Category Archives: New England

Chappaquiddick Incident

June 30, 2012 – 3:36 am

‘Chappaquiddick’ conjures up a nasty car accident to the American psyche older than fifty. The story of a drunken senator abandoning his lover to a watery death is unknown to Twitterites agog at Tom Cruise breaking up with his wife. The senator in question was Edward Kennedy, the heir to Camelot. The victim was Mary […]

By Peter | Also posted in 70s, Crime, politics | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Flying Sharks

June 24, 2012 – 6:22 pm

Steven Spielberg’s JAWS came out in 1975. I saw the film in Gloucester with my good friend Andy Kornfeld. The next day we went to Good Harbor Beach. Families were playing in the sand. No one was in the sea. Andy and I tested it with our toes. The water temperature was perfect. We both laid […]

By Peter | Also posted in 70s, Beast, sea | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Chinatown’s Dancing Chicken

April 24, 2012 – 4:04 pm

Back in the 70s one of Chinatown’s greatest attractions was the dancing chicken at the Chinatown Fair Video Arcade. The chicken or chickens didn’t really dance the insipid tune, but shifted their feet to avoid the shock from the electrified plate. They also played tic-tac-toe and strangely won most, if not all the games they […]

By Peter | Also posted in 70s, animals, myth | Tagged | Comments (0)

The Fury of the Unnature

August 31, 2011 – 9:08 am

I had expected my flight from Tokyo to JFK to be delayed by the storm. I landed ahead of schedule. The A train was running on time. The sky was beautiful. Walking down my street from the subway station, I saw little sign of the storm’s passing. I thought New York had been lucky, for […]

By Peter | Also posted in 2010s, Nature, NEW YORK, politics, weather | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

WILD BEAR by Peter Nolan Smith

March 14, 2011 – 9:37 pm

The flatness of the Midwest dominated travel across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and the stunted panhandle of Pennsylvania. The great industrial cities of Gary, Toledo, Cleveland, and Erie were connected by I-90. Summer was at its height, as my good friend, AK, and I hitchhiked east from San Diego. We had experienced 135 degrees Fahrenheit in […]

By Peter | Also posted in 70s, hitchhiking, semi-fiction, youth | Tagged | Comments (0)