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Mary Bly is a tenured professor of English Literature at Fordham University with a bachelor’s degree from Harvard, a master’s from Oxford, and a PhD from Yale.  According to her Fordham faculty page, her current project, The Geography of Puns: London’s Bawdy Whores, addresses “the geographical and linguistic economies of early modern London.”  She serves as… Read more »

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Each Thanksgiving, we pause to recognize the things we are truly thankful for. Among my many blessings are my wonderful friends and the fact that each year I get to spend the holiday in Scotland with a small and very important group of them. “Scotland?!” you exclaim. Well, the Thanksgiving traditions with these friends date… Read more »

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Ghosts of departed quantities, Where do you find your fulfillment? Bayesian efforts aside, Is there any reason to believe that This moment is different than That one? Who fired the first shot? It’s not a culture war. Maybe you don’t understand. IT IS A REAL WAR. Run? Consider these five facts (and men, listen up!):… Read more »

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Like my fathers’ mother, like my father, I love my stuff. I’m no Collyer brother. My place is neat, in its own way. I still own my first two records, both by Dave Seville and the Chipmunks: “Witch Doctor,” in 1958, and 1959, “Alvin’s Harmonica.” The football is from 1969 and the main reason it’s still here:… Read more »

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As most readers know, I am not from New York.  I am from Belfast, Maine where, as you can imagine, the taxi culture is limited.  If you peruse the Yellow Pages, you will find a few taxi companies that service Waldo County, but the companies are usually just folks with a spare station wagon looking… Read more »

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“I used to ride in my father’s rumble seat,” Dad told me while we sat at the bar in Loftus Tavern. As Dad drank a short beer and I sipped a Coke, I wondered what’s a rumble seat? He said, “It was a seat that hinged out of the back of the car; it felt… Read more »

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We left off last week with me and Sarah Jessica Parker alone in an elevator, her a guest at an awards ceremony honoring Cynthia Nixon, and me a volunteer working the event.  She had just told me that she loved my outfit, which included an oversized flower pin à la Carrie Bradshaw.  The year was 2006…. Read more »

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Since I have somewhat bashed JFK for its lack of signs it’s only fair that Miami gets a shout-out for its ill planning as well. At question here is the new $270 million central Rental Car Center or the RCC. In practice, the center itself is great. Sixteen rental car firms all under one roof…. Read more »

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At odds in the Big Apple: How accessible is the city that never sleeps? Before I begin on the contents of this blog, I hope you all had a fun filled Halloween. Throughout my life I have always prided my self on how many obstacles I have overcome. How I have learned to live my… Read more »

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“Tommy, get my bag,” My grandmother barked. It was February 1965, I was 11.   ‘Oh, Christ,’ I thought. Slowly, I made my way through the railroad flat looking for Nan’s pocketbook. The gang box weighed more than my little brother, and when I heaved the thing up, I imagined Nan in the audience on… Read more »