Brian Jay Jones's Blog, page 36

Cafe No Way

I did something the other day I have never done: I wrote in a coffee shop. Or, rather, I tried to write. And after trying, I've determined one thing: those sitting in Starbucks, tapping away happily on their laptop at one of those little round tables, are likely writing fiction.

Don't tell me you're not, because I know you are.  And I know because you don't have your table cluttered with all the assorted crap that we non-fiction writers carry around with us.  Frankly, I'm jealous— because it...

This Week in Nerdom

I took down the red, white and blue bunting we leave hanging on our front porch all summer long, retiring it to the basement until we're ready to pull it out next Memorial Day.  As I walked past the big pot of dahlias I keep at the head of the driveway this weekend, I noticed some of the stalks browning slightly, and started to curse myself for not watering them enough when I realized that, yeah, it's getting to be that time when the plants and flowers start to turn in for the season.

We...

Up In The Mornin' And Off To School…

It's the first day of the new school year in our little corner of Maryland, about two weeks later than usual, for some reason–normally, it seems we start around the 20th of August or so.  I'm not sure what happened to the days when school started the week of Labor Day.  Maybe that's one of those memories that dates me, in the same way that I remember jungle gyms being built on huge pads of solid concrete that baked under the hot sun, so you could burn yourself if you tried to go barefoot, or bre

R.I.P. Ted Kennedy (1932-2009)

I was saddened this morning to learn of the death of Senator Edward Kennedy, after his long fight with brain cancer.  Considered perhaps the most liberal member of the United States Senate — if not American politics — chances are good you had strong feelings about Kennedy, his politics, and his personal life, no matter which end of the political spectrum you were on.  And obituaries today will likely be unable to discuss his political achievements — and they were many — without also bringing up

The Bronx is Up, The Bowery Down

Madi and I spent a terrific day in New York City yesterday. We had to be up and on our way to Baltimore to catch the train by 7:00 a.m., and she couldn't have been more of a trooper — especially since we're approaching the final days of summer vacation, and teenagers like to get all the sack time they can get before the regular routine starts again.

We made it into New York Penn Station just slightly after 10 a.m. – a bit late, and I had to be at the Paley Center for Media at 10:30 to do some ta

"Ever Seen A Spook, Specter, or Ghost?"

Ever wonder what Ghostbusters might have been like had it been made in 1954, and not 1984?  Look no further.

Random Abstract

Once again, apologies for neglecting the ol' blog.  I've been away, but not idle.  Here's a rundown on what's happened over the last 13 days:

- I turned a year older, and celebrated my birthday by painting the concrete floor of our living room, mowing the lawn, and having dinner with my wife and my dad.  The perfect way to spend one's birthday, if I may so.  And I do say so.

- I had an incredibly productive day at the Library of Congress, running down some long-lost newspaper stories and advertise

"…A Small Elderly Gentleman By the Name of Knickerbocker."

In her book Knickerbocker: The Myth behind New York — now available from Rutgers Univerity Press — author Elizabeth L. Bradley traces the use of Washington Irving's fictional historian Diedrich Knickerbocker — the crusty narrator of his 1809 satire A History of New York – as the embodiment of All Things New York.  Here's Bradley, in a recent piece in the New York Times:

Manhattanites knew little of their Dutch founding fathers, and Irving took advantage of that to create a past that interwove fac

Institutional Memories: Constituent Service

The day-to-day operations of a Capitol Hill office are rarely glamorous.  While you might like to think staffers go whizzing from one important meeting to another, negotiating legislation, hashing out report language, and horse trading with billions of dollars, the truth is that while those moments do happen, they happen only every once in a while. 

So what is it those staffers are doing the rest of the time?  For the most part, they're taking care of you.  Or your neighbor, or the guy in the nex

Hello, I Must Be Going (Again)

I know, I know — it's been slow going here on the ol' blog, for which you have my apologies. I had a conversation last night regarding Project Blue Harvest that's going to involve some serious library, interview, and writing time — so the blog gets the back seat for a while. I know, I know — I'll miss you too. *sniff*

Until then, take it away, Groucho . . .

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