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$("PushDown").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=PushDown"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/post&posall=XXL,AdShareData,PushDown,FixedPanel,TopAd,Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=PushDown&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript></div><div id="opinionator" class="spanAC blog wrap"><div id="aCol"><div id="header"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/" title="Go to Opinionator Home"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/opinionator_post.png" alt="Opinionator - A Gathering of Opinion From Around the Web"/></a></div><hr/><div id="content" class="hfeed"><div class="post-135660 post type-post status-publish hentry category-draft tag-grammar tag-punctuation tag-writing entry " id="entry-135660"> <header class="postHeader"><div class="postMetaHeader"> <span class="kicker"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/draft/">Draft</a></span> <time datetime="2012-10-23T02:36:39+00:00" title="October 22, 2012, 10:36 pm"> October 22, 2012, 10:36 pm</time><span class="postMetaHeaderCommentCount commentCount"><a class="commentCountLink icon commentIcon hidden" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/mad-dash/"></a></span></div><h1 class="entry-title">Mad Dash</h1> <address class="byline author vcard">By <a href="/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/author/ben-yagoda/" class="url fn" title="See all posts by BEN YAGODA">BEN YAGODA</a></address></header><div class="entry-content"><div class="inlineModule"><div class="entry categoryDescriptionModule"><div class="thumb"><img alt="Draft" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/draft/draft45.gif" width="50" height="50"></div><p class="summary"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/draft/">Draft</a> is a series about the art and craft of writing.</p></div><div class="entry entryTagsModule"><h4>Tags:</h4><p class="meta tags"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/grammar/" rel="tag">Grammar</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/punctuation/" rel="tag">punctuation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/writing/" rel="tag">Writing</a></p></p></div></p></div><p>Let’s consider the most versatile piece of punctuation — the dash. That’s right — I’m talking about the horizontal line formed by typing two hyphens in a row. It’s the mark that — unlike commas, periods, semicolons and all the others — doesn’t seem to be subject to any rules.</p><p>You can get a sense of the dash’s versatility from the above paragraph, every sentence of which employs at least one of them. As for rules, well, there are some guidelines, but not too many.</p><p>First, make the thing the right way. There are a few ways to do it, but generally, on a keyboard, you can do as follows: previous word/no space/two hyphens/no space/following word. Word-processing programs turn the two hyphens into an unbroken line that’s roughly the width of a capital “M” — hence the official name of this punctuation mark, the em-dash. (Some publications, including this newspaper, add spaces around dashes.)</p><p>Do not call a hyphen (-) a dash — as, for some reason, computer-support personnel feel compelled to do when they recite into the telephone the characters you are supposed to enter.<span id="more-135660"></span></p><p>Dashes are used for two main purposes. The first is what I call the Pause Dash. It more or less says to the reader, “Right here, I want you to take a breath. What you will read next relates to what you have just read in an interesting way, and I would like to emphasize it.” When using dashes this way, you are allowed only one per sentence.</p><p>The second main category is the Parenthetical Dash, in which dashes are deployed in pairs and set off nonessential elements of the sentence. When using dashes this way, limit yourself to one pair per sentence. (More than that produces confusion about exactly what is meant to be set off by the dashes, as in this sentence from a well-known piece of social criticism: “While an ethic of justice proceeds from the premise of equality—that everyone should be treated the same—an ethic of care rests on the premise of nonviolence—that no one should be hurt.”) In addition, make sure dashes are placed in such a way that, if the material within them is removed, the sentence still makes sense.</p><p>A third purpose of dashes is to indicate disjointedness. This function shows up in dialogue (“I saw Bill yesterday — wait, is that a helicopter up there? — never mind”), in prose with a stream-of-consciousness quality, and in poetry, and is subject to no rules at all.</p><div class="w427"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/22/opinion/draft-dash/draft-dash-blog427.gif" id="100000001859656" width="427" height="425" alt=""/><span class="credit">Peter Arkle</span> <span class="caption"></span></div><p>The Nobel Laureate of this form of punctuation in poetry was Emily Dickinson. Not only was she inordinately fond of the dash, she wrought impressive variations on it. As <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/308">one commentator has noted</a>, “Dashes [in her work] are either long or short; sometimes vertical, as if to indicate musical phrasing, and often elongated periods, as if to indicate a slightly different kind of pause.