Author Archives: kihm
England 2007
November 30, 2008 In the autumn of 2007, over lunch at Boom Boom Mex Mex, I was telling friends about my nephew’s wedding in England. One of them asked if the bride and groom live in England, and I said no, they live in Japan. And she said, “Of course.” Any number of people have […]
Dry Beer
How Dry We Might Be: Dry Beer, Malt Liquor and the Second Coming of Prohibition This article appeared in the Syracuse New Times, September 21-28, 1988. The statistical and brand information is thus dated, but there are some larger truths that remain relevant. * * * We are a jaded people, forever searching for something […]
The Ghost of Nancy Drew
This article originally appeared in The Syracuse New Times, March 3-10, 1993. * * * One night at bedtime, my daughter asked me to read her a mystery. She was 8 and not quite ready for P.D. James, but I remembered I had an old Nancy Drew downstairs, a memento of the era when I […]
Draft Dodger
August 31, 2004 I was a draft dodger. I know this because early in Air Force Basic Training, as my aptly named “flight” stood in formation, my T.I. boomed out, “You are all draft dodgers!” None of us cowards said a word in reply, so it must have been true. At the time, the summer […]
Dark
August 4, 2007 I was a dark child. The world beyond my bedroom didn’t offer me much. My shoes were scuffed, my corduroys bloomed at the waist and I wore suspenders. I wasn’t going out for the team, any team. I did not have many callers. Solitary study, on the other hand, was welcoming and […]
The Coolest Dog
June 13, 2004 I met the coolest dog in church today. The service was supposed to be in Thayer Park by the lake, and for weeks Robert had been saying, “Bring chairs, blankets, pets.” At least one dog was bound to show up, and he did. But the brisk wind coming off the lake drove […]
Ry Cooder
This piece originally appeared in the Syracuse New Times. * * * May 1973 Ry Cooder is no pop star. He was restringing his guitar between sets at Jabberwocky and was asked how he felt about Boomer’s Story, his latest album. “Oh, hey, I love that album,” he said. “Everybody else likes the first two, […]
Brewing Politics in New York
This piece was written for Great Lakes Brewing News in November 1996. * * * Brewing Politics in New York: The Franchise Bill of 1996 The growth of microbreweries and brewpubs in New York State made the organization of a craft brewers’ association an eventuality, but the small brewers got a rude shove in 1996 […]
Gully Road
May 8, 2004 Gully Road is high on the list of reasons I love to live here. Running between the Old and New Seneca Turnpikes, it passes through a marsh that could be a set for a vintage Hammer horror film, then a leafy forest glade, then by a silver surfaced pond where the occasional […]
Claude Bolling and The Mummy’s Tomb
This article originally appeared in The Syracuse New Times, April 7, 1982. * * * “All men who are really great can afford to be really human and to be shown so.” — Gamaliel Bradford * * * I am a stranger to my pajamas. It’s early Sunday morning, and I haven’t had a whole […]
Faithful Readers 