Yes, well, that’s interesting and all about the Daily Fail, but I have American-born gay male friends who are now Australian citizens because they married their husbands. Is this not possible, gay marriage in ‘Straylya? How did they get their Australian passports?

I only said that because in 1992, when I practically peed myself with joy when Clinton won the election, the country did move in a different, more positive direction. It was supposed to be two-for-one. Well, we saw what happened, and my comment was a reference to the fact that co-President Hillary oversaw and in some…

They’re very New York-centric (the Jane Jacobs references a few other cities, but she’s mostly concerned about the West Village area she herself helped gentrify in the late 50s, driving out the SRO dwellers in the building she and her husband bought; it’s another reason why the book is sometimes vilified) so you might…

You’re right. Have you ever read Robert Caro’s biography of Robert Moses, “The Power Broker”? It goes into a lot of this. The book is a little controversial (it was condemned by every academic Urban Planning faculty in the country). And then of course Jane Jacobs’ “Death and Life of Great American Cities,” which is…

You are correct. Every New Year’s Eve we go to some party and then two hours after we go to bed we have to walk the hellbeast, and he’s been sleeping all night so he’s good to go on January 1st, 20Whatever, so we put on the Twilight Zone marathon to soothe our “frayed nerves.”

Same goes for dogs. In the wild they don’t eat the equivalent of saltines and then find a brook to drink out of, they get it all at once from carrion. I warn you though, those poops are no longer nice and firm and easily disposed of!

Too late I know and probably addressed already but the bars in DC don’t really card you and they tend to overserve. Where do you think all those hundreds of thousands of unpaid college interns go to get plastered?

This exchange reminds me that it’s been far too long since I have visited my ancestral homeland. People don’t take their shoes off in restaurants, do they? Or clubs? I really only go to Montréal, and I don’t remember taking my shoes off in public. Not even in parks and along the St-Laurent riverfront. I supppose I…

Did you manage to see “Grey Gardens” on Broadway, with Christine Ebersole? I saw it in previews (so cheap tickets) and I was in the front row. “The Costume of the Revolution” number had me crying, I was laughing so hard. There was another really funny number that they cut, it was a little too racist. It’s when Big…

I went to a pot luck 4th party last night and we brought a lasagna. Neither of us is any way Italian, except for visits as tourists. It went over well, but the highlight was a tagine that a woman distantly related to the Roosevelts made (so not Moroccan). The wine, so much wine, was at least American, California…

Oh, that makes sense! When it’s wintry here (not nearly as long as in Canada) I take off my boots when I enter someone’s house but I always have shoes that I change into. It must be a cultural thing. Like at a party, does everyone stand around barefoot or in socks? That to me would seem kind of weird. Also, carpeting.…

No doubt that’s true but they rammed an elevated highway through Boston’s Financial District in the 1950s. You can’t imagine a whiter, more affluent place than Boston’s Financial District in the 1950s.

Why wouldn’t you wear shoes in a house? The only time I take my shoes off in another person’s house is when I’m staying with a sibling and getting ready for bed. Otherwise, we’re all shod, all the time. It’s a form of undressing. Imagine going to someone’s house and saying, “Phew, it’s a little warm in here,” and…

As an American, I ask myself “how do we manage to run our society like this?” about a lot of things.

I have a friend who is an uber-WASP and I’ve met his father several times. When you say goodbye to the father it’s like, “Well, bye [father], it was nice to see you again” and it becomes this long convoluted “Well, bye, nice to see you Conga, say, what road are you taking because the 123 is pretty backed up because of…

I was at a Fourth of July party last night, super fun, everyone stayed until 3 in the morning. It was hosted by a gay couple, neither of whom were born in the US. They had about 50 people, most of whom I knew, and I’d say maybe five of us were born in the US. We could see the fireworks from the apartment, so that was…

Well said. I agree with everything you say, but in my case I’m a gay man. In half the countries on earth I’d be dead by now. In America? I can be married.

“CF”! Wow, the Clintons have you unpaid social media interns working overtime! That argument is laughable. Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres isn’t on any kind of charitable watch list. Same with OxFam. The Red Cross sometimes gets into hot water because of its shady accounting practices and compensation…

I have a feeling she was exiled to the other side of the White House while he was cavorting with the interns and donors and whoever else crossed his path and I think I read that they had separate bedrooms, but at some point he must have mentioned to her or one of her “First Lady” staff members that he was going to…

Yes, our “First Black President” (pace Toni Morrison, who must have been in the throes of dementia, poor woman) is well-known for his sincerity and his “Honest Abe”-like inability to lie.