The Clerk Manifesto

I have good teeth, or so my dental people tell me. And though once or twice I have unveiled silly personal vanities on subjects such as...

Here's a story of triumph for you. I have made this man I work with laugh before, many times at this point. But I still remember so...

Dear Nobel Prize Committee: First of all, I apologize for not writing in Swedish. I thought about trying to write you in Swedish, a...

Dear Editor, Poetry Magazine : When I looked through the collection of magazines that the library I work at carries, considering su...

I am not the most voluble of all my library co-workers, but I can see to the top of the heap from where I am, and it's not very ...

I have poked a little fun at Bob Dylan over the years here at clerkmanifesto. His fans have been a little dense about it, but Dylan hi...

Dear Editor: It is with great regret I send this bill to you. I only do it under extreme duress. The print business is a diffic...

When did I learn to write? Could I have written all this when I was in the first inklings of adulthood at age 16?  No. I suppose not...

Dear Editor: I submitted a series of short essays for your consideration. I was pretty confident you would like them because se...

On my morning walk I was headed through the University. Four University facilities guys were gathered around some sort of portable gen...

Dear Jerome Foundation: I know that you have some kind of normal, set path for applying for a grant. It's probably thoroughly...

Absorbed as I am in my exciting faux publishing career I'm afraid I have stinted some on what is happening at my library. As anyon...

Dear Small Publisher: Life is hard for you, the small publisher. You operate on a dream, a delusion, a vision of the world as it ...

  It has frequently been said that public institutions are not run as well as private companies. Private companies have to compet...

  For billionaire eyes only!   Dear Billionaire: I'll confess it right from the start, I have not been a huge fan ...

This is The New York Times Magazine backpage, or "talk" interview with legendary two-time Nobel Prize Winner Feldenstein ...