… Dickinson uses dashes musically, but also to create a sense of the indefinite, a different kind of pause, an interruption of thought, to set off a list, as a semi-colon, as parentheses, or to link two thoughts together…”</p><p>In <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://www.cs.virginia.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap?user=ajf2j&script=BrowseSpace&BS_file=fascicle16.bsp&BS_node=fs1601">Dickinson’s original manuscript of her poem</a> that begins “Before I got my eye put out,” she punctuated the third stanza this way:</p><blockquote><p>The meadows—mine–<br/> The mountains—mine–<br/> All forests—stintless stars–<br/> As much of noon, as I could take–<br/> Between my finite eyes–</p></blockquote><p>Until very recently, Dickinson’s editors tended to convert her dashes into more standard punctuation marks, with distressingly homogenized results. Thus the 1924 edition of her work renders the above stanza this way:</p><blockquote><p> The meadows mine, the mountains mine,—<br/> All forests, stintless stars,<br/> As much of noon as I could take<br/> Between my finite eyes.</p></blockquote><p>At the end of the first line, one can glimpse a comma-dash combo — a punctuational move that was a favorite of the Victorian age and went out of fashion not long after 1924.</p><p>Dickinson went a little jiggy with it, admittedly, but in poetry and prose alike, the dash is a freewheelin’ punctuation mark. The Parenthetical Dash can stand in for a pair of commas or parentheses. The Pause Dash can take the place of a period, comma, semicolon — or nothing at all!</p><p>So when should you use the dash? Writers who deploy this mark comfortably and adeptly (rather than haphazardly) are conscious of the rhythm and dynamics of a sentence. A well-placed dash adds energy and voice. The period is sometimes referred to as a “full stop,” and I think of the dash as fully a three-quarters stop. It proposes a long pause — slightly longer than a parenthesis, significantly longer than a comma — that in a subtle way calls attention to itself; as the linguist Geoffrey Nunberg has remarked, dashes are primarily found in “genres that permit reference to be made to the act of composition, whether the break indicated by the dash is genuine or artful invention…” (In other words, be wary of using them in an international treaty or a scientific paper.)</p><p>To get a sense of some of the things a dash can do, take a look at these pairs of quotes.</p><p>F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”:</p><blockquote><p>Thirty: the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair.</p><p>Thirty—the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair.</p></blockquote><p>Henry James, referring to Henry David Thoreau:</p><blockquote><p>He was worse than a provincial, he was parochial.</p><p>He was worse than a provincial—he was parochial.</p></blockquote><p>Mark Twain in “Autobiography”:</p><blockquote><p>…life does not consist mainly (or even largely) of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever blowing through one’s head.</p><p>…life does not consist mainly—or even largely—of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever blowing through one’s head.</p></blockquote><p>Twain’s “Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar”:</p><blockquote><p> Each person is born to one possession which outvalues all his others: his last breath.</p><p>Each person is born to one possession which outvalues all his others—his last breath.</p></blockquote><p>In all cases, both versions make sense and are grammatically correct. But the ones with the dash (the ones the authors actually wrote) seem to live and breathe, while the others just lie there on the page. Like hitting the right combination of buttons in a computer game, typing two hyphens on the keyboard — and thereby making a dash — can give your prose a burst of energy, as if by magic.</p><hr/><div class="w75 left"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/04/05/opinion/draft-ben-yagoda/draft-ben-yagoda-thumbStandard.jpg " alt="Ben Yagoda"/></div><p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://www.benyagoda.com/">Ben Yagoda</a> is a professor of English at the University of Delaware and the author of, among other books, “About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made” and “The Sound on the Page: Style and Voice in Writing.” He <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca">blogs for the Chronicle of Higher Education</a> and his own blog, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://britishisms.wordpress.com/">Not One-Off Britishisms</a>. His forthcoming book is “How to Not Write Bad.”</p></div></div><div class="entry-meta"><meta name="emailThisHash" content="VISXh/7m9wg9B6uDd4NnOA"><div class="shareTools shareToolsThemeClassic shareToolsThemeClassicHorizontal articleShareToolsBottom " data-shares="facebook|,twitter|,google|,save,email,showall|Share,print" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506oe_/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/mad-dash/" data-title="Draft: Mad Dash" data-description="One of the most versatile pieces of punctuation — the dash — doesn't seem to be subject to any rules."