Whither Congestion Pricing?

Local

From beyond the grave, Meade Esposito, the capo di tutti capi in New York politics, haunts the backrooms in Albany and hearing rooms in New York where the fate of congestion pricing in the city is being debated. His influence threatens the future of the city’s subway and bus system—and in effect threatens the city’s economy in a global marketplace.

A Man Leaves Home

Express

We drove north into Mississippi as the late-summer Sabbath sun rose over New Orleans.

Jack Whitten with Robert Storr

Art

On the occasion of Jack Whitten’s two exhibits, at P.S.1 (from now until September 24th) and at Alexander Gray Associates (from September 13th to October 20th), Rail Consulting Editor Robert Storr spoke to the artist about his life and work.

Jay Bernstein with Joan Waltemath

Art

Jay Bernstein is Chair and University Distinguished Professor in Philosophy at The New School for Social Research. He received his BA in 1970 from Trinity College in Religion and his PhD in 1975 from the University of Edinburgh.

Shigeko Kubota with Phong Bui

Art

In the midst of the preparation for her new exhibit, My Life with Nam June Paik: Video Sculpture and Installation, at Maya Stendhal Gallery (Sept. 6–Oct. 27), Shigeko Kubota welcomes Rail Publisher Phong Bui to her loft/studio (one of the lengendary George Maciunas buildings in SoHo) to talk about her life and work.

A Wide Stance

A family-values Republican senator from Louisiana shows up on the client list of a DC madam. A month later, the Bush administration’s architect of doom, Karl Rove, bows out of the White House, in the process issuing Dr. No-like battle plans for the 2008 election.

Xu Bing with Ellen Pearlman

Art

Xu Bing is one of the most important expatriate Chinese avant-garde artists. Winner of a 1999 MacArthur (“genius”) Fellowship for A Book From the Sky, which consisted of thousands of characters from an invented language printed on scrolls from hand-carved woodblocks, in 2003 he was awarded the Fukuoka Asian Culture and in 2004, he received the first Wales International Visual Art Prize, Artes Mundi, for Where Does the Dust Collect Itself, an installation incorporating dust collected from Ground Zero.

Becoming Women

Film

With heroines navigating between their own interests and those of their kin, three prominent offerings betray a cultural anxiety about how to be a responsible adult woman in love.

Lesbian Pulp Fiction: The Beebo Brinker Chronicles

Theater

Ann Bannon, dubbed the “Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction,” began writing her first novel at twenty-two, a newlywed suburban homemaker fresh out of college. Two years later the book, Odd Girl Out, was published by Gold Medal Press.

Political Circus Dazzles Brooklyn

Local

Every September since 1989, Circus Amok, a political, cross-dressing troupe, treats New Yorkers to free shows in parks throughout the city. They perform at upwards of sixteen parks in the five boroughs.

Sleepy Little Essay on Good and Evil

Poetry

Try this. Better? Somewhat. It will do for the time being. Seem to make some mistakes.