KtBlog
Chava Rosenfarb on CBC
The oldest essay in my new book, Sweet Heaven When I Die, is “For Every Life Saved,” a portrait of the last great Yiddish writer, Chava Rosenfarb. I adored Chava. I loved her massive, crudely translated novel, Der boym fun lebn (The Tree of Life), and her later, even sharper short stories, especially “Edgia’s Revenge,”…
Alexander McQueen’s Afterlife
Those who only know of Alexander McQueen as the name behind the most famous wedding dress in recent history will be in for a royal shock when they step inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s retrospective of McQueen’s career. Nowhere will one find anything resembling Kate Middleton’s virginal attire on display. Instead, the collection begins…
We’re Still Louvin’ You, Charlie!
This morning, Charlie Louvin—one half of the classic country duo the Louvin Brothers—passed away at the age of 83. Though the Brothers ended their musical partnership back in 1963, and Ira, Charlie’s hard-drinking older brother, died in a 1965 car crash, their music has never really gone away. The Louvins’ distinctive close harmony went on…
Going to the Graves on Labor Day
I tend to avoid cemeteries. White marble slabs creep me out in a clown-like way. But when I arrived in Chicago on Labor Day, my hostess suggested that I check out a piece of Chicago’s anarchist past. We traipsed down to Forest Home Cemetery to pay homage to the Haymarket Martyrs’ Monument. She explained to…
Trish Hooper’s Last Words
KtB has had a spate of submissions regarding illness and death lately, and autumn has only just begun. In today’s piece, “Letting Gravity Win,” KtB editor Meera Subramanian reminds us that “we are all guilty of having lost the art of dying” and builds a case for the widespread reclaiming of this lost art. To…
