Many people fly past Greensburg. And to tell you the truth, plenty even drive past it. The town is small, quaint, rural and remote -- just another unsung slice of Midwest America. Yet Greensburg does have a home right here in Kansas, where the tallest buildings are eight-story grain silos that stand like stoic sentinels across the …
Continue reading The Great American road trip in 25 states and 7,000 miles (Photo essay)
Presidents' Day -- that third Monday of February when Americans celebrate the federalist grandeur of Washington, Lincoln, and the other two men carved on the side of Mount Rushmore (Google them yourselves), all while trying to catch a last-minute furniture sale. It seems an apt holiday to reflect on the democratic institutions these men represented and …
Continue reading Clinton, Bush and the 2016 American plutocracy
During my Christmas vacation back to New York, I knew I would be encountering some residual storm damage from the mother-of-all storms that blew over Long Island and much of the region just two months ago. Yet, I wasn't entirely sure just how bad it would be. Here are some of the more dramatic photos …
Continue reading Hurricane Sandy damage on Long Island (photos)
From the volume of globular beings plodding across aisles in Walmart to an increasingly explicit trove of accessible web junk, obesity – judging from my recent visit – is clearly the order of the day in today’s US. Yet while keeping updated on the latest “feature creatures” at People of Walmart keeps me cracking up …
Continue reading Calorie counts in US chains need time to counter norms
Hawkers coax passerby to fruit wagons set up over dusty asphalt. Plumes of smoke are ejected over their heads from factories in monotonous wisps. Welders working in the womb of a skyscraper’s foundation toil heedlessly under the ashy blanket that shrouds the sky. Another day in the auspicious showpiece metropolis of Shanghai? No, not this time. …
Justin Calderón 