Men Can Be Binge-Eaters, Too

When we think of eating disorders, the classic image is a waif-thin, anorexic woman. But here’s a question for men: Do you find yourself fasting after eating too much? Or maybe pushing through an insanely long run or workout, trying to compensate for overeating through intense exercise? These are behaviors associated with binge-eating, a serious [...]

‘Shame,’ Sex And Violence: Can We Reclaim The NC-17 Rating?

Certain facts regarding movie ratings are not in dispute. Of the films that have been released with NC-17 ratings since the designation was created in 1990, the vast majority have received the adults-only rating for sex, not for violence. Receiving it for violence is not impossible, but it’s very, very difficult and next to impossible [...]

Report: College Costs Continue Rising, Aid Cuts Could Add To Pain

Students and parents won’t be surprised to hear that the prices colleges and universities officially charge for tuition, room and board went up yet again this academic year. The College Board reported Tuesday that: – “Published in-state tuition and fees at public four-year institutions average $8,244 in 2011-12, $631 (8.3 percent) higher than in 2010-11.” [...]

The ‘Informal Economy’ Driving World Business

More than half of all employed people worldwide work off the books. And that number is expected to climb over the next decade. “Estimates are that the informal economy around the world is [worth] about $10 trillion a year,” says journalist Robert Neuwirth. “That’s an astounding figure because what it means, basically, is that if [...]

Reporting On The Front Lines Of Mexico’s Drug War

Since 2006, 40,000 people have been murdered in Mexico as drug cartels battle each other and the Mexican military. British journalist Ioan Grillo has spent the past 10 years covering the Mexican drug trade. His book El Narco traces how Mexico came to dominate drug trafficking, how it spread throughout the country, and how the [...]

OKC City Council Delays Vote on Anti-Discrimination Amendment

OKC City Council will vote November 15th on amendment protecting city employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Supporters Of Health Overhaul Look To Reclaim ‘Obamacare’

“Thanks Obamacare.” Sounds like sarcasm, right? Sure, opponents of the federal law overhauling health care tagged it with the “Obamacare” moniker to belittle the measure even before it had passed. To many of them, the law is an ill-considered attempt to fix America’s health care problems with a one-size-fits-all approach that thrusts the government into [...]

Political Bios: Truth Versus Telling A Good Story

Political biographies, autobiographies and memoirs are often huge hits with readers. But after Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio was accused of embellishing his family’s migration story, Washington Post humor blogger Alexandra Petri noted, “If there is one lesson of political autobiography, it is that nobody actually has any idea what happened in the course of their [...]

It’s ScuttleButton Time!

Invariably, I’ll get emails from ScuttleButton purists who complain of a puzzle that was used once before. For the record, the reason I’m doing this is two-fold. One, because now that the game has been part of the conversation on Wednesday’s Talk of the Nation on NPR, more and more people are hearing about the [...]

In ‘Pulphead’ Essays, Curiosity Is The Common Thread

A few months ago, the writer John Jeremiah Sullivan published, for all intents and purposes, the perfect magazine piece. It was in The New York Times Magazine, and it was about a family trip to Disney World, but it wasn’t only about that. In the way of all good magazine features, it was also about [...]