The Island at the Center of the World: Dutch New York

2009 marks the 400th anniversary of English sea captain Henry Hudson’s arrival in what’s now New York harbor. British colonists would play a major role in the development of Manhattan Island. But historian Russell Shorto says it was largely the 17th century Dutch and their pioneering settlement of New Amsterdam that influenced what Manhattan, New […]

Two Showgirls of Yesteryear

It may be hard or many of us to imagine the glitter and the sometimes risque fun associated with the old nightclubs, burlesques and vaudeville houses of the 1920s and 1930s, especially in New York, where such entertainment reached a certain height of glamor. But what was that life like for those on the other […]

Memorial Day: Vets Remember The Fallen

Memorial Day in America is supposed to be a time to remember those who have died in our wars, and to thank them for their sacrifice. However, for many of us, Memorial Days does not mean much more than a three-day weekend, and perhaps some flag-waving and parades. I wanted this piece to serve as […]

Middletown NJ: A Town Aims to Heal (9/11/02)

The middle class suburb of Middletown New Jersey lost upwards of 45 people in the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, devastating the town. This piece checks in a year after the event on some of the families who lost loved ones that day, along with town officials, as Middletown continues […]

Middletown NJ: A Town Reels in Grief (2001)

The soldily middle class town of Middletown New Jersey is a peaceful suburb populated largely by people who left the city for a quieter life of green lawns and Little League. Many residents work in Manhattan and take the ferry or the New Jersey Transit train home. On September 11th 2001, upwards of 45 residents […]

The Science of Memetics: “Germ Theory” Applied to Ideas

What if ideas (memes) as self-replicating quasi-life forms that are looking or minds to colonize, the same way way that viruses or germs are looking or space inside cells? It might explain a lot, from fads to fashion to catchy-tunes to forms of government to religion and suicide cults. This piece looks at the intersection […]