Strangely enough, this isn’t the first time I’ve covered flags and swimwear. It’s not even the second time. Judging from the tallies of the two topics, the count on flags vastly exceeds those of swimwear. I do love me some flags. As an (extremely) amateur vexillologist, I enjoy not just their origins in heraldry but
By this point, we’ve all encountered the legions of business closures induced by COVID-prompted shutdowns of commerce and travel over the last year. I’ve tried to avoid too much of the cynical coverage of vacancies, instead focusing on clever strategies that various storefront retailers have deployed to generate sales from a carryout vantage point, when
Breezewood. It sounds like it could be the name of a stereotypical suburb to a major Midwest city (Chicago definitely comes to mind); it also sounds sufficiently generic that one might expect a dozen towns scattered across the country with the name. Negative on both counts. There’s only one Breezewood, and it’s not a suburb
A year ago, the prevailing wisdom among urban analysts was that restaurants would serve as the lodestar for any further downtown revitalization. I shared this sentiment, particularly in recognizing the recent, fashionable emergence of the food hall–a smattering of diverse small-kitchen eateries under one roof. The reality seemed, then as now, that most other retail—certainly
Less than a month ago, I availed myself of a long-planned opportunity to travel from the mid-Atlantic to the Midwest, using a flight a purchased several weeks before the world’s reaction to the coronavirus pandemic had set the turbulent economic and social course for 2020. Obviously there are others before me—people who took this risk
Among the business enterprises that faced the most stringent of restrictions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic were health clubs and sports/recreational facilities. Viewed through the prism of contagion, this injunction on gyms during the lockdown generally made sense: they routinely bring people together in close proximity (whether locker rooms or aerobics classes); they allow patrons to
Does anyone remember when the Las Vegas Strip was best known for its relentless and elaborate barrage of light displays on all the buildings and their signs? Chances are, if you’re under the age of 25, the answer is a resounding “NO”—at least not from firsthand experience. Maybe you get a sense of how things
So, from my previous article on social distancing and DC’s only coffee shop with interior seating (that I’m aware of), I’ve concluded that the readership here actually likes articles that are timely and of-the-moment. No surprise. Given the rewards I reap in terms of conversation and clicks (all intellectual, none financial!) I’ll probably keep doing
I rarely feature material as timely as this; in fact, I deliberately avoid content with a short shelf life, mainly because, if one posts as infrequently as I do, one has little to gain from an article whose relevance will fade within 72 hours, as advancements on the subject quickly supersede it. But in mid-March
When most Americans hear the phrase “holiday season” they tend to think of the end of the year—generally the time frame from Thanksgiving to Christmas (or Hanukkah), then to New Year’s Day But our appetite for celebratory gestures—and the marketplace’s zeal to respond to it through commodification—has essentially expanded the holiday season to Halloween, given
Strangely enough, this isn’t the first time I’ve covered flags and swimwear. It’s not even the second time. Judging from the tallies of the two topics, the count on flags vastly exceeds those
By this point, we’ve all encountered the legions of business closures induced by COVID-prompted shutdowns of commerce and travel over the last year. I’ve tried to avoid too much of the cynical coverage
Breezewood. It sounds like it could be the name of a stereotypical suburb to a major Midwest city (Chicago definitely comes to mind); it also sounds sufficiently generic that one might expect a
A year ago, the prevailing wisdom among urban analysts was that restaurants would serve as the lodestar for any further downtown revitalization. I shared this sentiment, particularly in recognizing the recent, fashionable emergence
Less than a month ago, I availed myself of a long-planned opportunity to travel from the mid-Atlantic to the Midwest, using a flight a purchased several weeks before the world’s reaction to the
Among the business enterprises that faced the most stringent of restrictions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic were health clubs and sports/recreational facilities. Viewed through the prism of contagion, this injunction on gyms during the
Does anyone remember when the Las Vegas Strip was best known for its relentless and elaborate barrage of light displays on all the buildings and their signs? Chances are, if you’re under the
So, from my previous article on social distancing and DC’s only coffee shop with interior seating (that I’m aware of), I’ve concluded that the readership here actually likes articles that are timely and
I rarely feature material as timely as this; in fact, I deliberately avoid content with a short shelf life, mainly because, if one posts as infrequently as I do, one has little to
When most Americans hear the phrase “holiday season” they tend to think of the end of the year—generally the time frame from Thanksgiving to Christmas (or Hanukkah), then to New Year’s Day But