Jun 3Happy Birthday, Allen GinsbergToday would have been the 96th birthday of the poet who saw the best minds of his generation destroyed by madness. I have a great affinity for Allen Ginsberg. Although we are polar opposites in terms of personality and poetic ability, we at least share a complicated love of…Poetry Writing4 min read
Jan 9Why I (Sometimes) Love Social MediaI can be a hero… just for one day. Have you ever had a social media post go viral? I experienced that on a small scale earlier today, with this Twitter post of a throwback photo of the epic Jersey City mural by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra:Social Media2 min read
Jan 312 Days of Christmas in New JerseyLooking back on 2021 with appreciation for my home, and the people and things that surround me December 2021-January 2022 In pre-COVID times, on Epiphany Sunday, I’d take Mom to Mass at St. Bonaventure’s Church in Paterson, NJ, to listen to the Chopin Male Choir of Passaic sing Polish Christmas carols. I once wrote that these trips were a reminder of New Jersey’s quirky, and powerful, diversity…New Jersey14 min read
Oct 2, 2021Thirteen Ways of Looking at New York (Happy Birthday, Wallace Stevens)If social media has taught me one thing about life, it’s to reaffirm how ordinary I am. Which is why one of my favorite writers is Wallace Stevens, an ordinary life insurance executive who wrote some of the world’s most extraordinary poems. It’s his 142nd birthday today. I love the…Poetry4 min read
Sep 10, 202120 Years Later, 9/11 RememberedThis year I’ve again updated a Pinterest site of photos and stories recalling my former Verizon colleagues and their heroic response to 9/11. You can reach it at https://www.pinterest.com/bvar/verizons-response-to-911/ . Newly added is a booklet from 2005 about the history and recovery of 140 West Street, the old headquarters building…9 11 Attacks2 min read
Aug 1, 2021Three Lives That Touched ThousandsJuly 2021 was a month of remembrance… and discovery. Remembrance of two people who died recently, and another who died last year. Discovery, in thinking about them and in reading obituary details, of how great an impact their individual lives had on so many others.Obituary3 min read
Jul 9, 2021Van Gogh, the Brand: Pictures at an ExhibitionI love technology; I love New York; I love art museums; I love taking photos; I love date night. So I eagerly purchased tickets to attend one of the various “immersive Van Gogh” experiences now popping up everywhere following the wildly successful Atelier des Lumières installation in Paris in 2018. …Van Gogh3 min read
Jul 4, 2021About Stanley Fink, Undefeated to the LastThis July 4, I want to remember one patriot whose career preceded the Internet Age: Stanley Fink. Anecdotes about Stanley are impossible to find online these days, which is unfortunate, because the memory of him burns so brightly among those of us who knew him. Two years ago, I left…Verizon3 min read
May 29, 2021A Tree Grows in New MilfordE.B. White is remembered in suburban New Jersey — A tree grows in New Milford, NJ… by way of Brooklyn… by way of a courtyard garden in Turtle Bay, New York City. The writer E.B. White used to live in an apartment overlooking that garden. …New York3 min read
May 2, 2021A Dozen Poems and Images in AprilI’ve always tried to be a good boy. Too quiet, though. Joining sides with the neighborhood bully, my first best friend threw rocks at me just days before his family moved to Parsippany NJ. He hit me in the head. That’s the way little kids say goodbye, and this is…Poetry3 min read
