The fear was palpable. It hung thick as gun smoke in the afternoon air. There were moments when I lost all hope of surviving the encounter. I became resigned to my own sad end. I made my peace with it. But let me start at the beginning. The woman was perhaps 78 years old, and […]
Mark LaFlamme
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: The trash can really speaks to me
Run for your life So, I’m circling downtown Lewiston in search of column morsels. It’s slim pickings out there on a night that smells of baking bread. In Kennedy Park, it’s just the usual mobs of people doing mysterious park things. On Lisbon Street it’s mostly commerce and downtown hubbub, although I did happen upon […]
advertisement
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: #$@% this!
So, I was grilling a steak Saturday night when the back of my hand came in contact with the metal grill lid. The pain was immediate. There was even a nice sizzling sound to verify that my flesh was being charred. It took only a split second for my pain receptors to register the agony, […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: At the drive-in, everyone can hear me scream
3 a.m. tuna I got wicked excited last week when I spotted a sign in Lewiston’s Hannaford parking lot that declared “Starting Aug. 8, 24 hours.” Total happy dance. Finally, a place I can go at 4 a.m. when I have a hankering for Vienna sausages, potato sticks, Jiffy Pop (it really IS as much […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: The sad news about my Ford Uvula
From the day my very first car heaved and groaned and hitched its way out of the driveway, I have dreaded turning to an auto mechanic for help. For one thing, when you bring your car to a professional for repairs, you’re conceding that you’re not man enough to do the work yourself. That’s not […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: You're not from around here, are you?
Hot, ain’t it? Whenever I find myself cussing over hot and humid weather, I close my eyes and try to imagine being out in my driveway shoveling four feet of fresh snow while an icy wind blows down my neck and up the legs of my pantaloons. I imagine the back-busting weight of the slush […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Mark LaFlamme: Parler de rue, and other things I can't say in French
A few years ago, a photographer and I were sent to the Canadian border to explore the matter of border security. It was a sweet assignment, mostly – who doesn’t enjoy a four or five hour road trip with leisurely stops along the way and nary an editor in sight? When we got over to […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: You're not going out in THAT, are you?
Pick a card, any card Auburn’s Dan Cunliffe continued his weird adventures last week when he traveled to California where he showed Denzel Washington a card trick. No, really. There’s video and everything. Cunliffe has the weirdest bucket list ever. I hear next, he’s off to tickle Cloris Leachman and play Connect Four with Charles […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Mark LaFlamme: Have a right cross with that banana split
Scratch that Saw a shirtless man in a big hat the other day treating himself to what appeared to be a tick check on Pine Street in Lewiston. I suppose he could have been giving himself the once over for other reasons, but since it’s Pine Street, I’d rather not speculate. Crime and pewnishment In […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Crunching Lewiston’s crime stats
It was, some thought, the darkest time in Lewiston’s history. The craziness went on all year and was the kind of craziness that made national headlines. A group of teenagers slashed the throat of a cab driver and then left him for dead in a parking lot. A giant, corn-fed farmhand named Lloyd Frank Millett […]