Hoboken
My First Trip to Maxwell’s
In the mid-90s, my buddy Scott went to work for a new venture called New Jersey On-Line, now better known as nj.com. As I was a fellow music nerd and a Hoboken resident, Scott hired me as the fledgling site’s Maxwell’s correspondent. I added booker Todd’s numbers to my Rolodex: …and in late 1995 began […]
Oh Sandy: An Anthology of Humor for a Serious Purpose
An essay of mine, “Holy Hoboken, Baptized by Sandy,” was accepted into Oh Sandy: An Anthology of Humor for a Serious Purpose, which is available in print and Kindle formats. In it, I chronicle my hopefully amusing observations of religion’s role in that post-Sandy week here in Hoboken. The good, the bad, and the odd. […]
Roll On, Corolla: A Boy & His Car
I don’t want to get all Giving Tree on you, but the car and I really did go a long way back. All the way to October 4, 1991. On that day, at Jim Coleman Toyota in Bethesda, Maryland, I took ownership of a brand-new, end-of-model-year, light blue Corolla. The address we wrote on the […]
Mail From the Farm
December 3, back home from visiting an art gallery and a movie alone, I fetch mail from my box in the first-floor vestibule, beige brightness filling the space from the fixture overhead Quiet darkness still trying to seep in through the front door’s wood-trimmed glass. Purple envelope from the farm. Old college roommate: business degree […]
If I Win the $550 Million Powerball Jackpot
I will… —get my 1991 Corolla reupholstered. —buy the “special” sandwich next Wednesday at Fiore’s. —hire a car service, go into Manhattan, get $15 haircut at Astor Place. —tip Alberto the barber four dollars. —take out a student loan and repay it the same day. —I guess I need some new tube socks. —watch the […]
And This Time I Got Paid for Walking
Here is my first article for the Hudson Reporter newspapers, about a guided walk from Weehawken to Hoboken. I took the photographs also, and yes, even the corny headline is mine.
Hurricane in Hoboken: My Story
Sorry, I’d tell another disappointed visitor on the Hoboken House Tour, the Yankee Ferry wasn’t open today. It was Sunday morning, I was doing a volunteer shift for the Historical Museum, and the nearby house boat’s owners were too busy battening down the hatches before the coming storm. (I’d never used the term “batten down […]
I’m Walkin’ Here
For some, walking is a pedestrian activity. But not me, brother. I love it. And though I can pinpoint the genesis of my current wanderlust to July 5, 2010, the truth is that I’ve always enjoyed a nice long stroll. I associate them with adventure. Around 3rd grade in suburban California, my buddy Chris and […]
My Friend Carol
By the end of the two-hour shift, Carol and I had become pretty good friends. This was a couple of weeks ago, both of us volunteering at a library book sale right here in Hoboken. Our backgrounds might be a bit different, but it was quickly apparent that we had a shared sensibility. Carol turns […]
Jack Silbert, curator