What We Loved This Week: Bermuda, ‘The Wire’ and ‘The Way of the World’

Larry Bleiberg
I indulged my inner geography nerd this week, flipping through Mark Stein’s oddly compelling book, How the States Got Their Shapes. So why does Oklahoma have that panhandle? What’s up with New Jersey’s tilted northern border? And isn’t California a little greedy taking up most of the West Coast? In almost every state the explanations range from politics to topography to an occasional surveying error.

Frank Bures
I loved this video of all the known objects in the universe. Gives some good perspective on things:

Jim Benning
I finally cracked open Nicolas Bouvier’s “The Way of the World,” which Tom Swick wrote about recently, and I’m really enjoying it so far.

Eva Holland
“The Wire.” I finally started watching season one of the HBO cop drama this week (I know, I know—I’m a couple of years behind) and boy, do I love an urban crime show that takes the time to really set the scene. Baltimore’s gritty red-brick streets were made for this sort of thing. Here’s the opening of the first episode:

Lisa Wixon
Nine years ago I joined a crew charged with delivering a 92-foot sailing ketch from Rhode Island to St. Maarten, with a final destination of St. Barth’s. We pushed through the Gulf Stream in winter; even the hardiest of us were sick from the thumping and waves. When we finally saw Bermuda I understood—in a deep way—the lure of Homer’s sirens. But it was not to be. Our young captain turned us southward; I could only look with longing at her shores. Yesterday, I finally made it to Bermuda via plane and in the company of my family. I’m sitting on the beaches overlooking the Sargasso Sea, drinking ginger beer with local rum, a Dark ‘n’ Stormy. We’re facing west and toasting Spanish galleons and lone sailors and all manner of ships that have made it to Bermuda, and those who have not. And especially the S/Y Shere Khan, and the captain and crew, many of whom remain my friends to this day.

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