaces and wood stoves. A deadly summer wildfire season has put […]

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The Middle Distance, 11/9/12: “Honey, It’s Jest Foo-ood”

On November 9, 2012 By

The Middle Distance 11.9.12: “Honey, It’s Jest Foo-ood”
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In a parallel life, I think I might have been a cafeteria lady, baking industrial sized trays of yeast rolls every morning in a stainless steel kitchen, ladeling out clouds of mashed potatoes and smothering them […]

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Gowanus Rainbow

The Middle Distance, 11/2/12: On The Worrying End

On November 1, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn wonders where to best place her worry during the Frankenstorm.

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henriksen-chalkboard-510x338

The Middle Distance 10/26/12: Doin’ the Math

On October 26, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn embraces the obsessive mathematics of aging.

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The Denver City Battery with their Gatling Guns, December 1896. Photographer unknown. Courtesy of Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District. Image Number: 257-7892.

The Middle Distance, 10/19/12: The Things We Don’t Want to Talk About

On October 18, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn tugs at the long tail of gun violence and its current literature.

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“At Prayer? by Myron Wood, November 1965. Copyright Pikes Peak Library District, courtesy of Special Collections. Image Number: 002-5960.

The Middle Distance, 10/12/12: The Struggle for Faith

On October 12, 2012 By

In this week’s Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn ruminates on the struggle for faith.

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Nasturtiums

The Middle Distance, 10/5/12: October Light

On October 5, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn gathers seeds from her garden and remembers the autumn of her twins’ birth.

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DanChile

The Middle Distance, 9/28/12: A Hand for Farmer Dan

On September 28, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn celebrates locavore and farmer Dan Hobbs on the occasion of his Palmer Land Trust Conservation Award.

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"Halloween Celebrants" by Stan Payne, October 30, 1953. Courtesy of Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District. Image Number: 004-10648.

The Middle Distance, 9/21/12: The Season of Disappearing

On September 21, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn sees her late sister through the eyes of a ghost costume.

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[Unidentified School], date and photographer unknown. Courtesy of Special Collections, Pikes Peak Library District. Image Number: 001-2429.

The Middle Distance, 9/14/12: Back to School

On September 14, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn walks back into her second grade classroom.

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Civil Rights image

The Middle Distance, 9/7/12: Embarrassing to Remember

On September 7, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn unearths a moment in civil rights history that happened right under her nose.

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The Middle Distance 8/31/12: Toy Camera

On August 31, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn looks through the blurry lens of a toy camera into the past.

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phyllis-diller

The Middle Distance, 8/24/12: May You Always Be

On August 23, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn stares into the eyes of a toothless flasher in a dirty raincoat.

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Children playing jump rope in the Children's Folklore Area at the 1985 Florida Folk Festival - White Springs, Florida, State Archives of Florida, Floriday Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/110365.

The Middle Distance 8/17/12: Barefooter

On August 17, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn spreads her toes across years of shoeless memories.

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moonrise-kingdom2

The Middle Distance 8.10.12: Memory of a Fantasy

On August 10, 2012 By

In this week’s episode of The Middle Distance, Kathryn Eastburn ties two summer films together with the unlikely string of far-fetched fantasy.

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Cybill Shepherd Miss Teenage Memphis

The Middle Distance 8/3/12: What Was I Thinking

On August 3, 2012 By


(Cybil Shepherd, center, after winning the Miss Teenage Mephmis Pageant in 1966)

The Middle Distance 8.5.11: What Was I Thinking?
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What was I thinking? I was 15 years old and had moved with my family from the small town of Jackson to the […]

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News

AP
Marlins Pitcher José Fernández Dies In Boating Accident
September 25, 2016 | NPR · The young ace was Major League Baseball’s Rookie of the Year in 2013. When he died, he had the second most strike-outs of any pitcher in the National League.
 

Getty Images for The Buoniconti Fund
Lester Holt’s Moment
September 25, 2016 | NPR · For NBC’s Lester Holt, who took the anchor chair after Brian Williams was caught exaggerating, Monday’s presidential debate has big stakes and bigger risks.
 

Who Hollywood Turns To When Untying The Knot
September 25, 2016 | NPR · When it’s time to divorce, Hollywood celebs (like a certain Brad and Angelina) turn to the queen of breakup litigation, Laura Wasser. NPR’s Rachel Martin speaks with Vanity Fair’s Julie Miller.
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Arts & Life

Depicting Sexual Predators As Villains In Fiction Is Tricky
September 25, 2016 | NPR · Humbert Humbert, the main character in Lolita, is one of the most famous “sympathetic” villains in history. Today, a story from the point of view of a sexual predator might not get told in literature.
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Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
‘Working’ Then And Now: Studs Terkel’s Book Interviews Resurface As Audio
September 25, 2016 | NPR · All this week on NPR, you’ll hear the voices of people Studs Terkel interviewed in his book, Working. Among the interviews you’ll hear this week are a telephone operator and hotel piano player.
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Lose Yourself In The Twisting, Turning Alleys Of ‘Crooked Kingdom’
September 25, 2016 | NPR · Leigh Bardugo’s followup to her steampunky heist tale Six of Crows follows teenage criminal mastermind Kaz and his ragged crew as they take revenge for a betrayal and deal with a dangerous drug.
 

Music

NPR
The Gospel Of The R&B Singer: Anthony Hamilton’s Journey Home
September 25, 2016 | NPR · This summer, Hamilton met NPR Music in his hometown of Charlotte, N.C. for a tour of some of the places — from his boyhood church to the barbershop where he cut hair — that shaped his voice.
 

Courtesy of the artist
Y La Bamba’s Luz Elena Mendoza On Valuing One’s Voice
September 25, 2016 | NPR · Mendoza says she’s often felt caught between cultures. But she’s learned to embrace multiple identities simultaneously — and it shows in her music.
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Courtesy of the artist
Buckwheat Zydeco’s Stanley ‘Buckwheat’ Dural Jr. Dies At 68
September 24, 2016 | NPR · The international ambassador for Louisiana roots music died early Saturday morning of lung cancer.
Windows Media
 

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