I’m not saying he’s not a man’s man, but Chester Bennington used to drive a sparkly silver PT Cruiser. I know this because he used to live next door to my good friend, and he did not utilize his parking garage. But perhaps he doesn’t need a fancy SUV; he has the grandeur of a world tour, and an arena full of cheering fans that live for the sensation that is Linkin Park. A show postponed by a bout of illness, the size of the audience at American Airlines Center has not been thwarted. “You ready to have some fun?” Chester asks the crowd. As the band opens with “Faint,” his vocals prove to be a bit ahead of the beat, but unharmed, nonetheless. ...
Literature is just as subjective a creative pursuit as any other. Sure there’s some technique involved in executing a practically perfect piece, but just as many startlingly amazing subversions exist as well. So don’t take this list as anything beyond one writer’s opinion. Heightened blood pressure over what books have and have not been included is more than a wee bit silly. All the novels featured here cover the dual nature of American culture, politics, history, acculturation and more. From a diverse selection of perspectives, they analyze some corner of this supposed "Dream" that everyone in the nation is supposed to share – particularly how it means something different to different people and doesn’t always play out as expected. Though many of these vivisect highly familiar (if not universal) themes and archetypes, they couldn’t have been written anywhere else. 1. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe: This impassioned anti-slavery novel helped stimulate the Abolitionist movement and further drive wedges between the American North and South, making it one of the most culturally significant fictitious works in the nation’s literary canon....