Tom Davis

The lagoons that ran between the Manahawkin bungalows, each showing a metallic shade of grayish brown, were waist-deep in muck. The water had no waves, no wake. Not even a ripple.

Come winter, the lagoon water was so solid, so still, it froze like a quarter-mile-long ice cube. In boredom,...

Imagine riding a bike upside down ... with barely a strap to keep you from falling on the street.

That's what the Loop-O-Plane felt like, a zippy ride that turned in ovals -- and all that kept it running was an old motor with something that looked like a bicycle...

Before my eyes was the man who always cut my hair, ready to chop away again, and give me the news about town that no newspaper ever could.

Jack Pasola was still clipping away Wednesday morning, after decades of doing this, even if many of his cutomers are all gray...

I once dreamed of being a war journalist, a guy who dodged bombs in Beirut, barely avoiding capture. Or I could have been a Washington D.C. guy, shouting questions over the tired press corps, showing them how much better -- or louder -- I was than the rest of them.

Growing up, I wanted to be the greatest at whatever I did, the guy who'd rise above the troubles of my family. I wanted to become the Muhammad Ali, even the Whitney Houston, in my corner of the world.

I wanted to be the best runner, the best baseball player,...

The first football player I ever liked was a quarterback who got sacked all the time. Every year, his New York Giant teams lost more than they won. Every game, he got battered, booed-at and berated, tossed-around, tackled and "turfed."

Every snap, he was there, ready to give it another...

Some come in, wearing well-pressed jackets and ties, looking like they don't have a worry in the world. They shake my hand and smile.

Then they tell their story, their stories of broken families and lost jobs, and frown. Along the way, they may try to force a smile out,...

I've long wondered how I should lend my voice to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. As the Jersey Shore regional editor for Patch.com, I often get called on to write the obituary of record, or to find the right prose for the event of the...

I've long wondered how I should lend my voice to the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. As the Jersey Shore regional editor for Patch.com, I often get called on to write the obituary of record, or to find the right prose for the event of the month --...

"Who's that back there?" Clarence Clemons bellowed, acting with thinly veiled surprise.

Clarence backed up a little to get a "look" behind the curtain. From there emerged the other "big man," the guy with the guitar and the legendary songbook.

Like, hey, the crowd didn't know.

Clarence Clemons and the...

The voices are getting louder now.

They're getting louder than the thunderous waves that crash on the beaches of Manasquan, Long Branch, Point Pleasant and Seaside Heights, N.J. in the middle of a Nor'easter. They're louder than the voices on that MTV show that co-opted the Jersey Shore name.

Four...

It's been a month now. Already, we can ask the question:

Whatever happened to Tyler Clementi?

It's been so long, in fact, that it wouldn't be surprising if your answer was this:

"Who?"

Whatever happened to the change that would come as a result, the kind of social and political...

Their giggles made me worry. What the hell could a bunch of college-aged kids be doing, sitting in the corner, laughing at the Internet?

Yeah, I know. Call me naive. I'm worried about a bunch of college kids giggling? Puh-lease. Yeah, I grew up in a cave. Haven't shaved for...

Mike Castle was the kind of governor who would answer his own door in the Delaware Statehouse if you knocked on it.

He was the kind of guy who would show up randomly at a fund-raiser at a local bar in Dover on a short-notice invitation, and pose for pictures...

The day I announced that I was changing jobs, I became Lord of the Flies.

Most of the people asking, and even begging for help were from my profession, the morphing, misshaped world of journalism, and they started to cling to me like I was a sticky, sweet picnic table....

One in four Americans experience mental health problems at some point during their lifetime.

Considering that four people are running for president and vice president this year, it's perhaps worthy to ask if all four are mentally fit for the job.

Whatever their response is would also send a signal...

A month ago, I wrote about how I'm one of the few people who know Walt Monegan is without having to read a news story or a Wikipedia entry on Sarah Palin.

Now he's become one of the most talked-about individuals in the 2008 presidential campaign -- and...

Some say the Senate financial bailout bill is loaded with pork. But that may be the first time anybody's ever implied that ensuring "mental health parity" is pork.

The Wall Street Journal says that page 310 of the legislation points to the "Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity...

I may be one of the few people in the continental United States who could tell you who Walt Monegan is without having to read a news story or a Wikipedia entry on Sarah Palin.

All you probably know is that Palin, the Alaska governor whom John...