Author Archives: Peter

Open City declared Peter Nolan Smith an underground punk legend of the 1970s East Village. The New England native spent many years as a nightclub doorman in New York, Paris, London, and Hamburg. The constant traveler has lived for long periods of time in Europe and the Far East. After a forced retirement from the Schmatta trade in Thailand, Peter Nolan Smith returned to New York to work in the international diamond trade. At summer’s end he resumed the life of a writer. The world’s leading leisureologist is currently based in Sri Racha, Thailand, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and Luxembourg City. He has no address.

THE BIRTH OF THE BOUFFANT by Peter Nolan Smith

May 12, 2019 – 10:59 am

In the late-18th Century Marie Antoinette’ coiffeur sought to camouflage the queen’s baldness by upsweeping her thinning tresses to cascade over her ears. The femme fatales of the ancien regime imitated ‘le bouffant, until the royal coif lost its popularity with the Marie’s final haircut by the guillotine. Two centuries later Jackie Kennedy, JFK’s wife, […]

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A MOTHER’S LAST WISH by Peter Nolan Smith

May 12, 2019 – 10:39 am

After the last holidays of 2006 my mother entered the final stages of her battle with cancer. These last rounds were not a pretty site, but her beauty remained intact to the end. Several days after the New Year my mother held my hand and said, “I’m so happy I made Christmas.” “Me too.” I […]

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Peace on Mother’s Day

May 12, 2019 – 8:12 am

According to Wikipedia the First Mother’s Day was established as a “Mother’s Day for Peace” by Anna Jarvis from Virginia in honor of her mother, Ann, who had been a pacifist during the Civil War. According to the Anna Jarvis Museum in Webster the daughter received her inspiration after a Sunday service when her mother […]

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NORTH END MIRACLE by Peter Nolan Smith

May 12, 2019 – 7:16 am

Throughout my childhood my mother cooked dinner for six kids and every Friday evening she drove our station wagon into Boston. We picked up my father at 50 Milk Street, where he worked for Ma Bell as an electrical engineer. He took the wheel and headed to a restaurant. My father loved my mother and […]

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THE GUILT OF MOTHERS by Peter Nolan Smith

May 11, 2019 – 2:17 pm

Back in the 90s I deserted New York to spend the Christmas holidays with my family on the South Shore. Despite my abandonment of God as a child my mother persisted in requesting my attendance at Midnight Mass. It was a small sacrifice to make for the woman who brought me into this world and […]

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