Archive for the ‘New Jersey’ Category
Endless highway
I drive down the road frequently now, on my way to the bank or to the Asian supermarket (which sells delicious frozen dumplings and at least a dozen varieties of bok choy — who knew?). But the first time I made my way down Route 27, traveling the few miles from Highland Park, N.J., to [...]
Filed under: New Jersey, Travels | Leave a Comment
Tags: cross-country roads, Edison, Highland Park, Lincoln Highway, N.J., New Jersey, Tastee Sub Shop
Doe, a deer, a very rare deer…
Our air-conditioned car rolled through the sultry heat as we drove down a cool and tree-lined road running parallel to the beautiful old Delaware and Raritan Canal, just a few miles from Princeton, New Jersey. We slowed down to witness a remarkable sight: a so-called piebald deer, white with a few brown patches, a condition [...]
Filed under: Nature, New Jersey | Leave a Comment
Tags: New Jersey wildlife, Piebald deer
Black Angel’s initial flight
Find your way to Highland Park, New Jersey, on Thursday, July 14, and you’ll find me at the publication party celebrating the publication of friend and colleague Steve Hart’s first novel, “We All Fall Down.” Steve’s new small-press imprint is based at his used-book and films emproium Nighthawk Books on Raritan Avenue in Highland Park, [...]
Filed under: Book talk, books, Fiction, New Jersey, Non-fiction, Poetry, writing | Leave a Comment
Tags: "19th Nervous Breakdown" Matt DeBlass, "Blips", "Rip" New York Post book reviews, "The Dogs of Arroyo", "We All Fall Down", Black Angel Press, Highland Park N.J., John Marron, literary press, New Jersey writers, Nicholas DiGiovanni, Nighthawk Books, small press, Steven Hart
Journey through the past
The two of us were driving through the streets of Trenton, New Jersey, traveling back in time. In the state capital’s once-thriving shopping district, what were once busy and popular department stores were now cut-rate dollar stores catering to the city’s poor population. Many of the stores were closed or even boarded-up. Many of the [...]
Filed under: DiGiovanni, New Jersey, Travels | 1 Comment
Tags: childhood, childhood memories, downtown Trenton, Fort Dix, Greenwood Avenue in Trenton, Maguire AFB, New Jersey, New Jersey state capital, Trenton, West State Street in Trenton
Down a lazy river
We’re paddling an aluminum canoe down the Wading River, which — at least at this time of year — is more accurately a glorified stream, hardly worthy of its designation as a river but certainly ideal for wading — moving slowly, meandering through the cool, dark Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey, hardly moving in [...]
Filed under: Nature, New Jersey | 2 Comments
Watching the river flow
I warmed up for the celebration of Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday by attending a great show — Blondes on “Blonde on Blonde” — presented last Saturday as part of the Concerts at the Crossing series held in Titusville, N.J., near Washington Crossing, where, yes indeed, Washington crossed the Delaware and invaded Trenton. I know…we should [...]
Filed under: Bob Dylan, Music, New Jersey | Leave a Comment
Tags: "Blonde on Blonde, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Dylan, Dylan's 70th birtrhday, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, New Jersey, Raritan River, Sloan Wainwright, Washington's crossing
The naked and the read
Wear a tuxedo. Wear jeans. Wear a formal gown. Wear a house dress. In other words, come as you are. Maybe even arrive, um, unclothed. There’s no way there will be a dress code on Saturday, May 14, at my friend Steven Hart’s Nighthawk Books in Highland Park, New Jersey, when another friend — novelist [...]
Filed under: Book talk, books, Fiction, New Jersey | Leave a Comment
Tags: author appearances, Bathsheba Monk, fiction, Highland Park N.J., new fiction, New Jersey bookstores, new novels, Nighthawk Books, novels
A (poetry) festive(al) event
New Jersey’s got a great poetry tradition, both in terms of individuals and institutions. If you’re talking great poets, let’s talk New Jersey poets Walt Whitman and Williams Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg, for starters, and let’s add such current luminaries as Robert Pinsky (born, raised and educated in N.J.), Paul Muldoon and C.K. Williams [...]
Filed under: Book talk, books, Delaware Valley Poetry Festival, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Poetry, Rita Dove, Robert Pinsky, writing | Leave a Comment
Tags: Allen Ginsberg, B.J. Ward, C.K. Williams, Charles H. Johnson, Delaware Valley Poetry Festival, Diane Wakoski, Gerald Stern, Joe Weil, Keith Strunk, Laura Swanson, Louise Gluck, Maria Mazzioti Gillan, New Jersey poetry festival, New Jersey poetry readings, New Jersey poets, Nicholas DiGiovanni, Paul Muldoon, Philip Schultz, Poetry, Prallsville Mill, Rita Dove, River Union Stage, Robert Pinsky, Stephen Dobyns, Thomas Lux, Walt Whitman, Williasm Carlos Williams
Freeways, cars and trucks…
Lately I’ve been doing lots of driving. Actually “lots” is an understatement. You wouldn’t believe how much driving I’ve been doing. Let’s just say that if I leased a car I might go over the mileage allotment in a week. OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But I’m not exaggerating when I describe the [...]
Filed under: love, Music, New Jersey, Tom Waits, Travels | Leave a Comment
Tags: "Ol' '55', bad drivers, cars, dangerous drivers, driving, Interstate 287, New Jersey, risky driving, Tom Waits
Note: Traffic on this site soars whenever I mention Sarah Palin. So I’ve decided to write something about her at least once a week. Here’s this week’s Sarah Palin report: Faithful readers of “World of Wonders” know that I posted several entries in recent weeks about the Feb. 20 grand opening of friend Steven Hart’s [...]
Filed under: Book talk, books, Humor, New Jersey, Politics, Sarah Palin, writing | 1 Comment
Tags: Highland Park, Highland Park NJ, N.J., New Jersey bookstores, Nighthawk Books, Sarah Palin, Steven Hart
