Category Archives: Anthology

My collected writings and those of family members.

Incorporates a Stretchy Sock

Posted on March 1, 2019 by JMN

I have a vicarious affection for Scotland nurtured by family genealogy. Coupled with a weakness for spirited fashion talk, it leads me to share the following: [Natacha Ramsay-Levi, Chloé’s creative director] joins many other European designers this season, including Riccardo … Continue reading →

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Dress in Peace

Posted on February 23, 2019 by JMN

The couple’s closets were filled with immaculate clothes. (Bonnie Wertheim, “Marella Agnelli, Society’s ‘Last Swan’ and a Passionate Gardener, Is Dead at 91,” NYTimes, 2-23-19) All respect to the Agnelli family and condolences for their loss. The clothing reference struck … Continue reading →

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Dangerous Music

Posted on February 21, 2019 by JMN

In 1919, jazz, or “jass,” as some still called it, was a peculiar word with musical and sexual connotations. It could be noun, verb or adjective, indicating pep, liveliness and noise. Jazz was the new counterculture dance music replacing ragtime … Continue reading →

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Maurice Sendak’s Allure

Posted on February 16, 2019 by JMN

“Reaching the kids is important, but secondary,” Sendak once said. “First, always, I have to reach and keep hold of the child in me…” With their flattened perspective, the book’s pages have the allure of the poster, brazen, sleek and … Continue reading →

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Tolkien, Amateur

Posted on February 16, 2019 by JMN

“He’s doing the drawings and the maps and the spreadsheets and all of that detail — the language, the calligraphy — for himself,” [Richard Ovenden, head of the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford] said, after pointing out that Tolkien didn’t … Continue reading →

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Touché

Posted on February 16, 2019 by JMN

… I was, in part, asking a question of myself: whether poetry that arose out of social media could hold up under intensive close reading. The answer, in short, was yes… As time passes, and the new poets grow older, … Continue reading →

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“One Hospital, One Neighborhood, One City”

Posted on February 15, 2019 by JMN

Temple University Hospital [in Philadelphia] treated 481 patients with gunshot wounds last year, and 97 died. In this one hospital in one neighborhood in one city. As a country, we lost nearly 40,000 lives to guns in 2017. (Eric Curran … Continue reading →

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What to Do in Canada

Posted on February 15, 2019 by JMN

We are an insanely exciting country. Come on over and head to St. John’s to drink screech and kiss a cod. Or let’s meet in the Sourdough Saloon in Dawson City, Yukon, and we can enjoy the Sourtoe cocktail together … Continue reading →

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Broadside Press

Posted on February 14, 2019 by JMN

Randall started the publishing house, which was based in Detroit, with his librarian’s paycheck, and it swiftly became a success, producing dozens of broadsides — a printing style in which just one side of the paper is used — as … Continue reading →

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“How We Work Together”

Posted on February 14, 2019 by JMN

While new restaurants in Los Angeles struggle to train and retain staff, the cooks at Beverly Soon Tofu have worked with Ms. Lee for decades, fermenting kimchi and frying kelp. “They speak broken Korean to me, I speak broken Spanish … Continue reading →

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