></div><div class="entry-tags"> <span class="tags"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/grammar/" rel="tag">Grammar</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/punctuation/" rel="tag">punctuation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/writing/" rel="tag">Writing</a> </span></div></div><hr/><div class="module nav nocontent"><div class="subColumn-3 opposingFloatControl wrap"><div class="element1"> <span class="previous kicker">Previous Post</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/flu-season-health-precautions/">Flu Season Health Precautions </a> <span class="byline">By TEDDY WAYNE</span></div><div class="column"><h4>Related Posts from Opinionator</h4><ul class="relatedPosts"><li><h6><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/the-most-comma-mistakes/" title="The Most Comma Mistakes ">The Most Comma Mistakes </a></h6></li><li><h6><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/24/the-dual-lives-of-the-biographer/" title="The Dual Lives of the Biographer">The Dual Lives of the Biographer</a></h6></li><li><h6><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/which-language-rules-to-flout-or-flaunt/" title="Which Language Rules to Flout. 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class="left"/> <a href="javascript:void(0);">Draft</a></div></li><li><div class="pointer"></div><div class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/16/opinion/Cavett_New/Cavett_New-custom1.jpg" alt="Dick Cavett" class="left"/> <a href="javascript:void(0);">Dick Cavett</a></div></li><li><div class="pointer"></div><div class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/inside-education25.png" alt="Schooling" class="left"/> <a href="javascript:void(0);">Schooling</a></div></li><li id="overlayTrigger_controller" class="moreContributors"><a href="javascript:void(0);">More Contributors</a><div class="opposingFloatControl tabOverlayShadow clearfix hidden"><ul class="element1 flushBottom"><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/disunion/disunion25.gif" alt="Disunion" class="left"/> <span class="author">Disunion</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/fixes/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/fixes25.gif" alt="Fixes" class="left"/> <span class="author">Fixes</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/linda-greenhouse/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/16/opinion/Greenhouse_New/Greenhouse_New-custom1.jpg" alt="Linda Greenhouse" class="left"/> <span class="author">Linda Greenhouse</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/stanley-fish/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/16/opinion/Fish_New/Fish_New-custom1.jpg" alt="Stanley Fish" class="left"/> <span class="author">Stanley Fish</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-conversation/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/theconversation25.gif" alt="The Conversation" class="left"/> <span class="author">The Conversation</span> </a></li></ul><ul class="element2 flushBottom"><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/things-i-saw/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/things-i-saw/things-i-saw25.png" alt="Things I Saw" class="left"/> <span class="author">Things I Saw</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/thomas-b-edsall/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/01/08/opinion/Edsall-profile/Edsall-profile-custom2-v2.tiff" alt="Thomas B. Edsall" class="left"/> <span class="author">Thomas B. Edsall</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/timothy-egan/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/16/opinion/Egan_New/Egan_New-custom1.jpg" alt="Timothy Egan" class="left"/> <span class="author">Timothy Egan</span> </a></li><li> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/townies/" class="wrap"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/townies25.gif" alt="Townies" class="left"/> <span class="author">Townies</span> </a></li><li class="allContributors"><a href="/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/contributors/" class="wrap"><span class="author">All Contributors and Series »</span></a></li></ul></div></li></ul></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 13, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/what-is-a-hacktivist/" title="What is a ‘Hacktivist’?">What is a ‘Hacktivist’? </a></h5><p>The death of Aaron Swartz is sure to heat up the ‘lexical warfare’ over the meaning of the word ‘hacktivism.’</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 10, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-joy-of-zadie-smith-and-thomas-aquinas/" title="The Joy of Zadie Smith and Thomas Aquinas">The Joy of Zadie Smith and Thomas Aquinas</a></h5><p>Bringing together the writing of two very different thinkers to illuminate a fundamental question.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-stone/">More From The Stone »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 12, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/someones-knocking-at-my-door/" title="Someone’s Knocking at My Door">Someone’s Knocking at My Door</a></h5><p>A Hungarian novelist awaits a visit from hate and violence personified.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 5, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/diary-of-a-creep/" title="Diary of a Creep">Diary of a Creep</a></h5><p>I’m a creep. I know this because people — mostly but not always random strangers — tell me so.