Category Archives: Uncategorized

Seven Days, Seven Towns, 1400 miles

I spent most of the last week on the road, travelling through four states (NY, VT, NJ and PA), mostly for my new job, but with a side vacation including a visit to rednoodlealien and her husband. It was hectic, … Continue reading

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Sane Grandma

The anagrammers on Flatbush Avenue have apparently ended their run.

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Walk the Line: Fact and Fiction

We finally saw Walk the Line this afternoon and I can’t say enough good things about it. Phoenix and Witherspoon are spectactular; she in particular absolutely lights up the screen and if anything sings better than June Carter did in … Continue reading

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A Strike Song

Just in time for its conclusion, I’ve written a song about the transit strike. The song is still pertinent, though, since the issues raised by the strike aren’t going to go away when service returns. I’ve taken some creative license … Continue reading

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Then they came for the transit workers…

My grandfather worked multiple manual-labor jobs for much of his youth, and finally “made it” when he got a job for NYC Transit as a token booth clerk. He bought a house and raised his son on that salary and … Continue reading

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John Lennon

Twenty-five years ago this morning, my dad came into our bedroom as we were getting ready for school and asked if I’d heard the news that John Lennon had been shot. For some reason I remember Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart” … Continue reading

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Smoke ’em if you got ’em (and if you’re rich, white and drunk)

The Wall Street Journal today ran a great front-page piece on the hookah bars in Queens, which are coming under pressure (who are the “neighbors” that are complaining???) since they illegally permit smoking. The hookah bars do not qualify for … Continue reading

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Your right to vote (and to have it counted)

If you’ve read about the nightmares of potential voting fraud all over the country, and the scary prospect of having your votes counted by Republican campaign contributors, then don’t think as a New Yorker you’ll be immune from those problems … Continue reading

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What Red States?

I think the red-state blue-state view of the country is overly simplistic, but nonetheless this map from the Daily Kos is amusing.

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Yes, I’m still a writer…

Back in the spring, I collaborated on a pair of brief articles with Barry Bealer, CEO of Really Strategies, a content-management consultancy, about standards and how they’re used in the real world. (Standards in this instance meaning markup languages for … Continue reading

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