Simon is the Viceroy, Sanjaya is Gandhi
On the Today Show this morning, there was a funny segment with two television writers, one from TV Guide, who were opining about last night’s vote on American Idol. We joined the voters and said goodbye to the tearful Gina Glockson, who we grew to admire since she quit last […]
The NY Post Drops its Price To a Slim Nickel
Today’s Village Voice has a funny column by Keach Hagey about the NY Post, where Rupert has decided to drop the cost of the daily paper to chump change. “After a long day of shopping at Gimbels, nothing beats an icy highball at McHales, then heading home on the Ninth […]
A Former Terrorists Cites the Trouble with Islam
Tawfik Hamid was once a member of Jemaah Islamiya, the Islamist terrorist group. Now he’s a doctor who is trying to convince the world that radical Islam is wrong. Very wrong. He wrote a piece in yesterday’s WSJ called The Trouble With Islam. “Indeed there is much that is clearly […]
The Diary of a Swinger Reveals It’s Not for Everyone
Scottish writer Ewan Morrison recently published a book about his experiences as a newbie Swinger. The book is called “Swung,” and philosophically explores the motivation behind people who choose to have sex with strangers. Here is how he reflects on the experience, after realizing it was not for him. “My […]
Cellphones That Read Billboards
Read some amazing stuff in newspapers the past few days. Yesterday it was the NY Times, about cellphones in Japan that read billboards and provide links to websites for passing motorists. It is a new technology that uses square designs similar to barcodes that impart much more information…and open up […]
Would You Blog for Cash?
Secret Negotiations for a New Monetization Scheme: We’re in negotiations for a new branch of our business–Blogging for cash. We aren’t gonna tell you who and we aren’t gonna tell you how much, but leave it as we’ve figured out another clever monetization technique and we think the numbers will […]
Immigrants Are The Best Thing to Happen to Cities
Immigration is a loaded word, and in Hazelton PA, the mayor is on the warpath against what he sees as the biggest problem the scrappy town has ever faced. But in a thoughtful column by Julia Vitullo-Martin in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, a cogent argument was made for […]
The Farmers Don’t Show
Today I am in the cafe and I’ve reached a conclusion. The farmers in this area are not interested in starting a farmer’s market in South Deerfield. I sent out letters to twenty area farmers, hoping to interest them in setting up a town market on Saturdays. I set up […]
Friday in the Big City: Paradiso and Jazz
Northampton is the big city to those of us who live in small towns and in the country. So that’s where we always meet, in the big city, and the restaurant that we almost always gravitate to is Pizza Paradiso. Friday night it was cold and windy, and we agreed […]
A Cold Blooded Killer of Birds is On Trial
The Eagle Killer has now faced justice. It’s all over the papers, Michael Zak Jr, who we wrote about back when he was arrested, is on trial this week for the downing of an eagle, as well as the cold-blooded murder of more than 250 other birds. “Hatchery Owner Detested […]
Speaking to College Kids Makes Your Blood Flow
WOW! I am pumped up after speaking for an hour to a group of 12 Umass students in the cafe. I got a call last week from a professor teaching the journalism course, ‘writing for the web.’ So I agreed to have them come for coffee. Two carloads of assorted […]
Drugs Work Better When African Bellies are Full
Last night I read a fascinating account in the Wall Street Journal that profiled Joe Mamlin, a doctor in Kenya and professor of Medicine at Indiana University. He has developed a practice that addresses a simple but often neglected fact–AIDs patients do much better after they get drugs if they […]
Summer Down South: New Zealand’s North Island
I am having a photo show to celebrate our one-year anniversary for the cafe! We are serving cocktails and inviting our regulars as well as our friends. If you read this, you’re invited to the party! Friday April 6, 7-9 pm.Cocktails, photos, hors d’oeuvresGoNOMAD CafeSouth Deerfield
A Magazine for People Who Love to Read Obits
I am a regular obituary reader. I always scan them and most of the time I read the whole thing. I am fascinated by what is written about people once they die. My father is famous for many things; one of them is that he’s already penned and proofread his […]
Cellphones Are Like Icebergs
The Wall Street Journal’s Money section had a piece today that made me laugh out loud. It was Jason Fry’s reasoning for why he’s not ready or interested in the newest ‘all in one’ phone. He makes sense of our confused gadget-laced world. “But the list of devices generally heralded […]
Paris Follows Lyon and Installs Bicycles to Rent
Up early again for a shift at the cafe. I read the Gazette and found an AP story that was inspiring. Paris has decided to follow the lead of Lyon and install a city-wide network of kiosks for cheap bike rentals. In the months ahead more than 20,600 bikes will […]
Burning Megargeeville Signals the Very End of an Era
Last night at Bootstrap Farm, our weekend rental, we burned Megargeeville. This was a choice piece of our past, a collection of little boxes we decorated when we were kids to look like a small city. We had the movie theater, the drive-in, the stores and shops that we called […]
One Last MV Gasp—Emptying Out the House
It’s ten am on a brilliant Saturday morning, and we’re in the ferry line. How many times I have sat in this line, a hundred different scripts could begin at this setting. The Vineyard holds a special place for me and for my relatives, and today we’re gathering at the […]