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/anxiety/">More From Anxiety »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 12, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/writing-about-what-haunts-us/" title="Writing About What Haunts Us">Writing About What Haunts Us</a></h5><p>I’ve been trying to lie about this story for years.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 5, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/rapturous-research/" title="Rapturous Research">Rapturous Research</a></h5><p>I have a compulsion: I am addicted to looking things up.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/draft/">More From Draft »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 11, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/back-when-i-was-packing/" title="Back When I Was Packing">Back When I Was Packing</a></h5><p>A movie-spawned fascination with Lugers bumps up against the reality of today’s assault weapons.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">December 14, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/only-in-my-dreams/" title="Only in My Dreams?">Only in My Dreams?</a></h5><p>Waking life can be as surreal, alarming and absurd as the other kind.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/dick-cavett/">More From Dick Cavett »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 11, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/the-dicey-parent-teacher-duet/" title="The Dicey Parent-Teacher Duet">The Dicey Parent-Teacher Duet </a></h5><p>When does a helping hand become a total nuisance?</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">December 20, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/preparing-students-for-a-newtown-like-disaster/" title="Preparing Students for a Newtown-like Disaster">Preparing Students for a Newtown-like Disaster</a></h5><p>Children are already thinking about gunmen in schools, every time they have a lockdown drill.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/schooling/">More From Schooling »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 11, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/a-strange-sail/" title="A Strange Sail">A Strange Sail</a></h5><p>The short but pitched battle between the Hatteras and the Alabama was unique, and had long-lasting military consequences.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 10, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-spectacular-rise-and-fall-of-fitz-john-porter/" title="The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Fitz John Porter">The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Fitz John Porter</a></h5><p>Arrogant and incompetent, or a Civil War hero wronged by a petty former commander?</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/">More From Disunion »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 10, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-longest-nights/" title="The Longest Nights">The Longest Nights</a></h5><p>Gray skies and short days are conducive to creativity, or, in any event, to work.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 3, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/beginnings/" title="Beginnings">Beginnings</a></h5><p>A 2013 wish list, for Congress, the NFL and certain individuals far too self-regarding to mention here.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/timothy-egan/">More From Timothy Egan »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 10, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/forced-entry/" title="Forced Entry">Forced Entry</a></h5><p>Was I an accomplice to a rescue, or a break-in?</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 3, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/arianna-huffington-and-me/" title="Arianna Huffington and Me">Arianna Huffington and Me</a></h5><p>The first in a month of Townies essays from Washington, D.C.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/townies/">More From Townies »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 9, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/things-i-saw-no-52/" title="Things I Saw — No. 52">Things I Saw — No. 52</a></h5><p>The artist draws things he saw in Michigan, Indiana, New York and Canada.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 3, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/things-i-saw-no-51/" title="Things I Saw — No. 51">Things I Saw — No. 51</a></h5><p>The artist draws things he saw in Michigan and Ohio.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/things-i-saw/">More From Things I Saw »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 9, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/robert-borks-tragedy/" title="Robert Bork’s Tragedy">Robert Bork’s Tragedy</a></h5><p>Judge Bork was a tragic figure, not because he was dealt an unjust hand when he was rejected for the Supreme Court — he wasn’t — but because of his inability to understand what had happened.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">December 26, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/the-n-r-a-at-the-bench/" title="The N.R.A. at the Bench">The N.R.A. at the Bench</a></h5><p>The National Rifle Association has taken an increasingly active role in judicial nominations.