News & Updates
By late 1950, I felt ready to take my final examination and earn my diplome from the Cordon Bleu in Paris. Bur when I asked Mme. Brassart, the school’s director, to schedule the test -politely, at first, then with an increasing insistence -my requests were met with stony silence. The truth is chat Mme. Brassart and I got on each other’s nerves. She seemed co think that awarding a student a diploma was like inducting them into some kind of secret society; as a result, the school’s hallways were filled with an air of petty jealousy and distrust. From…
August 20, 2004 OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Mastering the Art of Julia Child By ALEX PRUD’HOMME A few days before Julia Child died, we sat together in her compact, fragrant garden in Montecito, Calif., talking about her life. She was about to turn 92. Although she was thin and pale, she seemed stronger and more acute that day than she had been in weeks. She had always loved to work, and, as usual, she corrected my French accent and added little soupçons of information to the book we were writing together, a series of reminiscences from the years 1948 to 1954, when…
A ”miracle” cancer drug made ImClone the hottest firm in recent biotech history and its high-flying C.E.O., Sam Waksal, the darling of New York’s A-list. But since December, when the F.D .A. gave a thumbs-clown to hjs $2 billion breakthrough, Waksal has been under a financial, scientific, and personal microscope n the evening or December 6 last year. Sam Waksal’s spacious duplex loft in So Ho was packed with a rollicking, eclectic crowd for his annual Christmas party. Martha Stewart held court on a couch near the door, while the celebrity photographer Patrick McMullan snapped recognizable faces such as Mick Jagger. Patricia Duff,…
He plunged a pair of scissors into Pamela Carpenter’s chest, raped her, and stomped her to death. His IQ is estimated at anywhere from 51 to 63. Should that exempt him from the death penalty? This month the Supreme Court will provide only part of the answer. By Alex Prud’homme; additional reporting by Joanne Harrison; Photos by Jim Goldberg JUST BEFORE THREE O’CLOCK LAST NOVEMBER 16, THE WARM afternoon and creeping sense of inevitability in Huntsville, Texas, were suddenly interrupted by the shrill sound of ringing cell phones. ‘wen people all over this small town-women, mostly-began to cry out. Some…
THEY were 19 men down on their luck, and they came to the penthouse of the Times Square Hotel in New York at lP.M. on a rainy January day to get a big boost in their search for work. A 20th man showed up at 2, one hour late, and .was turned away. “Punctuality is expected in the real world,” said Wayne Fletcher, director of the Jobs Cooperative Program at Grand Street Settlement and a member of the welcoming committee. “Ct’s tough love.” If that sounded unforgiving, what happened next was like a gift from the gods. Each man got a…
For Domino’s Founder, a New Mission The Roman Catholic Church has always struggled to speak with one voice to both the rich and the poor. Last month, when Pope John Paul II toured Mexico and St. Louis, he sternly warned against a runaway freemarket system based on a “purely economic conception of man.” But he also exhorted church leaders not to forget the wealthier members of their flock. :Love for the poor must be preferential, but not exclusive,” he said. “The leading sectors of society have been neglected, and many people have thus been estranged from the church.” Among the…
THE dark brick factory complex on the Brooklyn waterfront would not look out or place In a moody industrlal landscape by Edward Hopper. A few years ago, most of the windows were broken, roofs were collapsing, inters were contaminated with asbestos and the cement was cluttered with leaking drums or toxic substances. The city, which owned the site in the Greenpolnl neighborhood, was on the verge of demolishing this cluster of buildings. Walk Inside today, though, and you find a warren of vibrant spaces filled with hundreds of woodworkers, artists and craftsmen. You hear hammering and grinding noises, smell oil paint…
Controversial Guggenheim director Thomas Krens is changing the way the world’s art museums operate Controversial Guggenheim director Thomas Krens is changing the way the world’s art museums operate In 1988 New York City’s Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum was in trouble. Money was tight the museum’s famous Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building was falling apart: exhibitions were uninspired; donors were losing interest. Enter Thomas Krens, armed with a degree in nonprofit management front Yale. As the Guggenheim ‘s new director. he offered the board of trustees a stark choice: Preserve funds and run the museum conservatively, or attack.” If you want a vital…
JASON ORLANDO has a terrific pair of thumbs. They are long and elegantly tapered, and he likes to show them off by curling his fingers into fists and sticking his thumbs out like bulls’ horns. “When they say ‘You’re all thumbs’ in this game, it’s a real compliment,” he told us the other day, fanning all ten of his fingers out for a good look. “I’ve definitely got Nintendo hands.” Jason is a wan and reedy fourteen-year-old from Hopewell, New Jersey, who recently dropped by the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and blew everybody’s doors off at the Nintendo PowerFest and…
In a world where crash equals cash, Monster Trucks are king of the thrill. To the jaded eye, it’s all shrill and no skill,a sport full of mud and Bud. But peek under the hood of Monster Truck mania, and your gears are bound to start turing. One flash of the TV spotlight, one whiff of a just blown engine, one gander at a juiced-up Ford-and you’ll be asking yourself where the dirt comes from, who builds the megaton trucks, and why everyone from yuppies to Okies is making Monster mania the spectator adventure of the 90’s. Bigger Is Better Where does a 12-foot-high,…