Opinion

Anthony Marra is a Stegner fellow and a recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award.

Books
Arts

From A Debut Writer, A Polished, Passionate, Must-Read Book

9:00pm May 06, 2013

by Meg Wolitzer

Anthony Marra's debut novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, takes place in war-torn Chechnya — a world of perpetual violence, fear and exploding land mines. But reviewer Meg Wolitzer says the characters are so vivid and the language so brilliant you want to stay there.

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Laura Linney and Alan Alda star in The Big C, now in its fourth season on Showtime. Linney took on the role not long before her own father died of cancer.

Arts

Linney Mines 'The Big C' For Serious Laughs

3:20pm May 06, 2013

On Showtime's dark comedy series, Laura Linney plays a terminally ill cancer patient. The actress's own father died from lung cancer while the series was being made; her mother was a cancer nurse when Linney was young. These experiences, she says, inform her performance.

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In Iron Man 3, Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as Tony Stark (aka Iron Man), and Gwyneth Paltrow reprises hers as his girlfriend, Pepper Potts.

Arts

'Iron Man 3': Tony Stark As Home-Brew Hero

4:01pm May 03, 2013

by David Edelstein

Director and co-writer Shane Black kicks Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., out of his comfort zone — a choice that has Stark functioning as a lone gumshoe, thinking like a garage mechanic and, when necessary, straight-up MacGyvering a fix.

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Alexis Martinez (left) worried that coming out to daughter Lesley as transgender would mean giving up any relationship with her grandchildren. But she needn't have worried.

After Years Of Hiding, 'Walking In Love' As Transgender

12:37pm May 03, 2013

by NPR Staff

For decades, Alexis Martinez, born Arthur, had to mask her transgender identity by "being as macho as I could be." But in a visit to StoryCorps, she tells her daughter how, with her family's acceptance, she's finally been able to live as a woman full-time.

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Window Dressing: Tony Stark's ongoing Iron Man research involves more than one suit of self-assembling armor.

Arts

In 'Iron Man 3,' A Metalhead Gets The Blues

6:07pm May 02, 2013

by Bob Mondello

Wiseacre billionaire Tony Stark, uncharacteristically anxious since the events of 2012's The Avengers, must face down a domestic terrorist without backup from his buddies in the latest installment of the Marvel franchise.

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Jason Holliday (nee Aaron Payne) is the soloist in front of the camera in Shirley Clarke's seminal 1967 documentary, Portrait of Jason.

Arts

Peeling Away The Layers In A 'Portrait Of Jason'

3:51pm May 02, 2013

by John Powers

In her classic '60s documentary, Shirley Clarke profiles a loquacious 33-year-old gay hustler who dreams of having a nightclub act. Her subject could hardly be more complex — and in examining him, she raises important questions about the relationship between fact and fiction.

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Get Off My Lawn! And Other Grumblings About Sports Today

10:51am May 01, 2013

by Frank Deford

Frank Deford's friend "the Sports Curmudgeon" reflects on some of the things that bother him about the sports world.

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Op-Ed: Did Boston Law Enforcement Drop The Ball?

2:16pm April 29, 2013

The Boston Police Department and cooperating law enforcement entities were praised for working together to track down suspects in the marathon bombings. Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi asks whether police could have done more in the months, weeks, and even hours before the explosions.

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Week In Politics: Syria, Immigration Reform

4:47pm April 26, 2013

Audie Cornish talks to regular political commentators E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post and Brookings Institution, and David Brooks of The New York Times. They discuss Syria, the immigration reform bill and the opening of George W. Bush's Presidential Center.

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Visitors paid their respects at a makeshift memorial on Boylston Street on April 20, near the scene of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Arts

'Horrific' And 'Surreal': The Words We Use To Bear Witness

3:33pm April 26, 2013

by Geoff Nunberg

After more than a week of gruesome media coverage, linguist Geoff Nunberg takes a close look at the words we use to describe events that mesmerize and horrify, that sensitize and desensitize, that transfix and repel us at the same time.

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