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/linda-greenhouse/">More From Linda Greenhouse »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 9, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/the-obama-coalition-vs-corporate-america/" title="The Obama Coalition vs. Corporate America">The Obama Coalition vs. Corporate America</a></h5><p>How much does the shape and scope of the president’s electoral success threaten the policy-making ascendancy of big business?</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/thomas-b-edsall/">More From Thomas B. Edsall »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 9, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/hagelian-dialectic/" title="Hagelian Dialectic">Hagelian Dialectic</a></h5><p>Brooks and Collins on the defense nominee and the intertwined fates of his former colleagues Biden, Clinton, Lieberman, McCain, Graham — and Obama.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 2, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/the-fiscal-riff/" title="The Fiscal Riff">The Fiscal Riff</a></h5><p>Brooks and Collins on some other cliffs we might fall off and the overlooked virtues of constitutional monarchy.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-conversation/">More From The Conversation »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 8, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/for-drug-users-hope-in-a-swift-response/" title="For Drug Users, a Swift Response Is the Best Medicine">For Drug Users, a Swift Response Is the Best Medicine</a></h5><p>An initiative in Vermont has shown that, for drug offenders, quick intervention and treatment, not drawn-out court punishments, work best.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">December 19, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/at-years-end-news-of-a-global-health-success/" title="At Year’s End, News of a Global Health Success">At Year’s End, News of a Global Health Success</a></h5><p>The stunning drop in global child mortality is proof that poor countries are not doomed to eternal misery. Here’s how it happened.</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/fixes/">More From Fixes »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 7, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/favoritism-is-good/" title="Favoritism Is Good">Favoritism Is Good</a></h5><p>An argument for the double standard, abetted by a new book about fairness.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">December 24, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/religious-exemptions-and-the-liberal-state-a-christmas-column/" title="Religious Exemptions and the Liberal State: A Christmas Column">Religious Exemptions and the Liberal State: A Christmas Column</a></h5><p>A new book asks, should religion enjoy a special status not granted to other world views or systems of belief?</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/stanley-fish/">More From Stanley Fish »</a></p></div></div><div class="tabContent"><div class="entry"> <span class="date">January 7, 2013</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/favoritism-is-good/" title="Favoritism Is Good">Favoritism Is Good</a></h5><p>An argument for the double standard, abetted by a new book about fairness.</p></div><div class="entry"> <span class="date">December 24, 2012</span><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/religious-exemptions-and-the-liberal-state-a-christmas-column/" title="Religious Exemptions and the Liberal State: A Christmas Column">Religious Exemptions and the Liberal State: A Christmas Column</a></h5><p>A new book asks, should religion enjoy a special status not granted to other world views or systems of belief?</p></div><div class="entry"><p class="more"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/stanley-fish/">More From Stanley Fish »</a></p></div></div></div><script type="text/javascript">NYTD.TabSet("tabWidget-7");</script><script type="text/javascript">new NYTD.Blogs.TabSetOverlayRevealer('overlayTrigger_controller').init();</script></div><div class="box module nocontent ad" id="MiddleRight"><div class="bigAdContainer"> <script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_MiddleRight != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_MiddleRight] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_MiddleRight]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_MiddleRight == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_MiddleRight] == "undefined")) { if($("MiddleRight")) { $("MiddleRight").hide(); } } //</script><noscript><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=cookie&pos=MiddleRight"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_remote.html?type=noscript&page=blog.nytimes.com/opinionator/post&posall=XXL,AdShareData,PushDown,FixedPanel,TopAd,Bar1,Position1,Position1B,Top5,SponLink,MiddleRight,Box1,Box3,Box3A,Bottom3,Right5A,Right6A,Right7A,Right8A,Middle1C,Bottom7,Bottom8,Bottom9,Header1,Header2,Header3,Inv1,Inv2,CcolumnSS,Middle4,Left1B,Frame6A,Left2,Left3,Left4,Left5,Left6,Left7,Left8,Left9,JMNow1,JMNow2,JMNow3,JMNow4,JMNow5,JMNow6,Feature1,Spon3,ADX_CLIENTSIDE,SponLink2&pos=MiddleRight&query=qstring&keywords=?"