The Archives
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Late Night Musings
A Strange October
09.22.08 | Permalink | 2 Comments…but it’s all right, it’s all right
for we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
road we’re traveling on
I wonder what’s gone wrong…
–Paul Simon
Late this autumn the wrecking ball will finally hit old Yankee Stadium, and then hit it again, until it’s a pile of dust on the ground; a ground waiting to […] -
Micro-Fiction
“Bad Day”
Max stood in the middle of his small apartment staring at the mattress on the floor; it was, besides him and a laundry basket, all that was in the tiny room. But he didn’t dare lay on it, lest his soaked clothes should dampen it and ruin the only pleasure he had of late: sleeping. […]
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Micro-Fiction
“Gramercy Dumpster”
It was a giant purple thing, stuck, for several days, between a Prius and a Cooper. And Tom Armstrong, a resident of 34 Gramercy Park East, was right when he said, “I wouldn’t want a car that was that beat up to be outside on our streets, much less a reeking dumpster!” But there it was, a purple-blight amongst the lush green that was Manhattan’s last private neighborhood. Everyone who had to walk their tiny dogs past the thing, whether a resident or employee, would do so with a disgusted grimace. Everyone except the residents of the Co-op on 38, whose dumpster it was. -
City Life
iObstructionist: A crackup at the NYC Apple Store on iPhone Day
iPhone G3 release day at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store.
Okay, I think I’ve made my point now.
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Micro-Fiction
“Kingdom Come”
“Liberty Univer…” Mark stopped. It was the first time either of them had said that, the word “kill”. Madison Square was completely dark now except for a few people at the enclosed dog-run. -
City Life
A Fitting Memorial
06.04.08 | Permalink | 3 CommentsOf all the gleamy eyed people I’ve heard speak with wonder and awe at New York’s new “Freedom Tower”, I’ve yet to meet any that actually live in New York. The secret, one kept hidden from our countrymen by politicians, is that the plan, design, and execution of this titan has been despised by city […]
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City Life
Something Is Rotten In The City of New York
By now I think I’ve made it perfectly clear: I’m not an expert on anything. I don’t know what company leads the nation in crane production, or what type of fuel cranes run on, or how many moving parts cranes have, or even if there are different type of cranes. But as a reluctant student […]
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City Life
The Yiddish Walk Of Fame
For some reason, Second Ave. seems to be more densely populated with history than any other single street in New York, perhaps in the Western Hemisphere. There could be a number of reasons for this, one being that the mythological Second Avenue Subway, that has been “under construction” since my grandfather arrived off the boat, […]
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Micro-Fiction
“Central Park South”
It was a beautiful lighter. It was too dark out for Max to see whether it was a ST Dupont, but, god, he hoped it was.“Thanks for the smoke” the old smartly dressed man whose lighter it was said, holding the cigarette up to the streetlight.
The snow fell lightly over Central Park South, though it’s residents, the old men and their young wives, had already gone in for the night or out to dinner, the tourists walked slowly under the flakes staring at the towers which overlooked the park. -
City Life
The Bridge
“Babylon had her hanging gardens, Egypt her pyramids, Athens her Acropolis, Rome her Athenaeum; so Brooklyn has her Bridge.”
–Sign from a Brooklyn store window.
125 years ago today, the first of many New York feet walked upon the Brooklyn Bridge. Fittingly, the feet for this feat belonged to Emily Roebling, though officially only the daughter-in-law of […] -
Micro-Fiction
“Entry Level”
Never ask for a raise when you need it, she had been told by people who knew. But she had never thought to ask for one until now. When she needed it. As the train rode downtown, slower than it had ever been before, she mouthed the words of her elevator pitch, her fifteen minute pitch, her thirty second pitch, but somehow, though precision had got her the job in the first place, she was unable to keep the words ‘rent’, ‘food’, and ‘heat’ from finding their way to her lips. -
Micro-Fiction
“Fetish Week”
“It’s right down here bro…trust me” the leader said, guiding his friends decisively down Fifth Avenue. One of the other two ‘Jersey Boys’ had a strange feeling they had passed this way already, but was silent and sheepishly followed his friend across this crazy war-zone of a New York intersection. They had come into the city early over the bridge (or through the tunnel), but now had to face the wrath of thousands of experienced pedestrians in the Friday rush hour (the one sport these boys hadn’t played in College), as they made their way to a mysterious ‘pre-clubbing’ pit-stop. -
Micro-Fiction
“Things which could kill me today”
Myanmar and China battled it out for the main headline; whose chaos was worse, whose blood spilt thicker, whose lives were worth less? This fractured newspaper had just been delivered when Sam stepped out to begin his day. He didn’t pick it up, New York’s local papers being shit, but took note, as always, of […]
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Micro-Fiction
“Anything You Want To Be”
Jeremy arrived at work a few minutes before 8:00am. The young man was good like that. In one hand he had a bag containing a donut and a small coffee, breakfast, paid for with quarters and dimes. In the other hand was a fresh notebook that he used for his job, paid for with the […]
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Micro-Fiction
“Gate 121″
“Port Authority is the most depressing place on Earth.” she says and she may not be wrong. Like so many things in New York, the bus terminal wasn’t built to impress anyone, but simply to serve a very necessary purpose: like helping the two of them, Jamie and Sam, move out of the city.
