A Place to Write: The Magic of the New York City Pub

I remember my first visit on a holiday afternoon. It was warm and quiet, a few people talking at the bar. A football game was on television, the teams on a snowy field. I pulled up a stool and ordered a Bud and a Jameson and thought of staying forever.

My Bud and Jamo at The Irish Punt

Whenever I am anywhere else, I think of getting back here where I can think and write, where I am left alone by everybody (except the bartender that is). If allowed, I would curl up against the rail and go to sleep beneath the warm bottle-filtered lights.

The bottles behind the bar at The Irish Punt

This place is called The Irish Punt, and it is peace and quiet. It offers the certainty of being somewhere, where my mind is clear. Indeed, why ever leave, just to be somewhere, going somewhere else? Why do any of that when I can stay here and order another Bud and Jameson, which I think I will do.

Pandemic Accomplishments: Six Months and Counting

Half a year of pseudo-quarantining into the Covid-19 Pandemic, 921,000 people dead worldwide, another surge predicted, and I’m still hanging on in my insular world. Lots of reading, writing and weird sports viewing mark the time of most days along with an occasional trip to my new venue, The Full Shilling, with outdoor seating!

My latest accomplishments include:

  1. Finally left the city, once to see the drive-in premiere of Andrea Mastrovito’s I Am Not Legend, and then, on a week-long trip to Maine for lobster and more lobster.

2. Began workouts on the elliptical and stationary bike, as well as having proper walks again, including Lower Manhattan circumnavigations.

3. Returned to writing in earnest, beginning the first draft of my autobiography, Fuck Pedagogy and returning to the fifth draft of Anori (Book One of Cx Trilogy).

4. Discovered the measured combination of Budweiser, Camel Crush, Nomad and Stoney Patch almost on par with Oxycodone.

5. Put back the 15 pounds I lost after surgery.

6. Won a shit load of acorns on Level 1552 of Fishdom.

That Best Beer: Crofters, Steam Whistle, American

Lager, ale, pilsner, Canadian, Scottish, Italian, Burmese, Czech, and, yes, American. Budweiser_can_AmericaThe key is the moment, the anticipation of that, mountains/meetings away, working through it, thinking about that thing…and then seeing it pour.steam whistleAnd then, yes, it cold in your hand, drinking and drinking, the glass all but empty, feeling the cold inside, finishing it, ordering again. croftersGood livin’.