In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg — himself a former smoker, ironically — announces a citywide ban, effective Sunday, March 30: any bar in New York’s five boroughs which continues to allow smoking will be fined for each infraction — and these fines will be not insubstantial.
The reaction is mixed: whereas a 1995 ban on smoking […]

What if she dies?
What?
If she dies: you’d smoke then — right?
Why even think something like that?
Well … it’s kind of inevitable, isn’t it? No, don’t answer that — too morbid. Instead, all right – imagine this: you’re a widower. Okay? A sophisticated widower. Let’s say you’re in your sixties, still holding-up well – you live […]

Shortly after a baseball game of no little consequence, a beat reporter stands poised. The team’s rookie sensation, batting second in the lineup and newly promoted to the outfield, is questioning his recent performance: “I just didn’t have it, bro, not today. I mean, I was there — mentally and physically — but I didn’t […]