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Ghost Stories for Christmas
While browsing for a Christmas present for my wife at a local independent bookstore (Little City Books in Hoboken, New Jersey, which deserves its own review), I happened upon a counter display of tiny books published by Biblioasis, a small, independent publishing house in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The books belong to the Christmas Ghost Stories…
Winston Churchill in Contemporary America
Thanks to a lull between writing deadlines, I hold the luxury of returning to other creative activities, namely this blog. In a previous post, I shared my thoughts on Netflix’s The Crown, dedicating the majority of my words to the dramatic portrayal of Winston Churchill and the masterful acting of John Lithgow.
Looking Toward the New Year
As we enter the New Year, Another Town on the Hudson is gearing up for an exciting and challenging 2017. My first book is scheduled for publication in October 2017. Related events in Jersey City, New York, the metropolitan region, and possibly elsewhere will follow. Between now and then, various tight deadlines command my creative…
Wishing You a Merry Christmas
Another Town on the Hudson wishes you a merry Christmas. Enjoy the company of family and friends. Relish the food, drink, and cheer. Listen to holiday music. Watch classic Christmas specials and movies (my favorite: Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas). If you have a treasured family tradition, no matter how silly or simple, follow and share…
The City of Brotherly Love: a Brief Reflection
This past weekend, my wife and I visited Philadelphia to share an afternoon with an old friend. Instead of “visited,” I should say returned. Philadelphia was our home for nearly five years. In Philadelphia, I spent the more formative years of my young adulthood, met the woman who would become my wife, discovered the joys…
The Power of Words: Winston Churchill
My wife and I, both dedicated fans of British dramas and novels of morals and manners, recently watched Netflix’s The Crown, a dramatic interpretation of Queen Elizabeth II’s ascendancy to the throne of the United Kingdom and the early days of her reign. The Crown is a wonderful series with superb story-telling, gorgeous costumes, luxurious…
Cleaning Up the Garden: a Passage into Winter
During the past several weekends, I have been cleaning up my garden to prepare for the coming winter months. Bit by bit, I approached this annual seasonal project: I pulled up the remaining pepper and tomato plants, pruned bushes and shrubs, dumped potting soil into the compost bin and pile, put away chairs and tables,…
Deadline Looming … Sporadic Writing
With a major publication deadline looming (more details in the future), I’ll be pulling away from Another Town on the Hudson for the next several weeks. In the meanwhile, I would be flattered if you entertained yourself with a few of my older posts.
Election Day: Vote, Vote, and Vote
Tomorrow November 8, 2016 is election day. Make sure to head to the polls and exercise your hard-fought right to vote. Make a choice for every candidate and ballot question–not just for president. Vote as if your voice counted, because tomorrow it does.
Where Have All the Nice Places Gone?
Several posts ago, I discussed the dearth of decent, new public spaces in Jersey City. This problem with new development and construction exists well beyond Jersey City (Alex Marshall analyzes this distressful pattern in a recent article in Governing magazine). My past discussion centered upon public spaces: parks, libraries, and government buildings. The architecture and…
Delightfully Frozen in the Past: Ocean Grove, New Jersey
During our recent vacation—too short, as always—my wife and I stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, right next door to the rowdy and famous Asbury Park. While Asbury Park tempts one with rock ‘n’ roll music, cheap drinks, and the hope of fast women, Ocean Grove offers quiet nights,…
Thoughts on Asbury Park: a Few Days at the Jersey Shore
Wanting to avoid the expense, inconvenience, and utter unpleasantness of flying, my wife and I have planned our weekend trips and vacations around train travel over the past several years. A proponent of the contemporary cult of travel (and any airline executive) would blanch at this practice. The whole wide world awaits you. Why limit…
Autumn and October at Albertine Books
The autumn is the season befitting deep thoughts and reflections, strolling through a neighborhood park fragrant with fallen leaves, and watching the nighttime sky on a quiet beach. Rainy and chilly days are perfect for patronizing museums, theaters, historic homes, and bookstores. The autumn awakens the mind and the imagination. A few months ago, I…
Great Public Spaces: a Few Ideas, Part II
The last several posts have addressed the pressing need for quality public spaces in the rapidly developing and transforming Jersey City. In the past decade, a group of volunteers have rescued a historic nineteenth-century cemetery from abandonment and neglect. This group hopes that the cemetery can be a splendid place for the people of Jersey…
Great Public Spaces: a Few Ideas, Part I
My previous post lamented the dearth of great, eye-opening public spaces throughout Jersey City and the nearly complete absence of any attention to this need in the redevelopment and building boom of the city throughout the last thirty years. However, genuine and realistic opportunities exist to ameliorate the lack of civic mindedness and inadequate planning…
Jersey City: Seeking Great Public Spaces
During the last several decades, Jersey City has redefined itself from a floundering industrial hub to a center for white-collar office work. At the same time, an aspiring arts community has seen its fortunes rise and fall and rise again, and urban-minded individuals and families view Jersey City as a place to move to, not…
This Labor Day Weekend
Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer. Americans flock to the malls and stores to take advantage of sales or fire up the grill to indulge in hamburgers and hot dogs with friends and family. That’s fine. Yet, how many of us consider the meaning and origin of Labor Day?
