After writing a tribute to New York City's valiant sanitation men, I now turn my attention to another criminally unappreciated sector of New York City workers: the deli girl. Specifically, the sullen, overly-tanned, skimpily-dressed, Blackberrying girl who grudgingly works the summer-break shift as a favor to her Uncle Frank. These...

Every couple of days, I witness the same disheartening scene in my Brooklyn neighborhood when a garbage truck stops on my street. While the sanitation men momentarily block traffic, scurrying to toss bags of trash into the truck, there is always some putz in a waiting car who will blast...

At a recent family gathering, as we were clearing the dinner dishes, my 67-year-old mother calmly announced that she was going to get a tattoo.

Now, my mother is hardly the biker type. She's a wholesome Talbot's-sweater-wearing Southerner, a former flight attendant from the days when airlines had strict weight...

For nearly twenty years, I've made my living by interviewing celebrities. I've hoisted a pint of Guinness with Bono, helped a pregnant Madonna out of a chair, and eaten Doritos on a tour bus with Beyonce. But that was a while back. It's time to move on. It's been time...