They sit […] -
Fragments
“Untitled Fragment #8″
The thugs jump around lightly in the light wind on the open platform like boxers, hitting like butterflies, not wanting to sting their friends. It’s been a long day. The young Latin girls, their caps’ brims as stiff as the boys from before, whisper about the black men who whistled at them safely from a […]
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Micro-Fiction
“The Grind”
He didn’t remember ever sweating so much in October. Or his glasses getting so foggy. The subway station’s walls themselves seemed to be sweating, their lights getting foggy. His coat was like an oven, an oven that stuck to his back and his elbows. Damn it was hot. His natural inclination was to pace back […]
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City Life
I love kids, but…
04.10.08 | Permalink | 2 CommentsOn those few-and-far-between instances where I find myself a male on the prowl in this City of Women, it seems my greatest obstacles are not ones concerning physical attraction or awkwardness, but a highly inward and highly arbitrary set of standards. Take last night for instance, I go to buy a beer at the bar; […]
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Micro-Fiction
“A Savior”
They say there were about five at the first meeting. And then ten, then fifteen. When I finally attended one, we stood packed shoulder to shoulder in the small Brooklyn basement. The man himself wasn’t very tall and his voice, for as far as it had traveled, wasn’t very loud. I spent most of that […]
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City Life
Returning to Ground Zero
04.02.08 | Permalink | 5 CommentsYesterday I went to help a few out of town friends on a project they’re working on about Ground Zero and it’s significance. The strange thing is that it wasn’t until I had to ask a traffic cop how one now gets to Van Cortlandt St, that I realized I hadn’t been there since literally […]
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City Life
Those who destroy history
03.31.08 | Permalink | 10 CommentsThe Yankees final opening game at ‘The House That Ruth Built’ was postponed today, not due to fan’s rioting over the coming destruction or the protests of the player, but due to our national pastime’s historic enemy: Rain. I hope my religious friends–if I have any left after last week–will excuse my blasphemy in suggesting […]
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Micro-Fiction
“Five Dollars”
He had never been able to say it so honestly. No, I don’t have any spare change. The homeless man kept walking, his head down, almost defeated. John wondered if that was what he had looked like a half-hour ago, when the ATM told him “no”. It was a breezy night in the city, but […]
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City Life
The Soul of an Apple Store?
03.15.08 | Permalink | 3 CommentsI’ve noticed a curious trend among my friends who visit mighty Gotham. Where I once painstakingly developed lists of landmarks to give them just a taste of a city which would take a lifetime of exploration to truly understand, I now more and more seem to get only one request upon their arrival: How do […]
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Micro-Fiction
“Steve Doe”
It wasn’t that he looked like a ‘Steve’ this time, which was so often the case Josh found. The last body had looked like a ‘Jennifer’, the one before that had definitely been a ‘Mark’, the unclaimed baby had, of course, been a ‘Gabriel’. But, this time, Josh actually had proof of a name from […]
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Micro-Fiction, Wilson NJ
“The Greenest Grass”
It was a brand new house. With the changing needs and wants of former city dwellers, it became easier to tear down Wilson, New Jersey’s McMansions and build new ones, rather than resell old ones once their former inhabitants went looking for upgrades. The grass was also brand new and it’s smell seeped in through […]
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