James Lileks

3 days ago | jameslileks.substack.com | James Lileks

This is usually cast-off day, but there was nothing cast-off, because there was nothing written. So why don’t we look at a Donaldson’s Home Fair circular, mailed to homes in the Twin Cities in 1974. As if you couldn’t tell the decade. What interests me about this, aside from the color, is the number of items that we still use today. I mean, I don’t know why we wouldn’t, but some things just seem to have a particular persistence.

4 days ago | jameslileks.substack.com | James Lileks

22: Road TripSteak? Why not. Joe looked at the menu and decided he’d have it all. Driving made him hungry; driving made him think of all the things he’d do when he stopped. A hot cup of coffee. A good long leak. Crack the back, stretch the legs. Chow down. Usually he stopped at a roadside joint, because a burger was usually all he ever wanted, and who didn’t want a burger? What did the world do before Americans invented the burger? It was the only thing you never grow tired of seeing again on your plate.

5 days ago | jameslileks.substack.com | James Lileks

It’s a Hiatal Week over at the Bleat, the semi-annual retreat from regularly scheduled programming. Since I’m taking time off, I won’t be doing the regular features here. Believe me: I need a break. But! You’re paying customers, and so I feel obligated to post here and earn your kind contributions. Today: a preview of a future feature. Quick little movies about things I find, and the stories behind them.

1 week ago | startribune.com | James Lileks

"Stone walls do not a prison make," said Richard Lovelace in his poem "To Althea, From Prison." But they do come in handy. But what kind of wall, and why? The proposal to close the 111-year-old Stillwater prison by June 30, 2029, lends a good opportunity to look at the prisons and jails of Minnesota, and what their style says about the culture that produced them. State correctional facilities There are 12 correctional facilities in Minnesota.

1 week ago | jameslileks.substack.com | James Lileks

I never understood the idea of not locking your doors at night. I like the idea; I like all the assumptions that undergird the notion of trust and security. It’s like saying “oh, we never put spikes tipped with a fast-acting poison in the fireplace before turning in,” because why would you? No one’s coming down the chimney to rob you. This isn’t New York City, where you always hear stories of people who are duct-taped and beaten by slender sooty thieves who have slithered down the flue.