Time for you to reflect on your life: Are you in the youthful, post-college "couch phase" where you are just getting by? Or have you graduated to the more mature "sofa phase" representing permanence, some disposable income, and a bit of existential solidity? For metaphorical guidance, former WaPo and current NPR reporter Linton Weeks waxes poetic about the conventional, yet often overlooked, household object and how it's so much more than a place to rest our rears. Insisting the sofa (or couch) is "home base, North Star, study carrel, dining booth and royal throne rolled into one", Weeks explains the histories of the ubiquitous furniture and (maybe) projects a bit too much meaning into its representation. [NPR] -- George Perkins
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