Series: Summer 2009

She couldn’t take a plane, so Rita Leistner decided to walk-to Iraq. For a light load, a lot was left behind. She took mostly cameras, a flak jacket and a good pair of hiking boots. Though the risks were obvious, the choice was too: $1,200 U.S. and a one-day hike would get Leistner into war… Continue reading Shadows and Light

Clive Thompson is burly and about six-two. He’s wearing a full set of chain mail and Soldier’s Wrist Guards of the Eagle and has a large mace-a Giant Mace-strapped to his back like a parade baton. He’s 40, a Canadian expat living in New York, former editor of This Magazine, a journalist and father of two… Continue reading The WoW Factor

“Bangalore,” I say. “India.” “Um, okay,” he says, quickly. “I’m just about to go into a news meeting. Can you call me back?” “Yeah,” I say. “How long will that take?” “About an hour.” So I call him back in an hour. And then 15 minutes after that. And then seven more times over the… Continue reading Passages to India

The nightmare that would culminate in such e-mail venom as “I hope your wife gets ovarian cancer” and “Your mother should have aborted you” began on an early summer evening in rural Connecticut. Two middle-aged men sit in the loft of a refurbished barn, riffing off Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm.” Every Sunday they get high… Continue reading Deconstructing Barry

The second-floor workout studio of the Du Parc YMCA in Montreal has four large windows with a view across an alley to a Hasidic synagogue. Built in 1912, the Y is functional, not fancy. It’s a place where strings of toddlers shuffle in and out of play areas throughout the day and teenagers shoot pool… Continue reading Hot Topic