An Afternoon in Greenwich Village: Fading Bohemia
Several weeks ago, I spent a Friday afternoon in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. Any casual devotee of the arts and literature understands the prominent position of Greenwich Village in the constellation of American bohemian. Authors, poets, playwrights, actors, and musicians began gravitating to the neighborhood before the Civil War with the opening of the Tenth…
A Neighborhood Peach Pie Contest
This Sunday, the Riverview Farmers Market will host its (now fifth) annual Perfect Peach Pie Contest at the Riverview-Fisk Park in the Heights neighborhood of Jersey City. Any reader of this blog will recognize that I’m a proponent of localism, and it doesn’t get more local than a neighborhood baking contest. Unsurprisingly, I’m also a…
A New Life in Union Grove: Thoughts on the World Made By Hand Series
The Harrows of Spring concludes an eight-year fictional odyssey for author James Howard Kunstler. His four-volume World Made by Hand series began in 2008 with the novel by the same name. Each novel is set during a season within a single year. The series opens in the summer and now closes with spring, a time…
Albertine Books : a Sanctuary for the Mind and the Soul
Nestled inside the historic Payne Whitney mansion, a building designed by the legendary Stanford White, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s posh Upper East Side, Albertine Books is a bookseller located within the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. Clearly conceived as a physical medium through which to promote French language, literature, and culture, Albertine offers…
A City’s Lost Dreams: Review of How Newark Became Newark
On January 1, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson wished a happy 300th anniversary to Newark, New Jersey, observing that Newark’s history paralleled that of the United States itself. Church bells rung, and celebrations occurred throughout the city. The Newark Museum launched a year of exhibits exploring the city’s historical and cultural heritage. A year and…
City or Country? The Constant Question
For the majority of my adult life, I have lived in one city or another. Arguably, my hometown in Western New York–really, a small city–contains a walkable urban center with access to pharmacies, parks, the post office, the public library, and a handful of restaurants, bars, and modest shops. Like many towns throughout the Rust…
Strange Bedfellows: My Fascination with OffTheGridNews
When my wife and I purchased our home several years ago, we found ourselves faced with a multitude of immediate and long-term repairs and projects. Our new home was over a century old with beautiful interior flourishes and the proverbial “good bones.” Although we lived in a lovely remodeled apartment during the first three years…
A Love Affair with Diners
With Fourth of July upon us, many denizens of the Garden State and America will hit the road for a deserved vacation, a weekend trip to the shore, or a visit to someplace novel and new. Along the way, they’re likely to pull off the road and find a place to eat. For many famished…
When Tough Guys Get Old: The Resurrection of Jake the Snake
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, my brother and I (and later my youngest brother) counted ourselves as rabid professional wrestling fans, not differing much from other boys in grade school and junior high at the time. Wrestlers were–and, in some ways, still are–cartoon characters, acrobats, carnival barkers, outlaws, and court jesters all rolled…
Stephen King in Jersey City
This past Tuesday, Stephen King entertained a sold-out crowd of casual and hardcore fans at the grand, historic, and simply breath-taking Loew’s Jersey Theatre. The event marked the release of King’s latest novel End of Watch and the beginning of his summer book tour. Yes, Stephen King’s book tour began in Jersey City, New Jersey.…
Stray Thoughts: Memorial Day Weekend 2016
Memorial Day ushers in the summer for most Americans. When I was a child, summer days burst with wonder and adventure. Even the most jaded adult, I believe, still clings to a notion of summer as a time of leisure, pleasure, and contentment all tinged with magic. Sit in your yard or your neighborhood park…
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: a Review
Timbuktu, a city in arid northern Mali, once stood as a great center of learning, culture, and scholarship. From the 13th century to the 17th century, Timbuktu attracted students, writers, poets, scientists, and theologians from across the Islamic world. Manuscripts were collected in the city and were treasured possessions passed down in families across generations…
Farmers Market Season
Last week, our neighborhood farmers market opened for the year. Braving the unseasonably wet and cold weather, my wife and I visited the market. We were excited to stock our larder with local produce and food, catch up with our favorite vendors, and see a few friends. Between May and November, we plan all our…