Archive for August, 2011

Hurricane Haiku

Hurricane Bob heading for New England (1991) In August 1991, Hurricane Bob roared through the Merrimack Valley in synch with an attempted coup in the USSR that eventually led to the Soviet Union’s downfall. I was at my desk listening to news and writing in my notebook. I later published…

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All Kerouac, All the Time (Seems Like)

The front page of the “Home” section of the NYTimes today has an article headlined “The Jack Kerouac of Junk,” which is a profile of the co-star of the popular “American Pickers” weekly program on the History Channel (5.5 million people watch). The “antiques” dealer who started rescuing bicyles and…

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Watching Irene

Here’s a story that’s stuck with me ever since I heard it many years ago: A severe flood was forecast but John, a man of great faith, refused to evacuate. As the water rose, a National Guard truck pulled up to take him to safety. John refused to go, saying…

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The coming rift in the Republican Party

Spinning through the radio dial yesterday I came upon a national political talk show and caught a caller from Texas proclaim that Jon Huntsman was no conservative because he “flunked all four tests” which were (1) he supported same sex marriage (when the host interjected that Huntsman only was for…

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