A Guy’s Guide to Figure Skating
You know, eventually, the day will come. It’s the dead of winter. You live in a four-sport town, but your football team didn’t make the playoffs, your NBA franchise is playing for the lottery and […]
Author: Con Chapman
I'm a Boston-area writer, author of The Year of the Gerbil, a history of the 1978 Red Sox-Yankees pennant race, and 50 books of humor including "Scooter & Skipper Blow Things Up!" by HumorOutcasts Press. My work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Christian Science Monitor and The Boston Globe among print outlets. "Rabbit's Blues," my biography of Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington's long-time alto sax player, will be published by Oxford University Press in September.
Speaking Truth to Librarian Power
The mid-1980s were a time when, due to several unsettling changes in my life, I did not have much confidence in myself, personally or professionally. My long-time girlfriend had moved out of our apartment and […]
I Beat a Gypsy Curse–and So Can You!
If my conduct in the case in question exceeded the normal bounds of professionalism, the circumstances provided an excuse. A client of mine had lent a significant–to him–sum of money to a little Greek woman, working […]
Lawyers Without Borders Bring Aid, Strife to Third World
MALCZW, Freedonia. In this land-locked, vowel-starved country, many residents have never even seen a lawyer, much less retained one. “It is both a blessing and a curse,” says tribal chieftain Mzrz Glzorp. “We do not […]
Swiss Women Use Assisted Suicide to Combat Male Snoring
WINTERTHUR, Switzerland. Selina Bless used to arrive at her job as a pastry chef every morning at 6:30 a.m., tired and haggard-looking. “Once I am up, I am up,” she says with resignation, “and my […]
Lounge Singer’s Road to Top Paved With Bad Detentions
EAST BOSTON, Mass. Bobby Santosuosso fiddles nervously with his bow tie as he waits in the wings at the Aborted Take-Off Lounge, a crowded night spot that overlooks Runway 5N at Logan International Airport here. […]
All’s Fair in Love and Ping Pong
To her surprise, the room opened out to a porch with cushioned chairs in place and a ping-pong table. There was another ping-pong table on the newly laid turf beyond. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Brimmer reminded me a […]
In Arms Control Breakthrough, Freedonia Gives Up Hairspray
ZXLGIEW, Freedonia. The line outside Krlzisky’s Dry Goods and Notions Store stretched down the street and around the corner of Gen. Pokls Armeglzark Avenue yesterday, but the many women–and a few men–who waited with spray […]
Ask Mr. Lizard
Lizards make great pets, don’t eat much, and are a handy tool to keep people from coming into your room. Got a question about your precious little reptile? Ask Mr. Lizard! Dear Mr. Lizard– I have […]
On the Waterfront: Fuzzy Animal Version
The president of an Ohio steelworkers union stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his local, which he used in part to buy tickets to Disney on Ice and Sesame Street Live shows. Organized Labor’s […]