We’ve been affected by hurricanes twice – by Irene in the late summer of 2011 and by Sandy in the autumn of 2012. Hurricane Sandy caused the most destruction – our Manhattan apartment building is near the East River and the storm caused it to overrun the adjacent FDR Drive and our street, East End Avenue, and to flood our building’s basement. Then the force of the surge pulled an oil tank from the basement wall that crashed on the concrete floor. The toxic mix of raw sewage...
Until it closed in 2020 the large, 3-block long Fairway supermarket in Harlem had a famous “cold room” that held the store’s meat, seafood, dairy, and beer. On the wall outside that vast refrigerated room were pegs holding quilted vests for us shoppers to wear before entering with our shopping carts. And whenever I was there I’d smile at the memory of another cold room I’ve known – although one not nearly as large as Fairway’s. It was the walk-in fridge off the...
I’ve shared many memories of my years on the faculty of Jane Addams High School in the Bronx. (See The Diary of a Young Girl – for Ana, Magazines for the Principal – for David, Educator of the Year – Remembering Milton, and The Great Jane Addams Library Flood) Another sweet Jane Addams memory was of accompanying our students on school trips. For many years the teacher who ran the Future Business Leaders club took her students to regional conferences in...
My doorman had called a week or so earlier to say my downstairs neighbor had bedbugs and by law all adjacent apartments in our building had to be inspected. I was given a date in the coming week when I was to admit a bedbug-sniffing dog who would determine if the infestation had spread. But Passover was approaching and with holiday preparations and all that cooking to do, I completely forgot about the bedbugs until the appointed morning when my doorman called to say the handler and his dog...
The continuing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is heartbreaking as millions flee their homes and we watch helplessly on the TV news. At the turn of the 20th century, with the Jewish influx of the time, both my maternal and paternal grandparents emigrated to the States from Eastern Europe, my father’s parents from Ukraine. They all came as young adults seeking opportunities for a better life and they studied and worked hard, and raised their children with a sense of security and an...
Welcome to my blog World Thru Brown Eyes! Enjoy the read and please leave a comment and tell me how this old world looks thru YOUR eyes!
