John Marlowe (or 'Jack' to his friends), is more than just another American writing about Greece. He was also my highschool English teacher who taught me everything I know about writing. (I think it was on a Thursday.) In fact when you read my stories and articles and marvel over my spelling, misuse of the English language and my habit of mixing up the words 'then' and 'than' you need look no further than the years spent under the tutelage of Jack whose revolutionary methods of education gave me the freedom to not learn anything at all about grammar or the correct way of writing, while at the same time inspired me to be prolific.(or fail the class)
Jack Marlowe freely admits that I was the worst student he ever had and the only student he ever kicked out of his class for good (my senior year). And yet somehow I was able to graduate and we became good friends. In fact Jack bought a house in my grandmother's village. I now think of Jack as one of my closest buddies or at least one of the only friends who laughs at my jokes.
Jack, from his mountain perch high above the Aegean has written a number of articles
about various subjects in Greece for many well known magazines like the massively popular Woodenboat and several
others that grace the checkout counter in your favorite grocery stores. My hope is to collect all these works and
make this page the world's greatest resource of Jack Marlowe material and in the months and weeks to come I will
be adding the articles that I am able to acquire (or steal).
Matt Barrett
The Articles:
Bells, Bangers and Whackers: Museum of Greek
Popular Music
Crooked Boards Are Stronger:The Boat Builders
of Spetses
On The Road In The Peloponnessos
Taking The Dive: A Short Story Set in Greece
Eulogy To Mister Jack by Matt Barrett