Source: Why Santa Claus Is a New Yorker
A new article from my New York History series. It discusses the origins of our modern version of Santa Claus, and how it popularized the rarely celebrated Christ (yes, there was a time when no one celebrated it). I think you’ll be surprised by what you learn.
With the first of the “Watchmage” novels coming out this Spring, I decided to bear down and write all those NYC History articles I’ve been promising. The first one is on the New York-Boston Rivalry, and damn, there’s a lot of bad blood there. I had to break it into two parts, and it doesn’t even reach past the Civil War.
Expect it in a couple of days. Or don’t, it’s cool.
Like my posts? Follow my website or “Like” my facebook fan page and/or follow me on Twitter. You can also purchase my debut novel, Song of Simon, at any online bookstore or a real one (they both exist). Song of Simon currently has a 4.7/5.0 rating on Amazon, so it’s pretty damn good. If you’re looking for something FREE, you can read my serial (soon to be an expanded series of novels) The Watchmage of Old New York. Though it ended in February 2014, it remains one of the most popular serials on JukePop OF ALL TIME!
I am officially off hiatus. I’m back in New York after a two week trip to London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. No, I don’t have Ebola
Apparently the Geekiverse exploded while I was gone. Between Gamergate, The new comic-based tv shows, and Marvel’s movie schedule, I’m overwhelmed with stuff to blog about.
You can be sure that I have some things to say about Gamergate.
Anyway, that’s all for now. I have a lot of writing to catch up on.
–Craiggers
I don’t write much about my own life anymore, mostly because it’s boring. My daily process is: wake up, coffee or exercise, breakfast, videogames for an hour(almost always Happy Wars), write all afternoon (with a short lunch break), dinner, and two hours to myself. It’s like this almost every day, except for days where I have job assignments or D&D. It’s not the most exciting life, but as far as writing goes, it’s productive.
I have a close friend that’s a screenwriter in LA, and one of the original beta readers on Song of Simon. I’ve known him since we were kids, when he was friends with my younger brother. He ended going to SUNY New Paltz with me, and we both became writing majors. He’s a great dude, and I was very happy that he was flying into New York with his boyfriend, who I never met.
Unfortunately he had to run around all over the place while here. Instead, a bunch of us met up in a centralized location. It’s someplace I loathe: Times Square.
If you’re a tourist to NYC, Times Square is a great place to start. If you’ve lived in and around the city all of your life, it’s an Elmo-infested hell. There’s a person in an Elmo costume (or Batman, Spiderman, etc) on every corner, trying to get you to take pics with him for money. It’s obnoxious and pervasive, like a furry, red virus.
Elmo likes ’em young.
But I went at night, and it was more like the Times Square I loved as a young man. Instead of Elmos, there were barkers handing out coupons to strip and comedy clubs. Yes! My New York is tits and laughs. They know what I like.
I also managed to photobomb at least five groups of tourists. I’M FOREVER IN YOUR NYC MEMORIES, SUCKAS!!!
yup
We met up in the Hard Rock Café. I know it’s a tourist trap (and obscenely overpriced) but it was easy for all of us to get to (me from the Port Authority, the others from Penn Station). I gave my friend a huge bear hug, and he marveled at my weight loss (120 pounds so far). I met his boyfriend, who is awesome. He’s a geek that got all of my D&D references (getting just one makes you my bff). We ate overpriced food and talked about all things writing, industry, and geek. I saw the trailer to his self-produced pilot, and it’s so good I want to delete everything I’ve ever written.
Oh, I photobombed a few more people at the Hard Rock. I’m a bastard.
Because the bus ride to and from the city is 2 hours (even though I live 30 minutes away by car), I didn’t get home until almost 2am. That’s so late for me, it fucked up all my Kool-Aid for the next day. It was worth it. Every trip to the city should be as good…and as Elmo free.
Especially after some street meat
Like my posts? Follow my website or “Like” my facebook fan page and/or follow me on Twitter. You can also purchase my debut novel, Song of Simon, at any online bookstore or a real one (they both exist). Song of Simon currently has a 4.8/5.0 rating on Amazon, so it’s pretty damn good. If you’re looking for something FREE, you can read my serial (soon to be an expanded series of novels) The Watchmage of Old New York. Though it ended in February, it remains one of the most popular serials on JukePop OF ALL TIME!
I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I’ve posted a blog entry. I’m surprised because I’ve been pretty busy on the site, along with my facebook fan page and my other site devoted to wrestling.
