This weekend on the Dish, Andrew examined the latest polling on the presidential race here and here, pointed to even more polling crack from Nate Silver and Mark Blumenthal, reiterated the moral case for Obama's reelection, highlighted a hopeful quote from David Axelrod, showed how Obama's skincolor is costing him votes, argued that the Romney's core support is from the former Confederacy, critiqued the latest in Romney's shameless shape-shifting, ran reader dissents on Romney and Mormonism, noted Sheldon Adelson's $54 million in campaign spending, handed out both Malkin and Yglesias awards, and stood amazed at what Americans don't know. And of course, like much of the East Coast, we prepared for Hurricane Sandy's arrival.
In literary and cultural news, Alan Jacobs praised the reading habits of young Americans, Sam Sacks revealed the secrets of stocking bookshop shelves, Alexandra Socarides applauded a modern translation of Emily Dickinson, Amit Majmudar noticed great literature's peaks and valleys, and John Dugdale pondered writers with long hiatuses between their novels. Camille Paglia claimed George Lucas as "the greatest artist of our time," J. Hoberman explored photography's relationship to the truth, Benh Zeitlein described the creative vision behind his film, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Henri Cole meditated on the meaning of poetry. Read Saturday's poem here and Sunday's here.
In matters of faith and philosophy, a short animation asked why God would be a man, Jen Kiaba took us inside Moonie matching ceremonies, Maria Bustillos reminisced about her grandmother's idiosyncratic spiritual life, Josh Lambert analyzed the self-styled Jewish identity of a crossover porn star, Jami Attenberg reflected on the Jewish roots of her novel The Middlesteins, Camille Paglia recalled the religious origins of her fascination with human creativity, and Freeman Dyson lamented the decline of philosophy's public import.
In assorted coverage, Adam Gopnik wondered if geography is destiny, Jesse Norman held that Lincoln was our greatest president, Robert Krulwich put mankind's population in perspective, Alice Dreger examined the sexuality of conjoined twins, James Hadfield reported on Japan's bizarre dancing laws, a new study proved that Harry was right and Sally wrong about platonic friendships, Emily Bazelon told the story of tennis player Renee Richards and transgender rights, Chris Koentges divulged why he wears the same Halloween costume every year, Maureen Stanton tagged along with an expert antiquer, Judge Mark W. Bennett spoke out against the insanity of minimum sentencing that emerged from the War on Drugs, and Michael Erard recounted the role of small donors in political campaigns.
MHBs here and here, FOTDs here and here, VFYWs here and here, and the latest window contest here.
– M.S.
The Dish 