When you get right down to it, I’m pretty hard core. I’m the kind of outlaw Johnny Cash wrote songs about and mothers across the land feared might one day date their daughters. I’m bad, folks. Bad to the bone. I used to walk to school. In elementary school, it was Brookside, to which I […]
Mark LaFlamme
Posted inMark LaFlamme
Street Talk: A sneak peek inside my drawers
The excitement was unreal. When I was first hired by the Sun Journal back in the olden days of 1994, I went on an extravagant shopping spree. You know: high tech stuff. A Rolodex with colored tabs separating the letters for easy scrolling. A notebook divided into not two, not three, but FOUR sections, so […]
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Talk of the Town: Cannibals plan sneak attack on Christmas morning. Now with more bunnies.
Dozens of bunnies arrive at shelter When I first read this headline, I pictured long lines of rabbits with hobo bags slung over their shoulders as they made the long march toward a school gymnasium seeking shelter for the night. You know, in the aftermath of some bunny emergency that rousted them from their homes. […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: It isn’t fun and games until someone gets bloody
Rusty was bleeding heavily from a gash on his chin, but we figured the cold winter air would take care of it and, anyway, bloody streaks in the snow only enhanced the realism of the game. The game, in this case, was called “Krauting,” and it was one we engaged in whenever the snowbanks grew […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Street Talk: Hard Times for the First Amendment
“The Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to bare the secrets of government and inform the people… The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.” – Hugo Black, American politician and jurist. As First Amendment quotes go, this one is a beauty. The amendment itself is beauty, but […]
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Talk of the town
HOW ARE YOU TODAY!! There’s a Walmart greeter in Auburn who is so darn jolly, he scares me a little. I’m always in the zone when I walk into the superstore, so when this guy springs out of nowhere like an over-caffeinated ninja dog, demanding that I accept his greeting, I sometimes lose control of […]
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Street Talk: It’s time for another TV-viewing detox
It took a 50-year-old TV series to suck me back into the idiot box. It was New Year’s Day and I had no intention of watching television. But tell me, please. If you happen to walk past the TV and “The Twilight Zone” marathon is on, could you resist the urge to tune in, if […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Talk of the town: Cheap gas drives Anderson Cooper to drink. Or something.
A real sketchy character That crazy Bill Eldridge is at it again. He’s the freakishly talented artist who frequently sends in sketches based on my books or on stories I have written for the paper. Lately, he’s taken to decorating the newspaper pages themselves, perhaps as a means to save trees. This week, I received […]
Posted inMark LaFlamme
Street Talk: A Man’s Guide to Hobby Lobby
You didn’t have to look at the man very long to see that he was unhappy. He stood leaning against the bricks just outside the main doors, smoking angrily and shaking his head in disgust at regular intervals. Every time someone walked out of the store, he shot a baleful glance in that direction, hoping […]
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Street Talk: Hop on, I’ll race you to New Year’s Day
You know how I feel about you, right? We argue from time to time, and there are days when you just want to punch me in the snout and throw me into the Androscoggin — but you know I love you, right? Right? I do. And that’s why I’m hoping with all of my heart […]