Mark LaFlamme is a Sun Journal news reporter and columnist and the author of several works of fiction. He sleeps until noon each day and regrets nothing. Mark has several exciting hobbies, all of which are none of your business. Seriously, you don’t want to know. This page is a collection of his Street Talk and Talk of the Town columns.
Street Talk
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October 6Street Talk: It's become tense and guarded on both ends, and you can't blame the police for this — the media hasn't been altogether kind to cops in recent years.
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September 29Street Talk: When the exchange of words was no longer enough, a plan was hatched. She would sneak out of her family home, travel up to Lewiston and at last, they would be in each other's arms.
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September 22Street Talk: Don't get me wrong, angry letter writer. When things like fires turn out to be not much at all, I'm happy about it. If no buildings burned for the rest of my life, I'd be as thrilled as anyone.
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September 1Confessions of a habitual swearer who also happens to be interested in personal growth.
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August 18Street Talk: Old Orchard Beach is a sandy Xanadu where the glorious ocean meets $4 flip-flops, lip-scalding pier fries and some chubby kid vomiting all over the Matterhorn.
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August 10The longer my beard grew, the more it seemed to antagonize people and I couldn't go anywhere without enduring one snide remark or another.
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August 4Jess Paquette, a local busker, had her bike and ukulele stolen. After a few posts on Facebook, the community rallied to find the missing stuff—and succeeded, mostly.
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Reading news through a digital medium is long on efficiency but short on charm. There's a certain just-the-facts discipline about it that discourages dawdling when dawdling was always the kind of fun of reading a newspaper.
Talk of the Town
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Talk of the Town: Put down the pumpkins and no one gets hurt.
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October 10Talk of the Town: Monday was a glorious day. Facebook and a whole bunch of similar social media apps were down pretty much around the clock. Did you notice the weird peace and civility that descended?
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Talk of the Town: This week our columnist nails down various doors around the house.
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Talk of the Town: Weird Al and Big Al make appearances but we won't talk about al dente.
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September 19Talk of the Town: Mark LaFlamme on cussin', fussin' and slushin'.
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Talk of the Town: It's not so easy to follow the straight and narrow when one comes to a crooked arrow.
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Talk of the Town: What's a cop reporter to do now that the police scanner has gone quiet?
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