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Robert David Sullivan

Recent Activity

Yes, population decline is bad

I just wrote a column for America magazine about population decline in the United States and how to prevent it. Hint: "Given the limitations of family-friendly government policies, there is no way to stave off population decline without turning to... Continue reading

Posted May 15, 2021 at Robert David Sullivan

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Second shot, second shot at life?

I got my second (Pfizer) shot last Monday, so I'm almost at the fully vaccinated stage and will be returning to my madcap Manhattan social life once I can find pants that fit. I may return to posting on this... Continue reading

Posted May 2, 2021 at Robert David Sullivan

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How immigration affects the three Americas

I've been remiss in posting on this page because I haven't been writing much, but I did write the cover story in the latest issue of America magazine, so please take a look if you're interested in the history of... Continue reading

Posted Oct 27, 2019 at Robert David Sullivan

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14 maps on how the Democrats and Republicans carved up America

My newest project at America magazine details when each county in the U.S. adopted its current political hue. From the intro: If this year’s presidential election is at all competitive, we will see the major candidates zero in on a... Continue reading

Posted Jun 29, 2016 at Robert David Sullivan

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Why You Will Be Single With the Wrong Person

“IT’S one of the things we are most afraid might happen to us. We go to great lengths to avoid it. And yet we do it all the same: We marry the wrong person.”—Alain de Botton, “Why You Will Marry... Continue reading

Posted Jun 11, 2016 at Robert David Sullivan

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Truthiness and a summing up of the Obama presidency

I've been remiss in posting here, but busy at my paying job at America magazine. I wrote the cover story in our next print edition (not the one at right, but that's a good one too!), on the "15 Ways... Continue reading

Posted May 24, 2016 at Robert David Sullivan

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How to be gay without being gay

I recently wrote a post called “Better to Stay in the Closet” on self-esteem issues, and several gay men told me they’ve had similar experiences. Others have been curious about sexual abstinence. Almost no one has to be celibate, they... Continue reading

Posted Mar 19, 2016 at Robert David Sullivan

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Better to stay in the closet

Recently I noted on Facebook that I came out as gay about 25 years ago and that I would have been better off staying in the closet but going to the gym. A couple of people told me privately that... Continue reading

Posted Mar 12, 2016 at Robert David Sullivan

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David Sedaris was my best friend for one afternoon

We’re coming up to the 20th anniversary of my friendship with NPR favorite David Sedaris, which led to one of my most-read pieces of writing: an interview that appeared in the February 1997 issue of the “One in Ten” gay-and-lesbian... Continue reading

Posted Dec 28, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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Haunting the gay bars of Boston

My good friend Peter Muise just wrote about the possible haunting of Boston's premier (and only) drag bar, Jacques, at his New England Folklore blog. Never one to overlook a productive way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon in New... Continue reading

Posted Nov 29, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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New gay porn for men over 50

Imagine yourself in these scenarios! • "Looks like we're snowed in," announces the ski instructor, a hottie from Montreal named Jean-Pierre, to you and the four college students who have taken shelter in a tiny lodge just outside Aspen. Kevin,... Continue reading

Posted Nov 28, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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Getting dizzy at age 52

I'm a couple of weeks away from turning 52, and just looking at that number made me feel as if I had tumbled out of a window. It takes just a second to reassure myself that I'm not falling yet.... Continue reading

Posted Nov 22, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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New York, this is my last chance

Moving to New York at age 51—what was I thinking? Well, I didn't do much thinking about it. I was offered a good and exciting job in New York and I could no longer afford my apartment in Boston anyway.... Continue reading

Posted Nov 1, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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My mother is overhoused

The rents in my apartment building are going up again this fall (new living situation needed, in Boston or New York!), and my mother is indignant enough for both of us. “I can’t understand it,” she said last week, as... Continue reading

Posted Jul 8, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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10 reasons for me to feel Gay Pride

It’s Pride Week in Boston! So far, I’m spending it in my apartment getting headaches from the backhoes tearing up a parking lot on the next block and the six-year-old boy upstairs stomping around as if his apartment were carpeted... Continue reading

Posted Jun 10, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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Taking a break from financial ruin with the old man

Last night, a Friday, I started to do my taxes and realized I was in the kind of financial situation that people kill themselves over. I took a break and watched something on Netflix in which some schlubby guy did... Continue reading

Posted Apr 13, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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March update: Meltdown

Like so many in New England, I spent February and much of March hallucinating about what could be under our enormous snowdrifts (tunnels from North Korea? graboids?), but I got some writing done. My column in the print edition of... Continue reading

Posted Mar 17, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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Boston’s new slogan: “Don’t sweat it”

Lean into it, Boston. I know, you’re depressed by two weeks of frostbite temperatures and more than five feet of snow. You’re furious to discover that your public-transportation system is just a movie set, always ready to shine in its... Continue reading

Posted Feb 16, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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Is it anti-democratic to eat at Chipotle instead of McDonald’s?

The Washington Post ’s Roberto A. Ferdman writes about the success of “fast casual food,” a type of counter-service restaurant that “has grown by 550 percent since 1999, more than ten times the growth seen in the fast food industry... Continue reading

Posted Feb 10, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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Norman Lear on TV comedy and studio audiences

Vox's Todd VanDerWerff has a nice interview with 92-year-old television producer Norman Lear, who created All in the Family, Maude, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and other landmark series in the 1970s. As VanDerWerff writes, Lear "took a medium that seemed... Continue reading

Posted Feb 9, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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The disappearance of jobs as a political issue and other SOTU thoughts

This week I covered the State of the Union address for my (Un)Conventional blog at America magazine. On Friday, I noted that President Obama didn't talk so much about creating jobs as about providing some financial security when jobs aren't... Continue reading

Posted Jan 24, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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New expressions for cold weather

•Draftier than a Swiss kilt. •Windier than a line of Rockettes. •Nippier than an Aer Lingus drink cart. •Icier than a dowager countess. •Snowier than a UHF channel. (Ask your parents.) •Frozener than a feminist watching a Disney cartoon. •Brisker... Continue reading

Posted Jan 10, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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Just get on with it already, 2015

My Christmas present from my landlord was a $75 rent increase. Someone slipped the notice under my door while I was microwaving lunch last Saturday. There was a 90-second period when I couldn’t hear the paper sliding across the carpet,... Continue reading

Posted Jan 5, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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Misanthropic New Year’s resolutions for 2015

•Begin every Facebook update with “Hey, Sheeple!” •Gain 20 pounds for more effective manspreading on the subway. •Pronounce it “colonocsopy.” Correct anyone who says it differently. Insert the word into every conversation lasting more than a minute. •Spend 30 minutes... Continue reading

Posted Jan 2, 2015 at Robert David Sullivan

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The shaming frenzies around smart alecs from Harvard and MIT

One of the biggest stories in Boston this week, which quickly spread to national media, is about a Harvard Business School instructor nagging a Chinese restaurant for being overcharged $4. While not directly about politics, the Case of the Shredded... Continue reading

Posted Dec 12, 2014 at Robert David Sullivan

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