• Home
  • About
    • Out There
    • Jeff Weinstein
    • Contact
    • Archives
  • AJBlog Central
  • ArtsJournal

Out There

Jeff Weinstein's Cultural Mixology

You are here: Home / Archives for Moby Dick

Potato Bravo

February 18, 2014 by Jeff Weinstein

Potatoes soak up words exactly as they soak up butter. Mash them in, stir them in, whip them in, makes no difference, they disappear. Descended into a silken maelström, language dissolves, and no amount or quality of writing can resist the potato's absorptive, neutralizing nature. Thoughtful or ardent spud poems are doomed in advance. Moby Dick was really the Great White Potato. My strategy here is to keep everything away from the brink because a single, recent kitchen victory -- stirring potatoes -- needn't go far. The only better ones I … [Read more...]

Jeff Weinstein

Based in New York, I've been an editor of arts coverage at New York's "Soho Weekly News" (1977-79); of visual arts and architecture criticism and much else at the "Village Voice" (1981-95, with a stint as managing editor of "Artforum"); of the fine arts at the "Philadelphia Inquirer" (1997-2006); of arts and culture at "Bloomberg News" (2006-07). Until recently... Read More…

Out There

The media make a potentially fatal mistake by dividing arts coverage into high and low, old and young, and by trivializing our passionate attraction to things. In Out There I propose that all creative expression has the potential to be both … [Read More...]

[DISPLAY_ACURAX_ICONS]

@JeffWeinstein

Tweets by @jeffweinstein

Recently & Elsewhere

I wrote and narrated a Daylight Magazine slideshow (click on "Read more" below to access it and the rest), an appreciation of the late photographer Milton Rogovin. Also one about the late photographer Helen Levitt. To go back in time, kindly click … [Read More...]

Archives

Recent Comments

  • Jeff Weinstein on The Thursday Store, and a Dream: “And a happy one to you, Elizabeth. Funny that those Catskill eggs didn’t smash.” Dec 31, 14:28
  • Elizabeth Zimmer on The Thursday Store, and a Dream: “I love the tone of this. My grandmother was a farmer in the Catskills. She’ sold eggs, and would mail…” Dec 31, 08:26
  • Jeff Weinstein on The Thursday Store, and a Dream: “Hope I see you too. Thanks!” Dec 31, 02:46
  • Carol Felsenthal on The Thursday Store, and a Dream: “There’s something to be said for staying awhile; for watching the evolution of a neighborhood, from the same building, same…” Dec 30, 18:23
  • Meredith Brody on The Thursday Store, and a Dream: “Such a lovely piece, dear Jeff Weinstein. Such a great picture. I’m overwhelmed by memories. Hope that you and your…” Dec 30, 15:43
Return to top of page

an ArtsJournal blog

This blog published under a Creative Commons license

Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in