http://modernsmile.com/2010/10/ I started talking to the guy who runs the town dump about Christmas tree selling in New York City – mostly the province of Quebecois – and he said, “You should take a look on my website. I wrote a couple of pieces about Christmas tree selling in New York City – its origins and […]
Category Archives: New York City
Staten Island’s turkeys.
12-Nov-10http://intellivex.com/newsite/intellivex/manufacturers/lea-international/ Staten Island’s wild turkey population came up in the news again recently, and Gothamist posted about it, using a photo of mine that captures the phenomenon perfectly: wild turkeys stalking through a complete suburban landscape. It amazes me continually how unique Staten Island is as a part of New York City – the subject of […]
Roommates.
09-Nov-10This is another essay I wrote about life on Staten Island, which did not make it into the book. As I mentioned before, I wrote about 45,000 words for the Staten Island book, of which only 20,000 made it to the published version; the other essays were left out for various reasons. I intend to […]
Reading at Staten Island Museum.
09-Nov-10The release for the Staten Island book went splendidly. We packed the room (65 people, I am told) the day after I had asked for a bigger space. And we sold every single copy of the book we had with us. From the writer’s perspective, that’s a good day. The photo at left shows the space […]
The Crumpled Press.
25-Oct-10How the Crumpled Press goes about its business – “combining modern technology with the pleasures of an archaic mode of production” – from the Princeton Alumni Weekly.
My first book, Staten Island, or, Life in the Boroughs will have its release at the Staten Island Museum (a.k.a. Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences) at 1 p.m. on November 6th, 2010. All are invited. From the well-written press release: “John Byron Kuhner ferries the reader across New York Harbor to the island […]
Autumn.
01-Oct-10The Staten Island book – which can be ordered here (it has returned from the printers, and is being bound) – originally consisted of twenty-one essays, about 45,000 words; the publishers selected ten of these essays to make a more compact 20,000 word “chapbook,” a better size book for the press and, of course, far […]
The Ferry Terminal.
20-Sep-10An excerpt from the Staten Island book in Brooklyn Rail. The Staten Island book is (at long last!) nearing its release, which should be in October. I’ve been proofing the galleys over the past few days. The book can be ordered here.
Cloisters.
08-Aug-10I spent Saturday at the Cloisters, and achieved one of my goals of measuring the cloistered gardens there. I was informed by the guard that the reconstructed gardens do not represent the original dimensions, but that was really no concern to me: what impressed me is that each one of the cloisters works as a […]
Now we have a Cover…
17-Jul-10The Staten Island book is coming together… now we have a cover for it. Looks great: Staten Island’s best mix of the 1880s, 1890s, and today. You can order and get a look here.