Yodels! The woman who describes herself as “the crazy French lady” has done outdid herself by bringing me not one box of Yodels, but three boxes. We’re not talking the cheap knock offs here, either. We’re talking smooth chocolate cakes filled with creamed whatever brought to you by the good people of Hostess. Or possibly […]
Mark LaFlamme
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street talk: I am not a robot (as far as you know)
I think it’s time we talked about the elephant in the room. And by elephant in the room, I mean the robot sitting at my desk. The other day I received an email from a random stranger. In the subject line he wrote simply “FYI.” In the main body was posted a link to a […]
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Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
What do black cats, pigeons and editors have in common?
Sometimes they come back Out behind the Motel 6 early Wednesday night, I came upon a dead black cat next to a dumpster. Wanting to spare the poor creature from scavengers, I hopped off my bike to scoop up the poor kitty – at which point, the poor kitty lifted its head, hissed at me, […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
It’s hard to believe there was a time when smoking was considered cool. But oh, there were such times. Think James Dean leaning against that 1949 Mercury Coupe, a mile of street cred dangling from his lips. Think Clint Eastwood in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” scowling around that hand-rolled smoke so blazingly, […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: Go big or go home
‘Is color a sign of infection in nasal secretions?’ A headline that appeared early in the week, possibly as part of our “Connecting You With Your Nasal Secretions” series. I tell you, this kind of journalism is nothing to sneeze at. Who did what to who, now? So, if I have this straight, CNN threatened […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Creepy, creepy, crawly, crawly
My shirtless wife was becoming hysterical, convinced the tiny spot on her back was something other than a freckle. “Look again,” she said. So, I did, moving in with a magnifying glass like Sherlock Holmes on his lamest assignment ever. “It’s a freckle,” I told her. “It’s not,” she said, so I looked one more […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the Town: What's up with that?
Behold, the Pink Crusader On Monday in Sabattus, a police officer was dispatched for a report of a naked man walking in the road. Why was he walking naked? Because it’s awesome this time of year, that’s why. But in this case, the man was said to be upset that roadwork had caused the closure […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: A life up in flames
The man with the sooty face stood in the dancing glow of flames and watched his home burn to the ground. He stood with his arm around the shoulders of his sobbing wife and just watched it happen. His face didn’t express much, although I could see the muscles of his jaw bulging below the […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: A journey of a thousand miles and whatnot
Hero squirrel of Idaho So, some dude’s pet squirrel thwarted a burglary by lunging out of the dark and scaring the thief into an embarrassing retreat. This is exactly why I keep three pet degus at my place – two of them are heavy into the krav maga while the third does Zumba. He’s always […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Patiently waiting for Mom Nature to rock my world
Somewhere far off, in the low-slung clouds in the eastern sky, a storm is brewing. There’s a faint rumbling that sounds like a raucous party two or three doors down. The world has darkened and trees are stirring. The birds and bugs have gone silent, and that silence is foreboding. A few fat raindrops splatter […]