FROZEN BORSCHT SALON

ByGary De Mattei February 9, 2013July 12, 2015

Yesterday I heard a man say something in Russian to his children. I imagine he was referencing the storm we were walking through as compared to winters in his native cheery Siberi-a. Probably went something like, “Why, when I was young we didn’t have clothes, we had to wear the snow to keep us warm!” How do they push their strollers filled with plastic bags through a blizzard? Plastic bags and kids. Walk. Trudge. Drag. I’ve never seen anyone so pale. Dark circles on his dark circles. Oh, wait, that’s me I’m looking at in the stylist’s mirror. Pale. Drawn. Gray. Until she finishes cutting my hair and then…she must step on a button or something because all of a sudden when she’s through I look new. Tan, even. Like when the butcher switches on the pink light in his refrigerated display case so the old rotting flesh he can’t move looks fresh and new again. You know what sounds fun? Vitamin D. And a train bound for the sun.

Stories

January 5, 2013 at 5:49 PM

ByGary De Mattei January 5, 2013January 5, 2020

Got back to NYC safely. Always difficult to leave San Jose. It’s where I’m from. It’s where my people live. It’s where I learned, loved, lost, laughed and cried…a lot. Took a redeye with a crying baby at my back. It cried and cried and cried so I didn’t have to. The only thing that…

Nuts And Chews | Writing

WILLY GROWS UP

Bygdemattei April 4, 2012July 12, 2015

If Death of a Salesman in 2012 tells us anything it tells us Willy Loman had an amazing life by today’s standards. For starters, he had a three story house in Brooklyn with a yard big enough for his two dumb sons to run around and play football. Hello? Do you know how much a…

Stories | Writing

MIGHTY HERMAPHRODITEY

ByGary De Mattei November 6, 2012July 12, 2015

THE NEW COLOSSUS Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command…

Stories

Do You Think Oz Could Give Me Courage

ByGary De Mattei November 21, 2015November 21, 2015

The thing I dislike most is that I have to empathize with EVERYONE. It’s my job. I’m an artist. Okay, so I’ve empathized with you people who spread fear and hate. I now understand. You. Are. Scared. Well, my advice to you is to do what I do when I’m scared— dig deep and try…

Stories

To The Love Of My Life On Easter

ByGary De Mattei March 28, 2016March 28, 2016

It was one of those March days Dickens wrote about, “when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” There were lots of Easter Bonnets being blown about. Smiling Manhattanites in boaters and bowties mixing in with the sad-faced men and women…

Stories

Red Eye

ByGary De Mattei July 11, 2017July 11, 2020

Got off the JetBlue jet plane at 7:30 AM. Driving through Queens is a throwback to all of those gritty films shot in the NYC of the ’70’s. Queens was untouched by the 80’s Disneyfication of Manhattan. Queens still flaunts the rust and rawness that you’d expect to see from the window of a beat-up…

Similar Posts