books dc events pt wrapped up in books reading reading is fun

Susan Sontag, David Ignatius, And Brooklyn, Right Here In DC

Wonkabout

May 18, 2009 05:30 PM

It is like college here in DC this week: there is an opportunity for free food that can be capitalized upon by pretending to be interested in the publication of something—plus a bonus Susan Sontag salon. Plus, that quintessential collegiate particular: fictitious tales about Brooklyn!

Monday, May 18th: Go hear about new fiction about Brooklyn and its denizens that is called Brooklyn. 7 PM. [Politics & Prose]

Tuesday, May 19th: Science! Religion! You'd think conflating these two would be problematic but maybe not? 7 PM. [Politics & Prose]

Woodruffs Lee and Bob talk about Lee and Bob Woodruff, if for whatever reason you're interested. [Hooks Books Events]

Wednesday, May 20th: Fareed Zakaria's slightly less famous friend David Ignatius takes his new Iran fan fiction to Politics & Prose. 7 PM. [Politics & Prose]

There will be a launch for a new DC-themed cook book, which all but guarantees free food. 6 PM. [Busboys & Poets]

Thursday, May 21st: Check out Philip Lopate rousing debate about which is better: Sontag's essays or that, like, one piece of fiction she wrote that one time that wasn't very good at all. 7 PM. [Politics & Prose]

Juli Weiner

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'Go In' And 'Do Whatever.' Wonkagenda For Tues., Aug. 21, 2018

Trump has another crazy interview, ICE deports a Nazi, and Republicans are worried about November. Your morning news brief.

Russia

Morning Wonketariat! Here's some of the things we may be talking about today.

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GOP Thinks It's Going To Beat Phil Bredesen By ... Shitting On Ben Folds And Jason Isbell? LOL OK

Phil Bredesen's Rockin' The Suburbs, Just Like Ben Folds Did. Rockin' The Suburbs, Except Phil Bredesen's Talented ...

Elections

Just recently, Nashville made headlines because at long last, it stopped growing at a rate of 100 new residents per day. Clearly the city is dying now. Oh no! Only 94 new people a day! Possibly because cardboard boxes in Nashville are currently one million dollars, a little more if they have marble countertops!

We are yr Memphis Wonkette, and Tennessee's two large cities have a bit of a longstanding rivalry -- Memphis got IKEA first, and then Nashville was going to get one but that plan got fucked, so now Nashville has retaliated by building a four story Restoration Hardware with a bar, a grille, and probably sandy man-made beaches, we don't fucking know what is in that thing. But the fact is Memphis and Nashville are two very different cities, and the rivalry is mostly for #jokes. Memphis, historically and currently, is a lot more like its fellow river cities like New Orleans and St. Louis, whereas Nashville's path more closely resembles Atlanta. (That's right, Nashville. We just said your river DOESN'T COUNT.)

The thing that unites the cities is that they are HOLY SHIT BLUE, surrounded by seas of red. However, out of Tennessee's population of just under seven million, close to half are in the Memphis and Nashville metro areas. Blue islands also exist in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and a handful of other places like the college towns of Murfreesboro and Sewanee. However, the state was still red enough in 2016 that Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 26 damn points. We'll see if the GOP pulls similar numbers in 2018. We doubt it.

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