Features

I moved to the city in the 1990s for a publishing job. Wally Lamb’s “She’s Come Undone” had just become a bestseller, and I remember an in-office celebration with a sheet cake decorated with the book’s cover. New and nervous, I hadn’t yet learned the hierarchy: editors sat at the table, assistants along the wall. […]

University Place is bustling with students. Turn the corner onto East Eleventh Street and the crowds disappear. In the window of one of the block’s longtime restaurants, a sign pleads, “WE NEED YOUR HELP!” When you hear “vegan restaurant,” the first word that comes to mind is probably not “elegance.” But at Peacefood, that’s the

As Shakespeare noted “summer’s lease has all too short a date.” But I also love autumn in New York when it’s still warm during the day. I used to lounge outside in the Westbeth courtyard, around our center garden, but since Westbeth is now a loud construction site, it’s no longer relaxing to hang out

In 1984 I took an oddball part-time summer job with a company that created newspaper indexes. My first task every morning was to call an obscure office at The New York Times. How many dots? I would ask. The voice on the other end would give me a number ranging from zero to four, and

The Jeffrey Epstein horror show just keeps on swelling, what with revelations about blackmail, his political protection and his involvement with a major bank. Just this week the British sacked Peter Mandelson, their ambassador to the US, upon learning he had emailed Epstein right after he had admitted guilt to soliciting a minor, writing I

Pumpkin Coffee Recipes: Bring the Coffee House to Your House Pumpkin is no doubt the flavor of Fall. Pumpkin coffee, has become an extremely popular item with cafés and coffee bars rolling out their signature pumpkin-flavored drinks every Fall. Here are some great at home recipes if you want to bring the coffee house to

The New York City landmarks law, enacted by the city in 1965, is increasingly controversial, misunderstood, and under attack. As one typical critic put it, landmarking is “a way for government-empowered preservationists to obstruct new development…[E]ntire neighborhoods of marginal historical value are frozen in time, hindering the ability of cities and their residents to adjust

It’s over let’s face it, this “Human Thing” of ours is done. I mean look who occupies the seat of our government, the White House, no humans in residence there. We’ve given it all up, to the giant algorithm in the sky. All human accomplishments in Science, Literature, Art, are uploaded to this thing. And

Spring 2025. I head over to the median strip of West Street at Christopher to participate in a small weekly “action” I’ve just learned about. I choose a hand-lettered sign from the organizer’s bag that reads HONK IF YOU LOVE DEMOCRACY. For the first time since elementary school, someone hands me a tambourine. Goldilocks-like, I’ve

“In the season of summer, with all its labors, then it is that goats are fattest, wine is best, women are most wanton, and men are weakest; for Sirius dries up their heads…” Hesiod’s Works and Days, translated by Gregory Nagy Lethargy, lassitude, lust… sic transit every one of my teenage summers! But I have