TUESDAY WELL'D: 8/5/25 THIS WEEK'S CURATED PHOTOS FROM TANGIER

My Tuesday gallery of photos from Tangier is now up at SES/SUMS IT UP.

SATURDAY RUBRICS: 8/2/25 Mr. Wilson

My SATURDAY RUBRICS are now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check them out. Thanks.

LETTER FROM TANGIER: 7/31/25 SADDLED OR SADDLING UP: WHEN SERVICE BECOMES A TACTIC AND THUS A QUANDARY

My latest LETTER FROM TANGIER is all about service and an orphanage where I spent some time this week. And Matthew Barney. Check it out. Thanks.

TUESDAY WELL'D: 7/29/25 THIS WEEK'S FIVE PHOTOS FROM .... TANGIER

A new weekly series at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check it out to read the explanation, and view it.

SATURDAY RUBRICS: 7/26/25 OBAMA & OTHERS: THEIR FLEDGLING YEARS AT HARVARD AND RADCLIFFE

My SATURDAY RUBRICS are now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check it out. Thanks.

LETTER FROM TANGIER: 7/24/25 VILLA MABROUKA, THE ART OF FRIENDSHIP, ANOTHER MOHAMMED, A FEW MORE CHERRIES FROM THAT ORCHARD, and BARRY DILLER'S BOOK

My latest LETTER FROM TANGIER is now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check it out. I write about otherness and art and Mohammed V and The Cherry Orchard and Barry Diller’s book.

SATURDAY RUBRICS: 7/19/25 GEORGE, GEORGE, GEORGE (and GEORGE)

My SATURDAY RUBRICS are now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check them out. Thanks.

LETTER FROM TANGIER (AND CASABLANCA): 7/17/25 CATHOLIC YOUTH, A HOSTEL HOMO, ONE NEW PASSPORT, TWO DEAD POETS, AND WONDERING (STILL) WHAT THE MEASURE IS FOR ONE'S MEASURING UP

My latest LETTER FROM TANGIER (AND CASABLANCA) is now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check it out. Thanks

SATURDAY RUBRICS: 7/12/25 CLARA RUGAARD, MERYL STREEP, JOE PAPP, PENELOPE WILTON, AND DEREK JACOBI

My SATURDAY RUBRICS are now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check them out. Thanks.

LETTER FROM TANGIER: 7/10/25 YOU ARE NOT I, BUT I AM YOU

My latest LETTER FROM TANGIER is now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check it out. Thanks.

RECIPES & REVIEWS: 7/8/25 MAPLE COFFEE OLIVE OIL CAKE, "STICK," "ECHO VALLEY," "DEPT. Q," "MURDERBOT," "MATERIALISTS," and TWO MEMORIES OF MOM

I finally have another RECIPES & REVIEWS up at SES/SUMS IT UP. It’s about cake and Dept. Q and Materialists and Echo Valley and Stick and Murderbot and lots more. Check it out. Thanks.

SATURDAY RUBRICS: 7/5/25 Lanford Wilson's play, FIFTH OF JULY

My SATURDAY RUBRICS are now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check them out. Thanks.

LETTER FROM TANGIER: 7/3/25 THAT VENICE WEDDING/WASHINGTON, D.C./THIS GAUDIER GREEDIER GILDED AGE/AND BEES/FINALLY/BEES …

My latest LETTER FROM TANGER is now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Click on the link to read it. I have rather pointed takes on the big ugly fascistic bill that just passed in congress and that big vulgar wedding in Venice last week. And bees. I write about bees too.

LETTER FROM TANGIER: 7/3/25 THAT VENICE WEDDING/WASHINGTON, D.C./THIS GAUDIER GREEDIER GILDED AGE/AND BEES/FINALLY/BEES …

My newest LETTER FROM TANGIER is up now at SES/SUMS IT UP. I write about that Venice wedding and that big ugly bill in Washington and bees. Yep: bees …

SATURDAY RUBRICS BLACK WRITERS: THEN, AND OUR NOW ...

My SATURDAY RUBRICS are now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check them out. Thanks.

LETTER FROM TANGIER: 6/26/25 A PILGRIM POETICALLY READING BECKETT IN THE KASBAH WHILE THINKING OF HIM READING DANTE THE PILGRIM AND THE POET HERE, or BILLIE WHITELAW & BAKING CAKES & THE CONNECTIVE EVERYTHING OF NOTHINGNESS

My latest LETTER FROM TANGIER is now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. It is about Beckett and baking cakes. Check it out. Thanks.

Opinion | The Attacks on Zohran Mamdani Show That We Need a New Understanding of Antisemitism

Another important NY Times op-ed by M Gessen. Thank you, M. @mashagessen.bsky.social

SATURDAY RUBRICS: 6/21/25 Happy Birthday to Two Dead Literary Ladies, Three Dead Actresses, and The Dead Guy with that Existential Eye, or (sorry, Jean-Paul) Leurs Essences Succèdent à Leurs Existences

My SATURDAY RUBRICS are now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check it out. Thanks.

LETTER FROM TANGIER: 6/19/25 Hans Christian Andersen, the Green Sisters, Alfred Chester, Truman Capote, Cecil Beaton, Warmongers, Cafe Baba, Moshin's Smile, and the Melding of a Bonded Me.

My latest LETTER FROM TANGIER is up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check it out. Thanks

SATURDAY RUBRICS: 6/6/25 IT'S TONY WEEKEND SO I WONDERED WHO SOME OF THE TONY AWARD WINNERS WERE IN 1956, THE YEAR I WAS BORN

My SATURDAY RUBRICS are now up. Check them out. Thanks.

RECIPES & REVIEWS: 6/5/25 EDMUND WHITE, HONORÉ de BALZAC, PEE-WEE HERMAN, MOUNTAINHEAD, FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, AND JUST LIKE THAT ... UN DERNIER REPAS de POMMES de TERRE SARLADAISES

My latest RECIPES & REVIEWS is now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check it out. Thanks.

LETTER FROM TANGIER : 6/3/25 IN A ROOM NO LONGER STRANGE

My LETTER FROM TANGIER is now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check it out. Thanks

PILGRIM LIFE: Tangier. And so my summer in Morocco begins with a traditional Tangier breakfast. Back to olives and roasted figs and yogurt with my eggs . They like turkey here instead of bacon i.e. pork. And great coffee. Onward …

I am leaving this book behind as a gift to the library here at Casa p309 in Porto for future fellow guests as I set off to fly to Tangier for this summer’s portion of my pilgrimage.

Amen, brother

PILGRIM LIFE: Next. Tonight I leave Porto after my two months here to fly off to Tangier for the summer. It will be a return there after my two months last year there. It will be a bit of a homecoming in its way. See you tonight, Morocco. Three photos from my time there last fall.

SATURDAY RUBRICS: 5/31/25 FINDING THE NINAS

The SATURDAY RUBRICS are up at SES/SUMS IT UP. This weekend they are all about Nina’s. Enjoy.

LETTER FROM PORTO: 5/30/25 My Final One - Until Next Time ...

My last LETTER FROM PORTO is now up at SES/SUMS IT UP. Check it out. Thanks.

Opinion | Beware: We Are Entering a New Phase of the Trump Era

@mashagessen.bsky.social

M Gessen's op-ed that will be read years from now when people want to know how America fell into a fascist state.

RECIPES & REVIEWS: 5/27/25 PORK CHEEK STEW, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, and THE LAST OF US

My latest SES/SUMS IT UP column is now up. I write about a decision Portuguese stew, The Last of Us, and Mission: Impossible. Check it out . Thanks.