Choosing Icons

by Bruce Fisher

As Frank Lloyd Wright emerged from the car parked under the porte-cochere, Father Vercek hurried out to greet him. The architect was pointing his cane and shaking it at the long awkward shed-roof lean-to addition across the front of the house. “Who did this? Who made these changes? This is not my work,” he sputtered, visibly upset at the mutilation of his dramatic concept. How would Leonardo DaVinci have reacted if he had been presented with a repainted Mona Lisa without the smile?

by Chuck Shepherd

■ Popular Science’s “10 Worst Jobs in Science” this year (July issue) included the divers who scrub the walls of pits of sewage, toxins and nuclear waste; the elephant vasectomist (wielding a four-foot-long laparoscope to deal with the 12-inch-wide testicles); carcass-preparers who ship cat, frog, shark and even cockroach bodies to be studied in science classes; the whale researcher who admitted she was “surprised” at “how much you could learn about a whale through its feces”; and the volunteers who lie still for up to 21 days to study the effects of weightlessness (for $2,000 a week).

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A reader named Michael McCarthy wrote to say he plans to start a new religion, the “First Church of the Rude Awakening.” It will be based on the principle that having a pleasant life cannot serve as a motivation to seek enlightenment and salvation. McCarthy believes that no one ever bolts up out of bed one morning and says, “I’m so happy, I think I’ll go meditate and pray and make myself into a better person for as long as it takes, so I can find God and say THANKS.” Even if his theory is true (which I doubt), you Cancerians will be an exception to it in the coming weeks. I bet you’ll have a series of epiphanies precisely because you’re in an excellent mood, leading you to embark on a groundbreaking new phase of spiritual exploration.

Lucky Number 7

by Donny Kutzbach

When you talk to JP Losman, you’re left with little question that he is a city dweller. The Buffalo Bills quarterback will gladly tell you about the many restaurants he loves up and down the Elmwood strip, the rock clubs like Mohawk Place and Nietzsche’s where he’s been getting a taste for the local music scene and about picking out skateboard decks at Sunday Skate Shop on Potomac.

On July 2, 2007, Bush commuted the sentence of Scooter Libby. I was so surprised.

Perspectives from Behind Home Plate

by Andrew Kulyk & Peter Farrell

Where do you think is the best place to watch a Bisons game at Dunn Tire Park? Maybe it’s the owners box, with all the VIP trimmings. Or the pressbox, with a bird’s-eye view and all the behind-the-scenes action going on around you. One could also say right above the Bisons (or visitors) dugout, where you can almost exchange high fives with the players. Some might prefer the drink rail up in Pettibone’s, close to the bar and still a view of the action.

Summering on the Riviera

by Thomas Dooney

Fire and flash add thrills to a holiday. However, a great way to celebrate the Fourth is not so great on Father’s Day.

by Amy Alkon

My friend, “Claire,” 21, has been dating an older guy, 29, since July. Last week she told me he was in jail. She wouldn’t say why, but seemed determined to stand by him. Then, it came out on the news that he was engaged in some stomach-churning attempts to pick up 13-year-olds for sex in Internet chat rooms. I can’t, in good conscience, get behind her loyalty to a disgusting man whom, by the way, she still wants to marry and have babies with. I’m also afraid to express this to Claire because if she gets mad and refuses to have me as a support system, she’s more likely to stay with the creep.