Few circumstances are black and white in T. C. Boyle's collection of short stories, "After the Plague." Except Moira and Caitlin, that is.

They are heiress sisters who evoke Howard Hughes in the way that fabulous wealth can buy absolute insanity. Boyle introduces them via Larry, the gardener who's cultivating his own demise by furthering their design for a world devoid of color. They want all the grass, and flowers, and even the grand old trees on their property pulled up and paved over with blacktop.

BUYERS’ MARKET
From bananas to batata, bargains abound at Haymarket
The Boston Globe, Oct. 19, 2000

You may think of Haymarket as a place to save dollars, but it's your senses that cinch the deal.

The people you see, the scents you smell, the tastes you anticipate, the languages you hear, the excitement you feel. And when you leave, you'll be richer not only in your purse, but because you've partaken of tradition and escaped from the shrink-wrapped world.

Try getting that at the supermarket.

SOMERVILLE — Three young caffeine merchants with an attitude are prospering in Davis Square, and just as they arrived ahead of the coffee wave out of the Pacific Northwest, they appear to be slightly ahead of other developments that could bring a renewed vigor to the square.

On Tuesday, their landlord will publicly announce plans to add four theaters to the Hobbs Building, already home to the Somerville Theater, and next month, the first phase of an Asian-theme mall is to open next door.

The timing continues to be off at Vanity Fair. In its February issue, it was a little early, swooning over our conquering heroes Bush, Cheney, and Powell and all but declaring victory in the War That Will Never Be Over.

In March, with its eyewitness accounts from Sept. 11 Manhattan and a mournful portrait of a hard-hit New York firehouse, it is very late. The magazine even has a letter from its editor (Graydon Carter) that begins, "Like most New Yorkers, prior to September 11 . . .," easily placing it in the first 50 magazines to do so.

They started coming days after Sept. 11, the crass come-ons wrapped in patriotism or solemnity or grief: "Buy a Twin Towers pendant and 10 percent of the proceeds will go to 9/11 relief." And 90 percent will go in our pockets, thank you very much.

Here in the Hub of the universe, it's easy to see all the petty little fractures that define New England life, but from afar, we all start to look alike. A case in point is in the new George, which refers to US Senator Joseph Lieberman as a "Yankee moralizer," even while focusing on his practice of Orthodox Judaism.

Adventure floods the magazine racks for March, beginning with the 30 "ambitious" ones that lead Men's Journal. But there are more thrilling accounts, both foreign and domestic, in Esquire and American Heritage, respectively.

It is a question that could be asked in any field, among athletes, or mathematicians, or statesmen: Is greatness innate, or can it be learned? In W magazine, the context is fashion, so it asked the icons: How did you get to be so stylish?

They are just a couple of interviews in a couple of magazines, but put them together and they offer intriguing little comparisons and pose some questions of their own.

The Boston Globe, Jan. 21, 1998
Literary Life

 
Hey you! Bozo!

Yeah, you, reading this article.
 
Don't you know that nobody reads print journalism anymore, that in these days of television, radio, cable, and the Internet, there's nothing left for us to say?

OK, so I'm extrapolating a bit, but that's just about the sorry theme of a wonderfully written story by Bob Drury in the February Men's Journal. He's talking only about sportswriting, but after going through his wringer, I think I hear footsteps.