Email Author Paul Friswold

2006 Stories by Paul Friswold

• All This Useless Beauty

  published September 13, 2006

  Is there anything beautiful about the disposable plastic cup? What about a carpet of them, strewn across the ground in the aftermath of marathon?... More >>

• Bet on Black

  published September 13, 2006

  Things have been quiet around here lately — too quiet. What we need is about three days of chopped and raked cars blasting through... More >>

• When Ulysses Met William

  published September 20, 2006

  The past twenty years of Civil War scholarship have delved deeply into the human stories behind the war. From Shelby Foote's exhaustive research... More >>

• Euro Trip Back in Time

  published September 20, 2006

  It's hard to — sorry, if you could just pause the PSP, thanks — it's difficult to conceive of — no, sure, sync up your BlackBerry.... More >>

• Tricks Are for Everyone

  published September 27, 2006

  The game "skate" has rules similar to the basketball game "horse" — except in "skate," players try to one-up each other with skateboard... More >>

• The Whole Truth

  published October 4, 2006

  True Stories is quite the puzzler: Talking Head David Byrne takes a tour of Virgil, Texas, on the eve of the state's... More >>

• Hooker in the Scrum

  published October 4, 2006

  American football fans like to talk about "smashmouth" football, meaning the type of power-running offense that crushes the ball up the field by... More >>

• The Ambiguous He

  published October 4, 2006

  When last we left Derrick Mosley, he had lit out for New York, pockets laden with cash from a sold-out first pressing of his illustrated... More >>

• The Tokin' Opposition

  published October 11, 2006

  Scott Miller's new musical, Johnny Appleweed, is as pro-marijuana as that title would imply — but it's not just a Cheech &... More >>

• New Ireland

  published October 11, 2006

  New Ireland, a province of New Guinea, is a collection of islands in the Bismarck Archipelago — and that's a far piece from St. Louis. But in... More >>

• Where My Witches At?

  published October 25, 2006

  What do witches dress up as for Halloween? Accountants? Conservative talk-show hosts? Calendar editors? Do they even dress up at all? There's one... More >>

• Southern Belles

  published October 25, 2006

  When you think of the epic story cycles of the South, the flinty drunkenness of Faulkner probably staggers to mind first. Del Shores is also a... More >>

• Through the Past, Darkly

  published October 25, 2006

  While this is the appropriate season for horror and fear, the horror is always in fun. The scares are for laughs, the shocks are for thrills, and... More >>

• Maybe the Parrots Are Pining for the Fjords?

  published November 1, 2006

  It takes a special director to make a silent film in which ventriloquism is a key plot point — undoubtedly, Tod Browning is just such a... More >>

• Let's Start at the Ending

  published November 1, 2006

  Harold Pinter's plays often hinge not on the words spoken but on those left unuttered. In Betrayal, Pinter turns that convention... More >>

• O, Captain; My Captain

  published November 1, 2006

  We are absolutely plotzing over the impending arrival of William Shatner. The iconic actor is the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival's special... More >>

• You Know That I Love 'Cakes

  published November 8, 2006

  In the winter of 1893, the pancake was invented for the benefit of all humanity. Before that fateful morning, the American breakfast options were... More >>

• Wow, Hell Really Is Other People

  published November 15, 2006

  In the Orpheus myth, Orpheus decides to take a long walk into Hades in an attempt to free his deceased wife, Eurydice, from Death's embrace.... More >>

• Maplewood Mystery

  published November 15, 2006

  Elaine Viets once wrote a snappy little column about life in St. Louis for the old Post-Dispatch; now, she writes snappy whodunits,... More >>

• Don't Tread on Any of Us

  published November 22, 2006

  America was founded on the ideas of "liberty" and "freedom," two concepts that seem most agreeable to everyone. The problems arise when Americans... More >>

• Who We've Lost

  published November 29, 2006

  It has been 25 years since AIDS was first identified. In that time the disease has felled actors, musicians and models, as well as less-famous... More >>

• Pilgrims in Peril

  published November 29, 2006

  Man, you think you know the Pilgrims, and then bam! Scandal erupts in Salem. Reverend Parris catches Abigail Williams and some friends doing a... More >>

• Pause with Claus

  published November 29, 2006

  Who wants to meet Santa in the antiseptic environs of the local mall? Fake scenery, grumpy people dressed as elves (talkin' 'bout you, Krumpet)... More >>

• That’s a Sick Play

  published December 6, 2006

  Will Eno’s play The Flu Season is not so much about prevention or cures as it is about taking your medicine — and in the... More >>

• Hey, What's That Sound from the Pavement?

  published December 27, 2006

  After a quarter-century of tours and Jellicle Balls, it's hard to believe that there could be anyone in America who hasn't heard of Andrew Lloyd... More >>