Tag Archives: 47th street

THE GUILT OF MOTHERS by Peter Nolan Smith

March 31, 2024 – 3:17 am

Back in the 1990s I deserted New York to spend the Easter holiday with my family on the South Shore of Boston. Despite my abandonment of God as a child my mother persisted in requesting my attendance at morning Mass. It was a small sacrifice to make for the woman who brought me into this […]

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Happy Purim

March 24, 2024 – 9:18 am

Five years ago I wandered through West 47th Street looking for a job. No one was interested in hiring a goy on Purim and my Hassidic friends cajoled me into having a drink with them. “Whiskey is kosher.” They poured a good measure of Scotch into a glass. “Shalom.” I clinked glass with the religious […]

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Super Bowl III 1969

February 11, 2024 – 5:37 am

The Baltimore Colts had entered Super Bowl III as 18-point favorites over the AFL’s New York Jets. The underdogs were quarterbacked by the flashy Joe Namath and the brash Alabama native boasted in Miami, “We’re gonna win the game. I guarantee it.” The Colts were infuriated by this brash statement and quashed the first drive […]

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NEW YORK SNOW DAY by Peter Nolan Smith

January 19, 2024 – 6:49 pm

In the winter of 2010 I woke early to snow flakes fluttering against the window of my Brooklyn bedroom. Beyond the glass a winter storm was decorating the city white. I thought about going back to sleep, except the telephone rang. It was my boss’ son, Richie Boy. “I hope you’re calling to tell me […]

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SNOW DAY by Peter Nolan Smith

January 19, 2024 – 10:41 am

Several years ago I woke up to a heavy snow falling fast on the Fort Greene Observatory and I asked the head curator AP, if he was sending his two young children to school. “Of course I am.” AP worked from home and his kids like all kids were attention-seekers. “So no snow day?” The […]

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