Buffy's high school was built on top of a vortex of evil, the Hellmouth. And whose wasn't?

Along with voting, jury duty, and paying taxes, goofing off is one of the central obligations of American citizenship.

Oh my dear, idealists are the cruelest monsters of them all.

Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, Robert Lincoln bought a nice ski lodge.

Relics are treasured as something close to the divine.

I discovered that Robert Todd Lincoln was there for each of the first three assassinations. I wanted to write about the Lincoln Memorial, so when I found out he had attended its dedication, that helped focus it further.

In these fast and fickle times, it’s nice to know that there are some things you can always count on: the enduring brilliance of the last page of The Great Gatsby; the near-religious harmonies of the Beach Boys’ “California Girls”; and the lifelong friendship of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.