A few weeks ago, I received an anxiety-inducing text message regarding a vice that I am not particularly proud of. It is a vice concealed by sleek metal, by powerful marketing. It is a vice that has achieved some degree of cultural omnipresence—always between someone’s fingers, in someone’s pocket, used discreetly in class, on buses […]

“Apple pie without ice cream is like a hug without a kiss,” proclaims one of the many plaques that decorate the knotty pine walls of the Beef Barn. The apple pie at the Beef Barn comes without ice cream, but sometimes a hug without a kiss is what’s appropriate. And when apple pie tastes like […]