Category Archives: NJ

Casinos to laid-off workers: Happy Labor Day!

Posted on September 1, 2014 by oddmanout215

I was telling Swamp Rabbit about my Labor Day Weekend trip to Atlantic City, where three casinos are closing and more than 5,700 casino workers are being laid off over the next two weeks. “Closed” stickers were slapped onto the … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, fiction, Great Recession, humor, mainstream media, NJ, The New Depression, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q&A on A.C. casinos that crapped out

Posted on August 30, 2014 by oddmanout215

Swamp Rabbit joined me in the shack to puzzle over an online obituary for Showboat, Revel and Trump Plaza: A time few could imagine during the not-too-distant glory days of casino gambling has arrived in Atlantic City, where two casinos … Continue reading →

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There’s corrupt, then there’s Christie

Posted on April 21, 2014 by oddmanout215

Swamp Rabbit was hopping mad about the persistently chilly weather. “Can’t even take my Easter swim, that pond scum out there is colder than ice cream!” He’d been hunkering down in the shack all day, nursing a bottle of Wild … Continue reading →

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If at first you don’t secede…

Posted on November 12, 2013 by oddmanout215

I handed Swamp Rabbit a bucket of epoxy and put him to work fixing a new crack in the shack that’s deep enough to let in plenty of water if there’s a downpour. While he worked I talked politics, I … Continue reading →

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Christie takes care of business — at kids’ expense

Posted on November 8, 2013 by oddmanout215

Maybe you missed reports of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie bullying a public school teacher at a campaign rally a few days before he cruised to victory on Election Day. The teacher, Melissa Tomlinson, asked Christie why he has referred … Continue reading →

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Chris Christie to Mother Nature: Who’s your daddy?

Posted on August 8, 2013 by oddmanout215

New Jerseyans know better than to mess with Gov. Chris Christie. They’ve heard him dis firefighters who want decent pensions, shout down schoolteachers who defend the public school system, and heap scorn on skeptics who argue it’s foolish to spend … Continue reading →

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The whims of Frankenstorm

Posted on October 30, 2012 by oddmanout215

So I was holding my breath for about 24 hours as Frankenstorm surged and tried to decide where to strike next. Even in my zombie funk I knew that, if the Weather Channel was accurate and the weather gods so … Continue reading →

Posted in climate change, life in the big city, mainstream media, NJ, Philadelphia | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Weird NJ’s phantom tollbooth attendant

Posted on October 6, 2011 by oddmanout215

It was a wonderful night until I tried to leave New Jersey. I’d read my short story “Chokepoint” at the Walt Whitman Arts Center in Camden, and I’d heard sharp, witty poems by West Coast transplant Seve Torres and a … Continue reading →

Posted in NJ, Philadelphia | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Fiction reading Wed. at Rutgers-Camden

Posted on October 3, 2011 by oddmanout215

7 pm Wednesday, Oct. 5 Walt Whitman Arts Center, 2nd Floor 101 Cooper St. Camden, NJ David McKenna, a.k.a. Odd Man Out, will read “Chokepoint,” from Idiot Lights, his collection of thematically related short stories set in Atlantic City and … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, Camden, fiction, NJ, Philadelphia | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Your hometown flooded? Come to Ocean City!

Posted on September 3, 2011 by oddmanout215

Interesting Philadelphia Inquirer front-page advertorial on behalf of the Ocean City, NJ, tourism industry. The reporter noted that O.C. lost a lot of potential tourist dollars last week when coastal areas were evacuated as Hurricane Irene approached. The story had … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, humor, mainstream media, NJ, The New Depression | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment