CRUEL TO BE KIND
5 years ago
December 5, 2003 | Rebecca Paley profiled Dr. William Rashbaum, a long-time practicing, prominent second-trimester abortion provider.
“Husbands or boyfriends have been known to barge into his office and violently insist their baby not be aborted, to which Rashbaum replies with an equally violent, ‘Fuck you, Charlie, we can abort her.

RADIATION RULES
10 years ago
Nov. 20, 1998 | Jason Gay toured MIT's nuclear reactor.
"...touring a nuclear reactor isn't like visiting a petting zoo. At the start, all guests are equipped with pen-size pocket dosimeters -- devices used to measure any unwanted radiation they may collect during the tour. They are told not to touch anything without asking first.

MYTH BUSTING
15 years ago
October 22, 1993 | Cecil Adams, of the Straight Dope, answered a reader’s question.
Since you seem to know everything, just what is ‘tantric sex,’ anyway?
Tina S.
Montreal

“Cecil has been deeply studying this question, as is only fitting. His reference sources include many learned texts on Eastern religion plus, naturally, Cosmopolitan magazine.

DEPT. OF REINTERPRETATION
10 years ago
October 16, 1998 | Reporter Sarah McNaught interviewed conceptual artist Paul Richard about his latest “work.”
“The 36-year-old provocateur...recently climbed up on a massive billboard in Kendall Square and pasted, beside a picture of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a sign that read PAUL RICHARD PRESENTS APPLE COMPUTERS, SPECIAL THANKS TO JOHN AND YOKO.

NOT TO MENTION THAT FAMOUS FRENCH STENCH
5 years ago
May 23, 2003 | Steve Almond asked that Bush and Co. consider invading France.
“What the Bush regime needs to realize (and I think, deep down, it does) is that Americans are ready for a war against France. The recent squabble over Iraq is really just a symptom of a bone-deep, longstanding hatred between these two nations.

NOT TO MENTION THAT FAMOUS FRENCH STENCH
5 years ago
May 23, 2003 | Steve Almond asked that Bush and Co. consider invading France.
“What the Bush regime needs to realize (and I think, deep down, it does) is that Americans are ready for a war against France. The recent squabble over Iraq is really just a symptom of a bone-deep, longstanding hatred between these two nations.

BAD TIMES
5 years ago
May 16, 2003 | Dan Kennedy called for “tougher standards” in journalism in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal.
“Yet by purging Blair, it would be wrong to think that all is now well at the Times, or in journalism. Tougher standards are needed. We all deserve better. I was struck by a comment that Alex Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center.

WEST ROAST
5 years ago
May 9, 2003 | Jay Jaroch mused on the bi-coastal lifestyle and the differences between West and East Coasters.
“Sure, it’s been new and exciting, but when you grow up East Coast you learn that you should never take yourself too seriously — unless, of course, you have a graduate degree. Take yourself too seriously, and you can be sure your friends will soon be mocking you right back down to earth: ‘Bill, you’re a systems analyst and you live in Malden.

NOT-SO-FOND FAREWELL
5 years ago
May 02, 2003| Joyce Millman bade adieu to the WB’s Dawson’s Creek.
“An era is about to end as one of TV’s most influential series says goodbye. And no, I’m not talking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This Wednesday...on the WB, Dawson’s Creek will have its series finale, after six seasons of tortured love geometry, high-school (and college) angst, smart-ass dialogue, and bad film-school pretensions.

PLAYING FAVORITES
5 years ago
April 25, 2003 | Brent Kendall analyzed how a presidential candidate’s declared “favorite book” can affect his campaign chances.
“The 2000 election demonstrated precisely how candidates' book choices play right into the media's preconceived storylines--for better and for worse.

CROSSING OVER
5 years ago
April 18, 2003 | Dan Kennedy discussed what he thought was “perhaps the most astounding media story to come out" of the Iraq War.
“This past Sunday, Jules Crittenden, the Boston Herald reporter embedded with the Army’s Third Infantry Division, described how he ‘went over to the dark side.

MASSAGE HERESY
10 years ago
April 3, 1998 | Sarah McNaught looked into why a local massage student was expelled from the Muscular Therapy Institute upon divulging that she was a professional dominatrix.
“Sheila, however, says there is nothing dangerous about her work, which involves various forms of erotic pain or domination.

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5 years ago
March 28, 2003 | Dan Kennedy talked to UVA professor Larry Sabato about the drawbacks of embedded reporting during the Iraq War.

" 'I suppose the embedding is useful overall, and occasionally...it has resulted in on-the-spot coverage of hard news,’ says.