2011
You are browsing the archive for 2011.
Thank You, Andy Rooney
I like funny. Maybe more than anything, I like funny. Interesting to think about how a sense of humor forms. We all like to laugh, right? Most of us, anyway. But how does it start? Certainly, I’m no child-development expert. But at least from when my long-term memory kicked in, I know I liked cartoons. […]
Could You Make It Out to Jack?
“[Random public figure] replied to my Tweet!” gushed an otherwise austere friend. Socioeconomic levels be damned—there’s a bit of starf*cker in us all. These days, the methods of choice seem to be: • the aforementioned realm of social media, and • if we actually encounter a celebrity in person, a photo—due to the fact that […]
Simply the Best
We’re all familiar with the woe-is-me saying “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.” Sisters, I feel your pain. I’m 42 and single, but you know, I’m not even talking about that. Screw being the groom—I would be the ideal best man. The best best man! Want a bachelor party? I am always planning some sort […]
Thank You, R.E.M.
They weren’t my first favorite band—that honor goes to Queen, and next, the Police—but R.E.M. certainly had the biggest impact on me, from high school into adulthood. How did I find out about them? Rolling Stone magazine, probably. I know I bought the second album, Reckoning, first. I was 15 years old and music was […]
Found Poetry: Mead Composition Notebook
This has been printed on the inside back cover of the 100-sheet Mead composition notebook since at least 1994. I only noticed it recently. CORRECT I am / You are I am not / You are not I have to I have seen / I saw I have done / I did
September Remembered
I don’t get into work real early. I used to, in the early ’90s I guess, but it wasn’t really in my true nature. Anyway, that’s why I wasn’t yet in Manhattan when the towers were struck on September 11, 2001. I was all ready to go in. Showered, shaved. In the mornings I listen […]
Technical Difficulties
I’ve watched at least a little bit of the MDA Labor Day Telethon every year since I was a kid, and donated every year for almost as long. This was all due to a fascination with Jerry Lewis and the schlocky side of Hollywood. This year, which was to be Lewis’s final appearance, he will […]
If I Had a Blog in 1992
I guess zines still exist, right? But there would certainly be a lot more if it weren’t for the Interweb, which brought production and distributions costs down to, uh, zero. Anyway, while I worked in Ewing, New Jersey, in 1992, I contributed a couple of essays to a small magazine put together by friends at […]
Jack Silbert, curator