September 1 2023

Justice under siege

Place

Happy birthday, Hollywood

Prohibitively expensive. So huge it’s basically impossible to navigate without a car. Where the Kardashians live. These are the hard facts about Los Angeles that placed it low on my bucket list. But for music and movie obsessives, there’s that gravitational pull to feel what it’s like at the epicenter of culture. Staying with my best friend in Denver, I found my opportunity: a two-and-a-half-hour flight for $80. It’s weird to think my decision was somewhat influenced by a bunch of Angeleno housing developers dropping $21,000 on an ad campaign 100 years ago. I’m talking about the Hollywood sign of course, now permeating public consciousness for a full century. That’s a big birthday, as good an excuse as any finally to see it up close.

James Jeffrey

Brussel or Bruxelles? Even the locals can’t agree

Brussels is the source of all evil to many of those who supported Brexit, and even for Americans. “What’s a good Christian boy like you doing in Satan’s den?” was the question of an Austin friend when I told him work had brought me to the capital city of the European Union. To its critics, Brussels is the bastion of the worst sort of Big Government, with the European Commission and Parliament issuing diktats to more than 500 million people across twenty-seven nations. But while the city is “full of nets” with which to trap you, as described by another friend who worked here on human rights legislation, it’s also a city of “hope.” Brussels has a rich comic book culture. There are the intrepid reporter Tintin and his sidekick Snowy.