Archive for September 2006
Leviathan
Funny thing happened in the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn: I got spooked. Not, like, scared. Nah, just spooked. I signed up for the inaugural Brooklyn Bridge Swim on something of a lark. I’ve done a dozen triathlons with swims up to a mile, but it’s not like swimming’s my thing. I run, and…
Read MoreThe Rogue
By the time I’d reached my colleagues on the second floor of The Irish Rogue, I’d navigated a labyrinth of dough-headed bouncers, slow-poke tourists, and beer-goggled frat brothers. “Jesus, Rod,” I said, “When did you go and pledge Sigma Nu?” Say what you will about The MTV (and the press has: see “Does MTV Still…
Read MoreACK
The Nantucket Municipal Airport is straight out of TV’s “Wings,” all faded paint and gray clapboard. In fact, I’m pretty sure I spotted Thomas Haden Church behind the Cape Air counter. The place is unhurried, even as Labor Day Weekend stragglers head back to Hyannis, Boston, and New York. Long-faced travellers in ACK t-shirts, island-logo’d…
Read MoreThirty-Five Wishes
I have looked forward to celebrating my 35th birthday in Nantucket for well over a year. I imagined a hand-picked group of my closest, oldest, most gregarious, and strongest friends sitting around a blazing beach fire, full from a three course feast of lobster, potatoes, corn on the cob, all washed down with numerous pints…
Read MoreCome Together
My mother met Mister Rogers on the beach behind her rental cottage. She was sitting in an old beach chair reading. Mister Rogers was taking his afternoon swim in Madaket Bay. The year after he died, I decided to preserve his memory (and entice my brother to bring his family to Nantucket the following summer)…
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