></a></noscript></div></div><div class="box module nocontent opinionHighlights"><h4>Opinionator Highlights</h4><div class="entry"><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/what-is-a-hacktivist/" title="What is a ‘Hacktivist’?">What is a ‘Hacktivist’?</a></h5><h6 class="byline">By PETER LUDLOW</h6><p class="summary">The death of Aaron Swartz is sure to heat up the ‘lexical warfare’ over the meaning of the word ‘hacktivism.’</p></div><div class="entry"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/someones-knocking-at-my-door/"><img alt="Thumbnail" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/anxiety/anxiety75.gif" class="w75 right"/></a><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/someones-knocking-at-my-door/" title="Someone’s Knocking at My Door">Someone’s Knocking at My Door</a></h5><h6 class="byline">By LáSZLó KRASZNAHORKAI</h6><p class="summary">A Hungarian novelist awaits a visit from hate and violence personified.</p></div><div class="entry"><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-joy-of-zadie-smith-and-thomas-aquinas/" title="The Joy of Zadie Smith and Thomas Aquinas">The Joy of Zadie Smith and Thomas Aquinas</a></h5><h6 class="byline">By GARY GUTTING</h6><p class="summary">Bringing together the writing of two very different thinkers to illuminate a fundamental question.</p></div><div class="entry"><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/for-drug-users-hope-in-a-swift-response/" title="For Drug Users, a Swift Response Is the Best Medicine">For Drug Users, a Swift Response Is the Best Medicine</a></h5><h6 class="byline">By DAVID BORNSTEIN</h6><p class="summary">An initiative in Vermont has shown that, for drug offenders, quick intervention and treatment, not drawn-out court punishments, work best.</p></div><div class="entry"><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/the-freedom-of-faith-a-christmas-sermon/" title="The Freedom of Faith: A Christmas Sermon">The Freedom of Faith: A Christmas Sermon</a></h5><h6 class="byline">By SIMON CRITCHLEY</h6><p class="summary">What the Grand Inquisitor scene in “The Brothers Karamazov” can tell us about the meaning of faith, freedom, happiness and the diabolic satisfaction of our desires.</p></div></div><div class="box module nocontent"><h4>Previous Series</h4><div class="entry"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/line-by-line/"><img alt="Thumbnail" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/linebyline/linebyline75.gif" class="w75 right"/></a><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/line-by-line/" title="Line by Line">Line by Line</a></h5><p class="summary">A series on the basics of drawing, presented by the artist and author James McMullan, beginning with line, perspective, proportion and structure.</p></div><div class="entry"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/steven-strogatz/"><img alt="Thumbnail" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/opinionator/contributors/strogatz75.jpg" class="w75 right"/></a><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/steven-strogatz/" title="Steven Strogatz">The Elements of Math</a></h5><p class="summary">A series on math, from the basic to the baffling, by Steven Strogatz. Beginning with why numbers are helpful and finishing with the mysteries of infinity.</p></div><div class="entry"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/living-rooms/"><img alt="Thumbnail" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs_v3/opinionator/pogs/livingrooms75.gif" class="w75 right"/></a><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/living-rooms/" title="Living Rooms">Living Rooms</a></h5><p class="summary">The past, present and future of domestic life, with contributions from artists, journalists, design experts and historians.</p></div><div class="entry"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/specimens/"><img alt="Thumbnail" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506im_/http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/specimens/specimens-75.gif" class="w75 right"/></a><h5><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/specimens/" title="Specimens">Specimens</a></h5><p class="summary">This series by Richard Conniff looks at how species discovery has transformed our lives.</p></div></div><div class="box module nocontent feeds"><h4>Subscribe</h4><div class="entry subColumn-2"><div class="column"><ul class="rssCcolumn flushBottom"><li><a title="Subscribe to Opinionator RSS Feed" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/feed/">Opinionator RSS</a></li></ul></div><div class="column lastColumn"><ul class="rssCcolumn flushBottom"><li><a title="Subscribe to Draft RSS Feed" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130115025506/http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/draft/feed/">Draft RSS</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="box module nocontent ad" id="Box1"> <script type="text/javascript">/*<![CDATA[*/// if ((typeof adxpos_Box1 != "undefined") && (typeof adxads[adxpos_Box1] != "undefined")){document.write(adxads[adxpos_Box1]);} ///*]]>*/</script><script type="text/javascript">// if ((typeof adxpos_Box1 == "undefined") || (typeof adxads[adxpos_Box1] == "undefined")) { if($("Box1")) { $("Box1").hide(); 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