by Matthew Friedman | Oct 31, 2019 | Essays
The honor guard marched onto the field as patriotic music blared from the minor-league ballpark’s PA system. A contingent of US Marines wheeled smartly and marched to the infield under the billowing Stars and Stripes in their pressed dress blues, with their white caps...
by Matthew Friedman | Sep 4, 2019 | Essays
I. Zuccotti Park It started with a blinding light that flooded the encampment at Zuccotti Park at about 1:00 am on November 15, 2011. The angular shadow of the “Big Orange Thing” – Mark di Suvero’s ironically-titled sculpture “Joie de Vivre” – rippled in high-contrast...
by Matthew Friedman | Aug 30, 2019 | Essays, Photo Essay
The Oculus at World Trade Center in New York is a genuine, honest-to-god tourist attraction, at the same level as the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and to be honest, a couple of steps above the Brooklyn Bridge and Grant’s Tomb. Visitors from around the...
by Matthew Friedman | Jul 31, 2019 | Essays, Photo Essay
On any given morning, there is a trail of fish parts and entrails leading along the Liberty State Park boardwalk on the western bank of the Hudson river. The New York City skyline glows in the Golden Hour light like a picture postcard. A fish head here – its eyes...
by Matthew Friedman | Jul 13, 2019 | Essays
I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! *** MAD Magazine is gone – or at least it will be soon. The magazine announced on July 3 that it will...
by Matthew Friedman | Jun 17, 2019 | Essays, Reviews, Television
Joseph Heller’s tragicomic novel Catch-22 ends on a strangely hopeful note. Having just learned that his comrade Orr, missing in action after crashing his B-25 Mitchell bomber in the Mediterranean, successfully rowed to Sweden in a life-raft, Captain Yossarian runs....