The Useless Tree

Sam Crane

  • Sunday “Modern Love”: Love and Food

         This week, Sara Pepitone (any relation to Joe Pepitone, the one-time New York Yankee?) writes about a restaurant she and a friend-turned-boyfriend found and enjoyed together.  They break up and the place remains a melancholy reminder of their… Continue reading

  • Friday I Ching: Chief Justice John Roberts

         With his senate confirmation hearings drawing to a close, John Roberts is poised to become the next Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.  But his evasive answers to senatorial inquiries have left open some rather large questions:… Continue reading

  • More Depression

        It was just ten days ago that I blogged on depression in China and now here is another prominent story on the growing problem among college students: The problem of suicide attempts in China is growing. Between May… Continue reading

  • Old Is Good

         How could I resist a headline like this: "With Age Comes Resilience."  The story focuses on an elderly woman battered by the hurricane but who bounces back quickly and happily.   The story then widens to consider how older… Continue reading

  • The Purpose of Government

         Anne Applebaum today gives us various examples of the failings of "big government" in hurricane relief, and concomitant successes of "civil society."  She is pressing against those, like the German Chancellor, who see in the failings of the… Continue reading

  • Divorce and Confucius

          I have blogged about divorce once before but I  just noticed this BBC report: China booms, so does divorce rate.  This Chinese outcome is really not a surprise.  As economic reform has brought social transformation more and more… Continue reading

  • An Ersatz Chinese Proverb

        We’ve all heard of the suppose Chinese proverb, a curse really: "may you live in interesting times."  It sounds like it could be Chinese but it probably is not.  This comes to mind today because Kevin Drum at… Continue reading

  • There Is No Chinese Culture Now

        OK, the title is a bit inflammatory, I admit.  But I can’t help but notice the glaring contradictions in these two stories:     Beijing Uses Confucius to Lead Charm Offensive    Disney Opens Its First Theme Park… Continue reading

  • September 11th

         A passage from today’s NYT:  Among the few certain truths of Sept. 11, 2001, is one that applies to every day that dawns. That there is no guarantee of tomorrow, or the next five minutes. This is the… Continue reading

  • “Modern Love:” What Would Confucius Say About Gay Families?

        In this week’s "Modern Love" column in the Sunday NYT, Dan Savage tells a poignant story of how he and his partner adopt a baby from a homeless young woman.  It is an open adoption, so Savage has… Continue reading