Neil's Page

Two bloggers friends have been screwing around with my head lately — Jane Devin and Dana Guthrie Martin.  Both of them are what they used to call “writers.”  They do not write screenplays where some guy’s penis gets caught in the trunk of a Toyota Prius.  They write pieces they truly care about.  They love language [...]

When I was attending elementary school, my neighborhood in Queens was going through “changes,” which was a code word for the “welfare housing” that opened down the block. There was constant talk of drugs and violence in school, and those who could afford it, started sending their kids to private schools. In order to keep [...]

I’m beginning to accept a philosophy of life that combines equal parts idealism and cynicism  — everything good has the seeds of something bad and everything bad contains the potential for something good.  There are some problems with this new theory, so I won’t expound on it too much, because I might decide by next [...]

I went down to Pathmark Supermarket to buy whole wheat hamburger buns and some bottles of Snapple, that were on sale for fifty-nine cents each.   In front of the entrance, was an Orthodox Jew handing out leaflets.  He was wearing a yarmulke and tzitzit, a traditional fringed garment worn under the clothing.  I’ve seen these guys before.   Some [...]

The “love scene” from my latest screenplay, a romance titled “The Secret Affair of the Mommyblogger”: The couple meet in his car, which is parked outside the “other” suburban Bed, Bath, and Beyond - the one the neighbors DON’T go to, because there is no Chipotle next door. The are immediately all over each other, [...]