Great Articles of the Past
Obscenity, Television and the FCC
"Since, according to
the FCC's own records,
American broadcasters enjoy
well over 25% return, annually,
on invested dollar
(one of the highest of any industry),
they should welcome this
relatively elegant method
of self-regulation."

READINGS
The Nun's Tale
"In America
a woman is worth as much
as a man, if not more.
There women smoke in public,
wear trousers, drive a car
to their office, and divorce
when it suits them."

Bicycles, Cars, and High Art
"The bicycle brought on
important technical innovations like
the pneumatic tire, breakthroughs in ball bearings,
seamless steel tubes (for the bicycle's frame)
and the first use of stamped sheet metal (in 1890)."

Prior Configurations and Tipping Points
"The Roman road measurements
stemmed from the rear-end widths
of the two horses pulling war chariots.
Now it turns out the same dimension
carries into the solid rocket boosters
used to launch the U.S. space shuttle."

POETRY
Three by Langston Hughes
"They took me out/ To some lonesome place.
They said, 'Do you believe/ In the great white race?'
I said, 'Mister,/ To tell you the truth,
I'd believe in anything/ If you'd just turn me loose.'"

Three More by Langston Hughes
"The Negro/With the trumpet at his lips
Whose jacket/Has a fine one-button roll,
Does not know/Upon what riff the music slips
Its hypodermic needle/To his soul."

THE OFFICIAL RALPH
Paradox-of-the-Month

GENERAL INDEX
A complete list of all books reviewed in RALPH,
arranged by title, including author, subject, and publisher,
plus a listing of all readings, articles and poems
that have appeared since 1994.

A PITHY SAMPLE
of our most notorious reviews
as collected in the hard-copy
"FOLIO"

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