Dispatches From Upstate NY

Read more about the article Off to Antarctica, the Seventh Continent!
Land ho!. First sighting of Antarctica land.

Off to Antarctica, the Seventh Continent!

(Editor’s note: This is the first of three posts about my experiences traveling to and from Antarctica in November 2025. It was the culmination of a lifelong dream. I’ve also included some of the over 500 photos I took in this precious yet largely inhospitable land.)   As our ship rocked wildly in 25- to 30-foot waves in one of the world’s most treacherous ocean passages, I bounced from wall to wall in my shower. After about 10 minutes, I adapted. I held onto a chest-high rail with one hand while washing…

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Read more about the article Visiting Emily Dickinson’s home in Amherst, Massachusetts
The Dickinson family home in Amherst, Massachusetts, where Emily wrote her poetry

Visiting Emily Dickinson’s home in Amherst, Massachusetts

  Less than a mile from where I slept, studied, partied, and wrote my first journalistic words at UMass Amherst lies a well-preserved 19th century home in which one of the world’s leading poets quietly crafted poetry we still cite and study today. I never thought about visiting Emily Dickinson’s home as my life-changing experience at college unfolded in the late 1970s. I didn’t even know it was there. I sought to correct that oversight recently when I visited my alma mater to see students who produce the college’s daily newspaper. It…

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Read more about the article My new book: An homage to flying airplanes
Book cover by artist Deanna Gallaro.

My new book: An homage to flying airplanes

From 1995 to 2013 I flew airplanes, a lot. Aviation was my side hustle as I pursued a busy career in public relations at Verizon. Between my basic private pilot training through epic flights across North America I recorded close to 900 hours of flying. My decision to take flying lessons was the realization of a dream I’d had since my youth, especially growing up on Air Force bases where I saw airplanes every day. This included the massive, majestic B52 bombers. Each time I took a lesson, learned how to fly…

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Read more about the article Learning more about Mark Twain, the ‘voice’ we need in the 21st century
Mark Twain portrait, by J. Carrroll Beckwith (1890)

Learning more about Mark Twain, the ‘voice’ we need in the 21st century

He was a man of many tastes, opinions, and contradictions. He hated the invention called the telephone, despite a life devoted to the written and spoken word. Later in life he proudly wore an unusual, loud white suit he called the “dontcareadam” ensemble. One of America’s most gifted literary figures, he was never shy about expressing his strong opinion in a vigorous, articulate way. We need people like him more than ever today. Born as Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835 and known as author, humorist, speaker, essayist Mark Twain for most of…

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Read more about the article Following Bob Dylan to go electric: Our one year of driving an EV
Joining Bob Dylan in his famous movement to "go electric."

Following Bob Dylan to go electric: Our one year of driving an EV

Bob Dylan famously went electric, so we decided to try it too. So off we went last year to shirk off the yoke of an internal combustion, fossil-fuel-burning, pollution-emitting car. We joined the legions of drivers who chose a new electric vehicle, or EV. It wasn’t a huge leap for our family, since I was among the first New Yorkers to buy a hybrid Toyota Prius in 2000. We drove it for years, reveling in over 50 mpg and answering questions from curious strangers who waited in parking lots to talk with…

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