Word: small-town
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Larry North -- he was known by his middle name to distinguish him from his father and grandfather, both Olivers -- seemed the exemplar of the small-town American boy. Polite and good-natured, he could also be something of a daredevil, leaping off railroad bridges and exploring nearby caves. He was not much of a scholar; if he stood out in school, it was by virtue of diligence, not brilliance. He tried so hard, recalls one of his teachers, that "if he had an 89 average, you'd give...
...town of about 300 residents, where I live on 67 acres of land, which includes a barn and a pond teeming with bass and bluegill. To the person who claims life in Southern California is "like being on vacation except you get to live here," I say small-town life is better yet: like being retired, except you get to go to work...
Then one confronts not a gimmicky variant on a formula but a chilling experience called River's Edge. Tim Hunter, who directed Tex and co-wrote Over the Edge, movies about angry and isolated young men, may not have dealt with an alienated group before, but his vision of small-town American life is remarkably consistent. He works only in gray tones. The sun never shines on his world of ranchette homes and convenience stores. Adults exist only as malevolent authority figures...
Though Walton has achieved folk-hero status in small-town America, his company has its critics. The country's 100,000 independent manufacturer's representatives are currently incensed at Wal-Mart, claiming that the chain is trying to run them out of business by dealing directly with its suppliers. Meanwhile, Mom-and-pop-store owners contend that Wal-Mart's cut-rate prices have helped wipe out Main Street shopping. In the past, Wal-Mart's conservative management has drawn some flak for being too slow to promote women, which the company says is untrue, and for being too quick...
...opening moments of Arthur Miller's first great play sketch a leafy backyard world as lazily enticing, and as deceptive, as the small-town dream that unfolds in the 1986 film Blue Velvet. As these neighbors in shirt sleeves slowly survey the morning, meander through a newspaper, savor a cigar, audience members cannot help longing to live in this clapboard paradise. . Until, that is, they find out what it is really like. The corruption beneath the surface in Blue Velvet is trendily psychosexual. In All My Sons it is economic and political. At the root of the play's evil...