Word: singulars
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Where, then, do we draw the line? Public funding of desecration of religious symbols and sacred objects of singular significance is out, but what about art meaningfully representing subject matter that merely conflicts in a serious way with ones worldview? Should a born-again evangelical have to see his tax dollars spent on representations of homosexuality? How about Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase?" He might just fear hellfire and brimstone as punishment for underwriting any display of carnality. Heck, what about a fanatical tree-hugger--should his tax dollars help house murals depicting the brutal subjugation...
...people who'd felt like soulmates at summer camp had less to say to each other when united at a pizza place in October. This doesn't undermine the intensity and reality of those connections in the moment--in a way it makes them and their moment more wonderfully singular--but it does provide a sobering glimpse of the great big truth that you can't go back again. So I wondered, will we ever be able to reclaim even a little bit of what was such a huge part of that first year? Is this...
...beneficial twist. For instance, the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync (add in 98o, Boyzone, Five, etc.), Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears... Without the opposition, each type of act would grate on us--like the Spice Girls who quickly dissolved when we tired of their singular prissiness. Having a popular nemesis who takes away your market share (though I'm pretty sure, contrary to what record execs think, that most Backstreet Boys fans hide N'Sync albums in their closet and vice versa) drives an artist --or at least makes...
...RISE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER (Bard) Americans tend to view the teenage years, from puberty to the prom, as a singular life passage. But author Thomas Hine reminds us that for most of our history, those between 13 and 19 did not move in lockstep through their education--or even attend school--and that the word teenager dates back only to 1941. "What was new about the idea of the teenager at the time the word first appeared during World War II," writes Hine, "was the assumption that all young people--regardless of their class, location or ethnicity...
...years. We do so in a world still troubled, but full of promise. That promise was gained by the young men and women of America who fought and died for freedom. Near the top of any listing of the most important people of the 20th century must stand, in singular honor, the American...