Category Archives: nonfiction

My legs are going to be sore tomorrow

The tempo of my walk has hardly surpassed that of a leisurely New Orleans stroll in easily over a year, and aside from the occasional set of stairs I have not changed the vertical position of my body by my … Continue reading

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Clancy Martin Tells the Truth Even When He Lies

This interview originally appeared on STOP SMILING Online A Canadian boy drops out of high school to join his brother in Texas as a fine jewelry salesman. He becomes embroiled in the lies, cheats, vice and deceptions that permeate the … Continue reading

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Filed under amazing people, journalism, nonfiction, Writing about writing -- mine and others'

The Cardboard Universe

(This review originally appeared on STOP SMILING Online) The Cardboard Universe: A Guide to the World of Phoebus K. Dank By Christopher Miller (Harper Perennial) Reviewed by Nathan Martin The Cardboard Universe is ultimately a sad book. Sure, the novel … Continue reading

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Sorry, Mr. Typewriter (It’s the first day of summer)

Note: It is no longer Saturday as I post this, nor is it any longer the first day of summer. It’s like the fourth or fifth day of summer, and every day has been as magical or more magical than … Continue reading

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We All Can’t Die in Bed: Part IV

What follows is the fourth of a four-part series comprised of an essay I found interesting and two responses to it by my friends. This is the second and final response, by Scott Ries, as he sent it to me … Continue reading

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We All Can’t Die in Bed: Part II

What follows is the second of a four-part series comprised of an essay I found interesting and two responses to it by my friends. This is the essay.* (View Part I: The Introduction) (View Part III: The First Response) (View … Continue reading

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We All Can’t Die in Bed: Part I

What follows is the first of a four-part series comprised of an essay I found interesting and two responses to it by my friends. This is the introduction. (View Part II: The Essay) (View Part III: The First Response) (View … Continue reading

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Traveling: What’s the point?

This is a question I asked myself on the night-train ride from Cairo to Alexandria, two hours north from where the Egyptian capital sits at the beginning of the Nile Delta up through the impoverished urban sprawl that stretches all … Continue reading

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Selections from informative placards in the Animal Mummy Room at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo

This cow, a Mother of the Buchis Bull of the god Montu, and thus divine by association, was mummified using a large enema of juniper and cedar oil, equivalent to turpentine. This dissolved its interior organs, which were drained out … Continue reading

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Cheap socializing

Below is an article I wrote for the Chicago Tribune, my first to be published in said publication. It’s totally framed as a “ways to have fun during the recession” piece, but the more I thought about it, I realized … Continue reading

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Filed under amazing people, journalism, nonfiction