Charlie Friedman
Charlie Friedman
Recent Stories
Eisenberg's shorts certainly are salient
I've always thought short stories were just something novelists did to pass the time. They express a creative urge, certainly, but nothing epic -- if the writer just eats a cookie, I imagine the urge will subside. To put it simply, when reading "The...
Jesus loves you and Gilead
To the casual college-aged reader, Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead" offers little appeal. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, recently issued in paperback, is anything but sexy. And yet, in a more perfect world, students would slide the novel into their...
"Magical" memoirs lacks
Augusten Burroughs is, for better or worse, the poor man's David Sedaris. The two men share much in common: a sexual orientation (gay), colorful families (which are borderline abusive) and an essentially dim view of human nature (countered by...
Author chronicles the obsessed, magician
The profiles Mark Singer writes for "The New Yorker" are as wry and intricate as the idiosyncratic details they contain. Singer's style is to shovel detail atop detail in restrained, intelligent prose and slowly, these seemingly inane facts accrue...
Debut novel goes awry
"Indecision," Benjamin Kunkel's debut novel, seems awfully heavy for a trim, quick-paced 240 page book. Maybe that's because the book is bogged down by the hope and hype surrounding it. After all, Kunkel is a young, handsome, accomplished Harvard grad.
A Friedman revisits puberty, again
I don't think Peter knew what he was getting into when he signed up to work at a summer camp. Peter and I worked together this summer. We lived in a bunk with seventeen 14 year old boys. At times, it was downright bizarre. Peter's from England.
Harvard's Pinker explains 'what makes people tick'
Speaking about "what makes people tick," renowned Harvard cognitive scientist Steven Pinker explained human nature Wednesday afternoon by invoking the philosophies of John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Students and professors...
City starts on school building project
The city of New Haven began demolition last Saturday of 61 buildings in order to construct a new Prince-Welch Annex school for students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The city has intended to build the Prince-Welch Annex school since the...
Law School continues reign atop rankings
In the latest U.S. News & World Report graduate rankings, the Yale Law School continued to occupy the top spot, while the University's other graduate schools saw slight drops in the magazine's standings. Since the inception of U.S. News & World...
After a tumultous year, a makeover for WYBC-AM
WYBC-AM, Yale's student run radio station, wants to be recognized for more than just their ubiquitous T-shirt logo. In the past, WYBC-AM has lacked a clear mission, said Caroline Nathan '04, the station's president and general manager. The station has...