Stephanie Nikolopoulos's Blog, page 48

Sneak Peek of Burning Furiously Beautiful: Early Version of “On the Road” Tells Kerouac’s Mom’s Story

From chapter 1 of Burning Furiously Beautiful: The True Story of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” the book I’m coauthoring with Paul Maher Jr.: In an unpublished prose fragment, Jack Kerouac incorporated his mother and father’s French-Canadian heritage into one version of his road novel. It was centered on his mother’s birth using the pseudonym [...]

Happy 169th Birthday, Saint Bernadette!

Saint Marie-Bernarde Soubirous was born on this day in 1844 in Lourdes, France.  She saw a vision of Mother Mary, who spoke to her in Gascon, which is now an endangered language.  The visions inspired the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lowell that Jack Kerouac writes about.  You can read about this famous landmark, [...]

Blessing of the Waters

This past year, we’ve seen the power of water when Hurricane Sandy hit, devastating homes, businesses, and even lives. And yet water remains critical to our existence: About 57% of our body weight is water. Approximately 88% of 1.8 million deaths a year is attributed to unsafe water supplies and sanitation and hygiene issues. Most of [...]

My Year in Review: 2012

What a full year 2012 was! Here’s a quick little recap::: In January I announced that the rumors were true. But it took the full year for it to finally look like this. In February I joined Pinterest to discover how it may help me as a writer and have been happily pinning ever since. [...]

My Clothes Still Smell Like My Grandma

When I was growing up in Closter, New Jersey, there was beautiful blue fir right outside my balcony window. I can only recall one white Christmas. The snow blanketed the pine needles, turning the outdoors into a winter wonderland. It was even more fantastical than anything Hollywood could produce. Over the years, my mother suggested [...]

Does God Laugh at Our Resolutions?

I’ve often heard the phrase “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans” intended as casual advice but come across as bitter warning.  Even though it’s usually said as an off-hand, humorous quip, it seems like it usually comes along with underlying resentment.  The not-so-innocent adage implies that God laughs at our [...]

Christian New Year’s Resolutions

I’m tempted to write a satire called Christian New Year’s Resolutions.  It would go something like this: Pray without ceasing.  Ever. Don’t watch secular television. Become a physically fit Proverbs 31 woman. Read the bible every day and nothing besides it. Go to church every Sunday. Is there such a thing as Christian New Year’s Resolutions? You can read [...]

New Year’s Eve with Jack Kerouac

“The parties were enormous; there were at least a hundred people at Herb Benjamin’s basement apartment in the west nineties. People overflowed into the cellar compartments near the furnace. Something was gong on in every corner, on every bed and couch, not an orgy, but just a New Year’s party with frantic screaming and wild [...]

How I Spent My Name Day

For my name day, my family took me to Delray Beach, Florida. It’s a cute little oceanside town with lots of restaurants, antique shops, surf shops, and galleries. My favorite part of the trip was looking in the display cases at the antique store with my mom. When I was a little girl, she used [...]

I Am Crowned

Have you ever noticed that Greek families all seem to be named after the same relative? It’s customary in Greek culture to name the firstborn boy after his papou, the father’s father, and the firstborn girl after her yiayia, the father’s mother. Subsequent children are named after the mother’s side of the family. According to [...]