Uncategorized – Page 14 – I Ain't Marching Anymore

that's what you'd expect in a democracy

I’ve been a huge fan of Jeannette Winterson for more then ten years, ever since her novel Passion knocked me out of any literary or emotional comfort zone I’d ever had. I can’t say I emulate her: her brand of poetry, vision and audacity just can’t be mimicked, though I did tell students they couldContinue reading “that's what you'd expect in a democracy”

the kid gets an award

Just got word from colleagues ar Community Media that my series on illegal hotels (see Selected Articles, or just google my name and “illegal hotels”) was given an award for “in depth reporting” by the New York Newspaper Association. The citation read: “These stories were well written as well as rich and informative–putting a consistentlyContinue reading “the kid gets an award”

500 words

Everything old is new again. When did I first hear that Graham Greene wrote 500 words a day? Long before I thought I might try to emulate his multifaceted career: Graham Greene had a reputation for prophecy; as early as 1955 he published “The Quiet American,” a book about the perils of American meddling inContinue reading “500 words”

being raymond carver

Now we find out who that was. And I’m crying, for that knowledge feels long stolen. It’s a little startling, to see in the pages of the New Yorker, that the code once represented by Carver’s name – code for laconic, tight, minimal prose, Hemingway on cheap beer – was a mirage. In the lateContinue reading “being raymond carver”

unexpected gifts

Like everyone,Im often too busy spinnng my wheels to see even of the people I love, and then get myself to the round of Christmas parties just hoping to connect with a few. When Rachel and I went off to the home of Barry Wallenstein, one of my best senseis from CCNY, all we wantedContinue reading “unexpected gifts”

the newest winter soldiers

In my work on this book, I:ve mostly been immersed in the stories of the first Winter Soldiers in 1776, discovering long-forgotten dissenters like Matthew Lyon and Nicholas Trist. But last weekend, I visited with Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the group that first inspired me to write it. At a gathering im Brooklyn ofContinue reading “the newest winter soldiers”

some small changes

I know, it’s been a while. Blame (in part) computer meltdowns as well as my own overload. (I could try to blame Daniel Doctoroff, the 21st-century Robert Moses, since I have to cover 2/3 of his progeny, but I know that’s not fair.) Now I write quickly, as deadline week begins, and wanted to mentionContinue reading “some small changes”

just change the country name?

“Eighteen months? Eighten minutes? Mr. Speaker, an incoming round can tear a person to pieces in a second. The time to stop the madness of America’s accidental interention in Lebanon’s 300-year old religious war is now.”

the wisdom of old men, not all of them dead

I learned while researching another story entirely that W.E.B. Du Bois was arrested for his anti-Korean War activism at age 83.

a few notes to start

I’d sworn off blogging after this graphomaniac exercise, but here we are. Today is typical. As I sit here, trying to sort out today’s work, between the transcription I need to finish for next week’s stories at the paper and my trip today to NYPL’s Schomburg Library, news old and new shouts for attention: TheContinue reading “a few notes to start”