The Gift of the Magi

The Gift of the Magi

The Gift of the Magi Hank Nuwer Christmas Day was both a special day and a day like any other for this professional writer. My wife Gosia and I are on a budget and so we exchanged gifts. I gave her “beautiful combs, pure tortoise-shell, with jeweled rims.” She gave me...
6 Months in Fairbanks: Guy Walks into a Bard

6 Months in Fairbanks: Guy Walks into a Bard

by Hank Nuwer My six-month anniversary starting work at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska occurs today. My cheechako moments still happen, and sourdough status still is far away. Like last Sunday when I went on a hike by myself near Angel Creek off Chena Hot...
Epitaph for a Writer

Epitaph for a Writer

By Hank Nuwer John Carlson started as a copyboy in the 70s at Muncie’s evening paper. Years later, gruff World War II veterans like Dick Stodghill asked him to bring over a coffee. But jokes aside, at a newspaper with many good writers, John was the best wordsmith. He...
In praise of a lone elm

In praise of a lone elm

by Hank Nuwer   Once upon a time, every hamlet in the American Midwest had an Elm Street. But around 1930, a blight came overseas from its origins in the Netherlands. Similar invasions of shade trees also destroyed that king of the forest, the American chestnut...