Late afternoon, June 17, 1994. I was just three months into my spanking new journalism career when I walked into the newsroom to an unsettling sight. All of the editors, typically splayed out at manageable distances around the newsroom, were standing in one spot in the middle of the room. Managing editors, copy editors, daytime […]
Street talk
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: No prescription necessary
The woman was a ragged mess, her nerves jangled, her guts in a knot. She was having problems with one of her grown children and it left her frantic. Unsettled. Paralyzed at times with gnawing fears of the creeping unknown. A few years beyond 80, she went in desperation to her local pharmacist, in search […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: The old man and the streetwalkers
Hardly a day goes by when I’m not asked one question or another about the working girls of downtown Lewiston. You know the working girls. They stand on the corners along Pine and Ash, trying to look sexy in five layers of winter garb. They offer a sly glance as you drive by in the […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: A trip to Cooper Spring
Every month, like clockwork, we make the journey north — or possibly west — to fill our water jugs at the Cooper Spring in Buckfield. Or possibly South Paris, it depends on which map you’re using. The ride to the spring is half the fun. The journey takes us down the winding roads of Minot, through bucolic […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Lights out in Lewiston
Call me crazy, but every time the power goes out, I get excited. Not just excited – exhilarated. Enthralled. Energized by a new sense of adventure and an absolute certainty that this is it. This is The Big One. The end of the world has come ’round at last and I’ve got to get my […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: A gift of inches and seconds is the difference between life and death
To this day, I’m not sure if the Trans Am rolled once or twice before rocking back onto its tires in the middle of that field in Oakland. We had been trucking down Fairfield Street at twice the speed limit, beers between our legs, when some fool suddenly slowed in front of us. Brakes screamed. The […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: When good scanner calls go bad
Over the police scanner, it sounded like the real thing. Four shots had been fired near an Auburn hotel, according to the caller, and at least one person had been struck. The man who reported the shooting further advised police that he was locked in the trunk of a Buick. He was thumping around and […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: You wouldn’t believe who scooped us
So, every time you see me out and about of late, you note that I have a confused look about me. The hanging jaw, the squint of befuddlement, the overall comportment of a fellow who’s lost his way. You assume that I bought the wrong size boxer shorts again, but it’s not so. Not this […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Who wants breakfast?
I’m sure the nice lady meant well. But as I drooped over my coffee, swollen-eyed and garbled of thought, she exhibited all the tenacity of an overzealous police detective hellbent on punishing me for the crime of waking up. “How about some scrambled eggs with toast? I have a nice pomegranate jam.” “No thank you,” […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: How old is too old to trick or treat?
The kid was just slightly more than 5 feet tall, but when I climbed upon his shoulders, together we had to be close to 11 feet. That’s monstrous! Certainly the sight of an 11-foot tall snarling teenager had to be creative enough to coax an old lady out of a Zagnut or at least one […]