ROMAN REVIEW
“Seldom is a book as ill-served by its subtitle. . . ” My review of Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed The World by David Maraniss appeared in The Washington Post on Sunday.
THE FACTS FROM STACKS
I had lunch with John Stacks, my mentor, exemplar, confessor and friend during my years at Time magazine. I was delighted to see him, and to chew over the presidential campaign, the surprising delights of visiting the east of Italy, and how coop board critics are similar to Hamas. I am thrilled to say that …
GEORGE AND RACHEL? ARE YOU LISTENING?
I received a nice note from an artist in California named Lisa Jonte (see http://www.Girlamatic.com, or http://www.never-done.com, or http://www.Arcanumvisual.com), who was trying to track down an article I wrote called When Disney Ran America, which appeared in the June 1991 issue of Spy. After I sent her a copy, I received a lovely note that …
ROLL OUT THE BARREL!
Because the gang’s all here. My father always said that his only request for his funeral is that we play The Beer Barrel Polka, and I’m glad we made his last wish come true. Thanks to all of the freinds and relatives who came to Dad’s viewing and funeral, and to the party that followed. …
CLEM MALANOWSKI, 1916-2008
We may all know a person, but we may not all know the same person. And obviously, we may not know the real person, the person inside. The rare stories that my father told about his youth all involved fun—-sledding and playing soccer in the shadow of the pagoda in Patterson Park, jumping off the …
`COOL CAT,’ SAYS COOL CHICK
Got to spend some time with my niece Megan Malanowski, the very cool 10 year-old daughter of my brother Matt. She says she harbors thoughts of becoming a writer. Sounds like she might be a good one–she’s smart, and funny, and has some written some stories that sound very creative. One lesson she has to …
THE MADDENING PART OF MAD MEN
I got my set of Mad Men Season One DVDs (in the clever Zippo lighter-like box) the other day, and, in anticipation of the start of Season Two on July 27th, immediately plunged into a review of the opening dozen episodes of what is now clearly the best show on television. What’s most interesting about …
HAIL, KING OF DESIGNERS!
WordPress Publisher Blog, widely considered to be the gold standard of publishing software, recently cited the excellent design of the website A Way to Garden (awaytogarden.com). The website, which is written and operated by Margaret Roach, was designed by my friend Ken Smith, who also designed this site. Way to go Ken!
MOON OVER SUBURBIA
The story rocking my little town of Briarcliff is that of a senior at our high school’s graduation ceremony who marked the occasion by mooning the audience. This act would have been news enough, but then the principal–Jim Kashien, a fine and dedicated public servant known to me–revoked the young man’s diploma and summoned the …
SLICING AND DICING: AN INTERVIEW WITH DUANE SWIERCZYNSKI
Regular readers of this blog (and Ken Smith, you know who you are), will recognize the name of my friend, the writer Duane Swierczynski. Duane has just published his latest novel Severance Package, a funny and exciting tale of mayhem that updates the Ten Little Indians idea, subtracting some of the whodunit, adding several vats …
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