As for this site, I added a few new categories. One is my collection of music history articles, which I’m going to tie in to Song of Simon. For those of you that have read the novel, you know how important music is thematically. It functions as a greek chorus of sorts. I love music, especially old blues and folk that you don’t hear much of anymore. Even my music is stuck in the past.
Right now there are two up, but I have a ton more. I meant to post one on “This Land Is Your Land” for Woody’s birthday yesterday, but I flaked.
Everyday I got the blues, even if I went back in time.
The second category is a collection of essays modified from my Creative Writing lesson plans. There’s only one up now, but more will come.
The third is on New York history, which ties directly into The Watchmage of Old New York. I don’t have any essays written yet, but I’m a fat, stinking, treasure trove of knowledge here.
It’s like a Russian Nesting Doll, only it smells like urine.
I don’t actually stink, and I’m considerably less fat than I was, but you get the picture.
Speaking of Watchmage, I’m still shopping around the first novel, and I’m revising the first ten chapters of the second, tentatively titled “Cold Iron.” For those of you that remember, this story arc in the serial was called “The Great Goblin Revolt.” The serial is still up, by the way, and still free.
Ok, that’s all for now. I’m off to play some Happy Wars.
–Craiggers
Before I start, let me just say that the HIMYM finale last night broke my heart a hundred times. They pushed more buttons than a 9 year old me in my apt building’s elevator.
Now then:
I was born in the Bronx, in a part of the Bronx called Co-op City. I lived there until the 3rd Grade. My New York experience was very different from other peoples’, and I feel weird about that. I didn’t live in a row house and hang out on the stoop. I lived in a massive 33 story apartment building with a courtyard of asphalt and a playground of sand and aging wood. I didn’t have a bodega on the corner. I had an island of shops floating in the middle of the street.
Co-op City is very isolated from the rest of the City. There is no direct subway line (you have to take the bus to the Pelham stop and catch the 6 or just take the bus crosstown). Because I moved out before I was old enough to travel alone, I never got to explore the city. It’s not that big a deal, but it somehow makes me feel unauthentic. It doesn’t help that I speak very slow, with a bit of a drawl. I had severe speech problems as a kid and even today, I can be uncomfortable to listen to.
When I got older, I took regular trips into the city to drink and see shows, but I only went to certain areas. If you asked me how to get somewhere in the West Village, I could probably lead you right there (although it’s been years since I was a regular). Outside of that, I’m fuzzier.
Here’s the issue: I love history, and I am very enamored with the history of New York. I’ve never done the touristy New York things. I’ve never gone to the Empire State Building. I’ve never gone to the statue of liberty (nor would I, it’s a long, hot, trip to the top). But I would like to see Castle Garden. I would like to visit the Lightship Ambrose. I’d like to do the lit walk in Central Park. I want to go inside Trinity Church. I want to experience the city like a tourist.
I don’t like tourists.
I don’t want to walk around with my nose in a tour book. I don’t want to have to carry a map. But the truth is: I am a tourist. I may have once been a New Yorker, but now I’m not. I’m somewhere in between.
I need to just suck it up and go full tourist. There’s a lot of history I want to absorb. I’ll try not to stand in the middle of the sidewalk and block shit up.
Here’s a question for you: Are you more of a New Yorker if you are born there and move away after 10 years, or if you move there as an adult and live there 10 years?
Hey readers. Sorry that I haven’t been around. I’ve been dealing with a bunch of medical issues, and I’ve just been too damn tired to update the blog. I’ve really been too tired to deal with much of anything.
I have been working on my serial The Watchmage of Old New York. I posted a new chapter yesterday, as I do every Monday. It’s crawling up the ranks in popularity too. Right now Watchmage is in 15th place, but your VOTES can push it into the top 10. Seriously, VOTE FOR WATCHMAGE!!
You might want to read it too. It’s a pretty good story, although as I read it now for the twenty millionth time, there’s so much that I want to change. There is an IPHONE APP and GOOGLE PLAY app, so you can read on the go.
Here’s a review of Watchmage on Web Fiction Guide.
That’s part of the reason why I decided on this: Since Watchmage is already comprised of 3 story arcs, I am going to turn each story arc into a full novel. This will give me a chance to fully explore both the characters and the world that they live in. More Jonas and Hendricks buddy cop/ ambiguous homosexual bromance! More Nathaniel dealing with sparkly shit! And more 19th Century New York City, the real star of the show! I am taking notes for the first novel now, and hope to start writing soon.
This also means that I will probably not post the 3rd story arc on jukepopserials. This is fine, since the second arc will probably run until the summer anyway, and i have to wait 6 months for the rights to return to me.
More news on Song of Simon will be on the way soon.
casandersdotnet 