editor's letter Archive

2017: The year ends (a door closes, a window opens) - Solstice. The shortest day, the longest night: given the headlines this week, that’s metaphorically accurate, and on every level. Under cover of night, under a cloak of secrecy, white men

A letter from the editor: The future of HeadButler.com - SHOPPING ON AMAZON: The business model of this site is Amazon. You start here, buy something there, Butler gets a commission. And not just on the item reviewed. Anything you

Butler’s Holiday Break: I’d light a fire, pour a tumbler of bourbon — wearing a silk robe and monogrammed slippers, like in old movies — and wallow in these books. - SPECIAL DISPATCH: ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, 1931 – 2021 Mary Wald has been the unofficial press coordinator for the Nobel Peace Prize laureates for more than two decades. How well did she

Could a “children’s crusade” save democracy? Consider “Blue Watermelon” - I’ve looked at the research, and while it’s clear that white women are the biggest segment of voters in swing states... and that 52% of voters aren't college graduates... and

Excluding miscarriages, nearly one in five American pregnancies ends in abortion, and one American woman in four will terminate a pregnancy during her lifetime. What if those women and their children and their partners… mobilized? - When a government run by white men for the benefit of a white minority and white-owned business wants even more power, it begins by declaring war on women. This is

I’ve finished a draft of my novel. I could use your help. Want to read it and comment? - Almost every product in America is presented to a focus group before it hits the market. Books aren’t. This baffles me. Do writers really not want to know their work

Letter from the Editor: Head Butler needs you. - After 13 years, the Head Butler business model doesn’t work and the site no longer pays for itself. If I’m to continue to publish regularly, I’ll need your help. Many thanks

Letter from the Editor: Head Butler wants to be your booster shot. - Last week, I had a reason to write in my calendar --- I was invited to a dinner party with notable guests in smart clothes, the sort of invitation that

Nobody joins a cult. They just forget to leave. How do you get them to leave? - This is the most frightening footage I've seen since January 6. [Alas, a few minutes after I published this piece, Parler was taken down and the link stopped working.] Matthew

NOVEMBER 4, 2020: Three stories for the day after the election - Many of us went to bed – if we went to bed at all --- wondering as much about this as about the outcome: How is it possible, after four

Special Election Edition: Aretha Franklin, Annie Lennox, Chuck Taylor Converse Sneakers, Steve Kornicki’s Chinos - I don't believe the election requires one more word of commentary. Okay, just this: As a nation, we have been saved by women --- especially Black women in Pennsylvania and

Winter holiday edition: This week’s heroes. Helping Ukraine. A NYC vigil. A few suggestions. - Image: colors of the Ukraine flag beamed on the Coliseum GONE FISHING From a Times interview with a Yale professor who teaches "Psychology and the Good Life," one of the school’s most