Month: November 2007

  • Hi, My Name Is Melinda Jacobs

    I have spent the last 15 years working as an entertainment reporter, radio personality, commercial voice-over talent. OK, so I have a hard time using the word "talent" to describe myself, but I am professionally trained in voice, and next time you hear a commercial remember that it’s not as easy as you think to…

  • A Man Goes on a Journey, a Stranger Appears in Town: There Are Only Two Stories in All the World

    Prentice had changed so much in twenty years. You could stop by the little local historical society at the County Fairgrounds and look at photographs of the way the town used to be, but pretty much every striking thing you would encounter on the walls there had been knocked down –the old courthouse with the…

  • I'm Joining the Burger King Boycott

    I’ll admit it’s not a big sacrifice on my part — my consumption of Junior Whoppers and Spicy Chicken Patties works out to about one sandwich a year. But after reading Eric Schlosser’s op-ed piece in The New York Times about the giant fast food company’s refusal to pay an extra penny a pound for…

  • Superfood Sucks

    First, a preface: I am not a foodie. The blander the better. Nourishment, for me, is achieved by daily ingestions of oatmeal and honey, cinnamon-raisin bagels with peanut butter, salted popcorn, and, as of late, Odwalla Bars. I’ve enjoyed these very much because, well, they’ve made it easy on me—“No Refined Sugars,” say the labels.…

  • The Tea Lady

    If you were casting the role of Tea Lady, you might choose a soft woman with a doughy nature. Maybe you’d pick a spinster who has a serious passion for bone china and a pension for plushy chairs and quiet nights by the fire. Maybe she has cats, lots of cats. Mrs. Kelly of Mrs.…

  • Catch Her Tears in Bondage and Chains

    DANCEZenon Dance It’s a big month for Zenon Dance Company. For one, they hop aboard the holiday treadmill with their premiere of The Nutcracker According to Mother Goose on December 15. But the company’s signature aesthetic—athleticism and precision, not to mention sophisticated musical tastes—will be better displayed this weekend, at its twenty-fifth anniversary program. Five…