Category Archives: In current ms.

I’m not in the habit of making New Year’s resolutions, but the last few years have brought home to me how much I have let myself become isolated. At first, by burning all my energy on the pyre of the … Continue reading →

Most of the time, time runs slow; change is gradual. But not always. Sometimes change is Ai-yi-yi!, sudden as a heart attack, or so it seemed when I was 14. At the Turn of the Year Like many a 14-year-old … Continue reading →

I’ve gotten a little long in the tooth to be punching people in the face, though there are times when I am still tempted. Then I remember the pointlessness of it all and the stupid-making effects of holding on to … Continue reading →

It’s a natural response to gawk at disaster, smashed cars, burning houses, crime-scene tape going up by the flashing lights of police cars. As Thurgood Marshall said, “I love peace, but I  adore a riot.” And it’s true, right up until … Continue reading →

Anyone who started their driving career in the North Country herded a lot of junk from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Unless they had family money or a clandestine pharmaceutical business, rusted-out death traps were the only wheels on offer for … Continue reading →

Another poem boiled down from one of my Listening Post columns. While it is not necessarily 100% true, it is certainly truth-adjacent, as many long-suffering North Country women can attest. A North Country Guy’s Guide to North Country Guys A newcomer to … Continue reading →

Japanese knotweed, or Japonica, is a nearly unkillable invasive ornamental that will fight it out with the cockroaches and rats for control of the post-apocalyptic wasteland, I predict. Or maybe I’m just sore from all the digging. Knotweed In early … Continue reading →

I went to get my hair cut the other day, something I do a few times a year whether I need it or not. The now-unisex business dated back to 1958, so while waiting my turn I fell into a … Continue reading →

This is another poem extracted from a prose piece written for NCPR’s newsletter, The Listening Post. I spent a July day in 2015 in Ogdensburg where I had a ringside seat for the Seaway Festival Parade. I was staffing an … Continue reading →

I grew up in a different world known as the ’50s and ’60s. Men still wore fedoras and women still wore white gloves to church. There was a Green Stamps redemption center downtown, the original cash-back credit scheme. I attended … Continue reading →