Author Archive

Craig Crimmins, Phantom of the Metropolitan Opera

Written by C.J. Sullivan on November 27, 2001. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

Growing up on a farm in Canada, Helen Hagnes learned to love the violin, and her parents could see that she had a gift for the notoriously difficult instrument. As Hagnes practiced, she saw herself playing at a huge opera house. The violin would take her away from beautiful yet parochial Canada. Hagnes earned a
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Discussing Spontaneous Human Combustion with a Top Product Liability Lawyer

Written by C.J. Sullivan on November 20, 2001. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

I have always had a fascination with spontaneous human combustion. You know, the urban legend about the man sitting in his easy chair, who for no apparent reason blows up into flames, and all that’s left of him are his stubby legs and ashes. I don’t know if spontaneous human combustion happens–science seems to be
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Teddy Blackburn’s Pictures of Boxing

Written by C.J. Sullivan on November 13, 2001. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

Today it is hard to recall the youthful promise of "Iron" Mike Tyson. Now he’s a relic, a man crashing into middle age as a cheap thug with serious emotional and mental problems. But once he was looked on as the great black hope of the ghetto. A noble savage plucked out of a juvenile
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$2 Can Get You Told Off Professionally

Written by C.J. Sullivan on November 13, 2001. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

I first saw the "Tell me off" man last summer. It was a hot day on Fulton St. in downtown Brooklyn and shoppers were walking with that languid pace that heat waves bring. The man was sitting on a bench with a sign in front of him that read: "Tell me off $2." No one
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Looking into a non-WTC MIA

Written by C.J. Sullivan on October 23, 2001. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

It was around mid-August that I first noticed the flier for a missing man. It was carefully taped to a lamppost on Montague St. in downtown Brooklyn Heights. This was two months ago, when such announcements were rare. The flier had a picture on it of a hale and hearty older Latino man. It looked
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Broken Pawns in Ferrer’s Bronx

Written by C.J. Sullivan on October 23, 2001. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

If you look carefully at the Bronx, you can see the problem with the word "Mayor" ever being connected to the name "Fernando Ferrer." Ferrer claims that since the late 80s–when he began his reign as Bronx borough president–the area has undergone a renaissance, which he has orchestrated. He is fast to conjure up images
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Brooklyn After the Crash

Written by C.J. Sullivan on October 2, 2001. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

In the second week after the collapse of the World Trade Center, downtown Brooklyn–on the surface at least–looked like it was getting back to normal. Lawyers lugged huge black briefcases up courthouse steps. Young men followed them, taking one last look up at the sky before going in to cop a plea. Cops jawed with
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Searching for Mother Seton’s Bones

Written by C.J. Sullivan on September 23, 2001. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

A friend of mine told me that if I was ever down near Battery Park and wanted a break from the bustle of the street, all I had to do was head to 7 State St. There I would find peaceful sanctuary in a building known as the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary.
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A Former Bronx ADA Can’t Get the Job Out of His Blood

Written by C.J. Sullivan on September 4, 2001. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

Twenty years ago regular spectators at trials–"court buffs"–were a common sight in most New York City courthouses. They were generally retired old folks with time on their hands, so they’d come to court to spend the day listening to the cases that were going on. They knew all the players and what court had the
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The Diaferia Brothers Serve a Good Lasagna While Fulfilling the American Dream

Written by C.J. Sullivan on August 14, 2001. Posted in Miscellaneous, Posts

During a grand ceremony on the steps of City Hall, Mayor Robert Wagner declared June 19, 1960 "Freedomland Day." He wanted all New Yorkers to celebrate the opening of a new amusement park, Freedomland, which at that time was billed as the world’s largest outdoor family entertainment center. n This was Wagner’s way of playing
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