Notes on Lenguas Largas’s “Is This Still Laughing Hyenas”?

"Is This Still Laughing Hyenas" cover

It’s so cold when I get home from work, twelve degrees according to my car’s thermometer, and windy. The snow crunches underfoot as I walk to the front door. The kitchen is chilly too, but I’m distracted, wondering if this would be a good time to call the bank and try to recover $250 that disappeared from my checking account. I put on a sweatshirt over my work shirt and realize I’m wearing my winter hat. 

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A Dog’s Life, A Dog’s Book: On George Pelecanos’s “Buster: A Dog”

"Buster: A Dog"

George Pelecanos is a polymath who understands the Washington D.C. – area more than most authors. He was born in Washington D.C., he currently lives in Silver Springs, and he has fictionalized life in the beltway through scores of crime novels and story collections. Pelecanos’s creations are stark, also witnessed through his work as a TV writer and producer. His credits in this space include The Wire, about illegal drug trade and institutional corruption, The Deuce, about New York’s sex trade in the 1970s, and We Own This City, about police corruption.

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