Julia Moskin checks out the new American Girl Place in Manhattan:

The American Girl Cafe is unmistakably kid-friendly – the chocolate mousse is sprinkled with crushed Oreo cookies, and the napkin rings can be used as hair scrunchies – but it is more reminiscent of Chanterelle than Chuck E. Cheese’s. Embraced by banquettes, plied with smoked salmon and shortbread, and served tea from china pots, American girls here learn the ways of the ladies who lunch.
“American Girl is for kids, but nothing we do is dumbed down,” said Kamille Adamany, the cafe’s manager, who was hired away from the prestigious L’Etoile restaurant in Madison, Wis.
The other night, Maddie Leonard of Pelham Manor, N.Y., observed her eighth birthday in one corner of the cafe with 11 friends and 12 dolls, some sporting crowns of braids fresh from the hair salon on the second floor (the salon specializes in returning frazzled dolls to factory condition).

Ang?lica Pence writes about Afghan War Rugs:

Narche jangi, or so-called “war rugs,” emerged in Afghanistan more than two decades ago during the Soviet occupation, when the Baluchi tribe began weaving the iconography of warfare — Kalashnikov rifles, jets, helicopters and hand grenades — into their textiles.
The rugs have since taken on the very modern imagery of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the ensuing war in Afghanistan. Much of the imagery is copied from television news reports and aerial propaganda leaflets dropped by the thousands across Afghanistan by U.S. armed forces. The most controversial depict jetliners crashing into the World Trade Center, or tiny black silhouettes plummeting from the smoking twin towers. And to the surprise of some, the divisive folk art has gained a considerable, almost cult-like following in North America.