Notebook

A couple of years ago I did a piece about a local clothing store, The Brooklyn Circus, and its remarkable owner Ouigi, aka “The Bearded Man.” The piece never ran in the end, but I just came across a box … Continue reading →

Going through some old files the other day I came across this, my attempt at cracking the gilded halls of the New Yorker. Naturally I failed to make the grade, but I did get a nice e-mail back very quickly … Continue reading →

 On Friday November 30th at the Magnet Theater in Chelsea I was part of a group of writers, performers and musicians helping raise money for families at PS 261 affected by the recent hurricane.  A huge thanks to Melanie Hoopes … Continue reading →

Thanks to the generosity of the NYC-area film production industry, a number of catering trucks have recently been providing free hot meals to those who have been hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy. Together with a number of volunteers they have … Continue reading →

Below is an article I wrote for the Visual Thesaurus website’s Word Count column about how working for the New York Times taught me to think, write—and dream—the correct American way. When I started writing for the New York Times … Continue reading →

Olga Bloom, the founder of Bargemusic, the floating chamber music venue beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, died on Thanksgiving Day, aged 92. If anyone could be said to have lived a full life, it was Olga. When photographer Randy Duchaine and … Continue reading →

NPR’s Leonard Lopate recently interviewed Connie Rosenblum, the former editor of the Times’ City section, about the new anthology of City section pieces, More New York Stories: The Best of the New York Times’ City Section. The interview also featured … Continue reading →

The Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Best American Essays of 2010 has just been released and I discovered my essay “Jerry” about the “pathologically loquacious failed actor” (sorry, Jerry) who’s cut my hair for the past fifteen years was shortlisted at the … Continue reading →

I’m honored to be speaking at the joint New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects/Oxford University Press celebration of the fifth edition of this classic guidebook to the city’s architecture. The event is being held at the Center … Continue reading →

Finally, after almost a year, a thousand cups of coffee and two computers later, the new website is up. A huge thank-you to Daniel Wiener, friend, neighbor and web designer extraordinaire, who helped me every step of the way. I … Continue reading →