The Commission on Presidential Debates Did It Again

“There is nothing I dread so much as the division of the Republic into two great parties, each under its leader,” said John Adams, one of the framers of the Constitution. Those who watched the three presidential debates had every right to believe the...

‘The Dust Factory’

“The Dust Factory” is like a cross between Cirque du Soleil and “The X-Files.” Or maybe it’s a cross between “Holes” and “What Dreams May Come.” Or maybe it’s between “Alice in Wonderland” and...

A Quarter and a Commitment

My first allowance—25 cents per week—came with both obligation and opportunity, in that order. My parents usually gave my allowance in some combination of nickels and dimes. It was easier that way, they explained, to take a nickel from those coins and save it to put...

‘Spin’

“Spin,” a 1991 novel by Donald Everett Axinn, is now a film from James Redford, who adapted and directed the project. Set in the 1950s, it deals with a boy’s search for purpose after the death of his parents—as well as the feelings he develops for a...