Portside

Less than beautiful produce can be an attractive and economical supply source

“Daredevil,” adapted from the long-running Marvel comics franchise, is a superhero show about the evils of gentrification—a politically engaged work which is energized by debates about urban inequality. These debates are salient not only in the era of Mayor Bill de Blasio but also have roots deep in the city’s history.

April 26 is the 78th anniversary of the bombing of the Basque town, Guernica, by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War. It was this atrocity against innocent civilians that prompted Pablo Picasso to create his most famous painting. As New Mexico poet Richard Vargas writes, however, worldwide public outrage has not stopped the strategy of indiscriminate bombing of civilian populations.

Successive High Court decisions have done more than enfranchise corporations at the expense of the rest of us. The same logic in the same cases now defines public corruption down: that a direct and palpable quid pro quo must be seen to operate. Absent that smoking gun, the financial elite has no limits on bankrolling campaigns whose candidates then vote their interests. To the nation's founders, that untrammeled influence was the essence of public corruption.

Last week, Our Declaration, by Danielle Allen, made PEN/America Center's shortlist for the Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. The prize goes to "an author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction" "notable literary merit and critical perspective" that highlights "important contemporary issues." Allen's book was published last year to a host of lively reviews. Here is one of the earliest, by Steven B. Smith. Also included below is a link to Allen's homepage.

Last week, Our Declaration, by Danielle Allen, made PEN/America Center's shortlist for the Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. The prize goes to "an author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction" of "notable literary merit and critical perspective" that highlights "important contemporary issues." The book was published last year to a host of lively reviews. Here is one of the earliest, by Steven B. Smith. Also included below is a link to Allen's homepage.

Last week, Our Declaration, by Danielle Allen, made PEN/America Center's shortlist for the Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. The prize goes to "an author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction" of "notable literary merit and critical perspective" that highlights "important contemporary issues." The book was published last year to a host of lively reviews. Here is one of the earliest, by Steven B. Smith. Also included below is a link to Allen's homepage.

Last week, Our Declaration, by Danielle Allen, made PEN/America Center's shortlist for the Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, for "an author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction" of "notable literary merit and critical perspective" that highlights "important contemporary issues." The book was published last year to a host of lively reviews. Here is one of the earliest, by Steven B. Smith. Also included below is a link to Allen's homepage.

Ava, the robot star of Ex Machina, the dazzling sic-fi thriller, could easily be seen as an addition to the list of subservient bots in the tradition of Siri and Samantha—a machine that exists to tend every man's need, and read him driving directions without challenging masculinity. But if you push past that frustration, the film brings to the fore the idea that technology is as imperfect as its creators, and its mirror can provide a useful reflexion.

Concerns about healthy eating and childhood obesity are helping to shape a new generation of foodies and feeding a budding publishing trend.