Capitol Punishment in the US
On the twenty fifth of January, 2024 the world witnessed the birth of a new method of execution, courtesy of the state of Alabama. Kenneth Smith was put to death by nitrogen gas for the 1989 murder for hire of Elizabeth Sennett. Death by nitrogen hypoxia was designed to be a painless and quick death,...
The Aristocrats
So a woman walks into a talent agent’s office and says, “Boy have I got an act for you!” “Do you have an appointment?” The old man asks brusquely, still reading his trade papers and taking puffs from his gun powder black cigar. “No sir, but when I say this act will change your life,...
A Perfect Day
(Originally Published August 23, 2017) July 18th, 1999 was a blistering hot day. My father, as a joint birthday present for my brother and I got us tickets to see the New York Yankees take on the Montreal Expos at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. It was also going to be Yogi Berra Day...
Songs of September
(Originally Published January 31, 2017) “I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger.” That’s the chorus of “Ooh La La”, one of my favorite songs by The Faces. The song is a dialogue between a grandfather and his grandson, with the elder cautioning the younger about the perils of...
In The Good Old Summertime Part 1: Manhunt
(Originally Published March 26, 2019) During the past couple of years I’ve noticed a trend on YouTube, adults playing games of hide and seek. On the surface it seems like an utterly ridiculous thing for grown men and women to be doing, emblematic of a Millennial generation of Peter Pans. And while I admire...
In The Good Old Summertime Part 2: Memories of a Bush Leaguer
Katie Casey was baseball mad, Had the fever and had it bad. Just to root for the home town crew, Ev’ry sou Katie blew. On a Saturday her young beau Called to see if she’d like to go To see a show, but Miss Kate said “No, I’ll tell you what you can do:” Take...
A Black Flag Over Newgate
(London Times Afternoon Edition: October 27th, 1890) “It is just past eight in the morning on a grey, dreary October the twenty seventh, the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and ninety. A crowd has gathered outside the walls of Newgate Prison awaiting the raising of the black flag, indicating that another wretch has met...
Where Is My Mind?
“With your feet on the air and your head on the ground, Try this trick and spin it, yeah. Your head will collapse But there’s nothing in it And you’ll ask yourself. Where is my mind?” ~ Black Francis It began again sometime past three in the morning, in the stillness of a hot August...
Manhunt
Originally Published March 26th, 2019 During the past couple of years I’ve noticed a trend on YouTube, adults playing games of hide and seek. On the surface it seems like an utterly ridiculous thing for grown men and women to be doing, emblematic of a Millennial generation of Peter Pans. And while I admire...
The Atlantic
“This is an impossibility.” I chide myself, and reasonably so. For I have never met you, Your scent is but a rumor, And I’ve only a single picture, With which to look into your eyes. There is an ocean between us, Swirling, storming, uncertain. And I a naïve sailor, Upon these seas with naught, But...