“Outside of society, that’s where I want to be.” ~ Patti Smith
The poet died in the gutter, Bob Dylan once lamented. I sometimes wonder, as the poet passes into eternal darkness, is he more at peace than the Wall Street banker, who ceases in a comfortable bed lined with…
Connie watched the more seasoned moms chat with each other on the opposite side of the playground and wondered how long, exactly, she would have to be a mother before the ladies invited her to join their inner circle.
Was it a matter of paying dues, Connie asked herself, or…
George walked through the door and surveyed the scene with the usual trepidation. He didn’t know anyone else in the room, despite making a regular appearance at Junior’s Ale House for the past three months at 5:30 pm every evening. This worried George, not knowing anyone. The bar was filled…
If you have ever taken the New Haven line from Grand Central Terminal, you’ll know that there’s a certain point on every train ride, usually after the Stamford stop, when you run out of things to do. …
“I forgot to bring an umbrella. I really hope it doesn’t rain tonight.”
Chelsea always played with the ends of her hair when she was nervous. She was twirling her curls at a more rapid pace than usual, as if the chance of rain wasn’t just an inconvenience, but a…
One evening, I decided to wear a Soviet Union t-shirt to the dinner table. To understand why this radical act of rebellion was a big deal, you must first understand my family.
You don’t need to know every detail. Perhaps, for our purposes here, it would suffice to learn that…
I did not weep when I first heard the news of his suicide. I suppose, at age 14, I didn’t know what suicide was. I knew of the word, of course, but I couldn’t fully grasp its meaning. I didn’t know, for example, that more than one life ended. …
Despite a male-dominated entertainment industry, women continue to demonstrate their power and influence in the pop music arena
When Madonna rolled around on stage in a wedding dress at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, no one could have predicted the impact she would have on the music industry. …
Remember when the big battle within Hollywood was not which superfluous awards show lacked diversity, but the more intellectually stimulating film versus digital debate?
By now, it’s clear that the film purists lost. The majority of movies made today are shot on digital, and the majority of movie theaters have…
When Lester Johnson jumped off the Williamsburg Bridge last Wednesday, Marcus wasn’t surprised to learn the bad news. In the immediate aftermath, Marcus was overcome with the usual sadness that accompanies such tragedies, but now, as he stares at the closed casket on display, all he can think about are…
