Category Archives: Past

We’re all going to need clothes

In the physical world we know what privacy is and how it works. We know because we have worked out privacy technologies and norms over thousands of years. Without them we wouldn’t have civilization. Doors and windows are privacy technologies. So are clothes. … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Culture, Future, Life, Past, Personal, Personal clouds, problems, Technology, VRM | 2 Comments

Listening to Serial? Remember the Edgar Smith case.

I’m now four episodes into Serial, the hugely popular reality podcast from WBEZ and This American Life. In it reporter Sarah Koenig episodically tugs together many loose ends around the murder of Hae Min Lee, a Baltimore teenager, in 1999. … Continue reading

Posted in Broadcasting, Journalism, News, Past, Personal, Strange stuff | 1 Comment

Giant Zero Journalism, cont’d

While doing research on another topic, I ran across this post by Amy Gahran (@agahran) in Poynter, riffing off a March 2007 post on my old blog titled Giant Zero Journalism. Reading it, I feel like I just opened a time capsule — … Continue reading

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Lives of the dead

A couple weekends ago I visited the graves of relatives and ancestors on my father’s side at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. All of them died before I was born, but my Grandma Searls and her sisters often visited there, and … Continue reading

Posted in Family, Health, history, Life, Past, Photography, Places | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A visit to the old ‘hood

A couple weeks ago I took a walk around the historic neighborhood in Fort Lee where my extended family had a home — 2063 Hoyt Avenue — from the turn of the last century into the 1950s. It’s where my parents lived … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Business, Culture, Family, Future, history, infrastructure, Life, News, Past, Personal | 1 Comment

Urban originals

It would have been great to visit the Egyptian Spice Market in Istanbul with my old friend Stephen Lewis, whose knowledge that city runs deep and long. But I was just passing through the Old City by chance, waylaid en … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Blogging, Culture, Family, Geography, infrastructure, Past, Personal, Photography, Travel | 2 Comments

Remembering Dr. Jack Ramsay

Back in the early ’90s I was waiting for an elevator one night at a high rise hotel when I was joined by a group of Miami heat basketball players and Jack Ramsay, who was then most famously the former coach … Continue reading

Posted in history, Journalism, Life, News, Obituary, Past, Personal, Sports | Leave a comment

My Top Ten Talk Radio Hosts of All Time

Here is my short list: Larry Josephson Howard Stern Bob Grant Bob & Ray Barry Gray Bob Fass Steve Post Rush Limbaugh Alex Bennett Allan Handelman And here are my qualifications: a) the performer has to do (or have done) … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Broadcasting, history, Journalism, Links, North Carolina, Past, Personal, radio | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

You can’t sled on slush

I grew up on Woodland Avenue in Maywood, New Jersey, a few miles west of where I am now in New York City. The street was unremarkable, except when it snowed. Then the town would often block it off, so … Continue reading

Posted in Life, Past, Personal, Places, weather | Leave a comment

Seeing Deeply

Cities aren’t simple, especially mature ones. They are deep and complicated places that require equally deep attention to appreciate fully.  That’s what I get from Stephen Lewis‘ insights about the particulars of present and past urban scenes and characters in Sofia, … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Blogging, Business, Geography, Ideas, Identity, infrastructure, Journalism, Links, Past, Personal, Photography, Places | 2 Comments