by Jeff Maisey | May 15, 2017 | News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham I have a lot of pet peeves. But if I had to pick one that stands out above all others, it would be the abuse of the phrase “the American people.” You know what I’m talking about: The tendency of politicians to proclaim that “the American people want”...
by Jeff Maisey | Mar 23, 2017 | Robotham, Travel
Words & Photos by Tom Robotham How is anyone ever gonna come up with a book, or a painting, or a symphony, or a sculpture that can compete with a great city? You can’t. Because you look around and every street, every boulevard, is its own special art form. ~...
by Jeff Maisey | Feb 14, 2017 | News, News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… ~ Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. The day after the Women’s March on Washington, a man I know was asked by a mutual friend why he’d gone. “For my daughter,” he said. Fair enough. I...
by Jeff Maisey | Feb 14, 2017 | News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham When I was a young reporter for The Staten Island Advance in the early ‘80s, I looked to a lot of older journalists for inspiration. But chief among them was Nat Hentoff, whose columns in The Village Voice never failed to enlighten me and renew my...
by Jeff Maisey | Feb 14, 2017 | News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham When I was in Oxford, England last summer, I stumbled upon a pub named “Old Tom.” How could I resist? Inside it was as pleasant as any pub could be: small but not cramped; a well-crafted but unpretentious bar; a few tables, and a few smiling people....
by Jeff Maisey | Dec 18, 2016 | News & Views, Robotham
By Tom Robotham Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant? ~ Henry David Thoreau Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about empathy. We tend to regard it as a quality that some people have and others...
