Tag Archives: 9/11

The Paperboy No Cometh No More

September 11, 2023 – 4:14 am

Written Sep 13, 2011 I have read the New York Times for many years. Editors, critics, and reporters come and go, but the newspaper has held onto the best writers for the simple reason that they help circulation. Among that upper echelon is op-ed commentator Paul Krugman. The 2008 Nobel Prize winner has exhibited an […]

By Peter | Posted in america, Crime, politics | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

A DAY FAR FROM NORMAL by Peter Nolan Smith

September 11, 2023 – 1:50 am

That morning a jet roared above the East Village. I opened my eyes. Lots of planes and helicopters flew over Manhattan. None of them ever this low or fast or loud. Thirty seconds later my apartment windows shook with a muffled thud that sounded more a boom than a crash. The children from the day-care […]

By Peter | Posted in NEW YORK, semi-fiction | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

Fucking Coffee Cup Holders

September 9, 2023 – 9:51 pm

A week after 9/11 the wind shifted from the west and a southerly breeze pushed the smoke from the Big Pile into the East Village instead of Brooklyn. It smelled like an asbestos BBQ. I called my sister in Boston. We hadn’t gotten along as teenagers, but had become good friends during the deaths of […]

By Peter | Posted in etiquette | Also tagged | Comments (0)

TO LIVE AND DIE IN PATTAYA by Peter Nolan Smith

September 14, 2022 – 1:32 am

Pattaya isn’t what it used to be in the 90s or 80s. The coconut plantations have been replaced by luxury villas. Interpol and the Thai Police hunt down fugitives and the Russians have taken over the hills, so three summers ago I moved north to Sri Racha with my son Fenway and his mom. The […]

By Peter | Posted in 2000s, farangs, NEW YORK, Pattaya, semi-fiction | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

RETURN TO NORMAL by Peter Nolan Smith

September 13, 2022 – 2:04 am

Two weeks after the collapse of the Trade Towers the westerly wind shifted and a southern breeze spread the funereal smoke across Lower Manhattan. The poisonous fumes smelled of a blazing cannibal BBQ. Later that afternoon I caught a train north to Boston. My sister put me up in her basement. I watched the Red […]

By Peter | Posted in america, New England, NEW YORK, semi-fiction, Travel, War | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)