“May You Live in Interesting Times”

As we start a third year of this fearsome pandemic it’s hard to believe we’ve gotten through it this far.   At first I was in a state of disbelief and it took me awhile to internalize how serious the situation was.  And then I felt sorry,  very sorry for myself. But in time I saw how selfish and wasteful that emotion was,  and I began to empathize with everyone else – young parents with children at home while offices and schools were closed;  high school and college kids in...

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17 Gas Stations

Why won’t men stop to ask directions? The answer may be in John Gray’s well-known book Men are From Mars,  Women are From Venus.   Or in another fascinating book about gender differences entitled You Just Don’t Understand: Men and Women in Conversation by Deborah Tannen. Tannen,  a linguistics professor,  coined the word  “genderlect”  to describe the cultural differences between men and women that are reflected in the differing ways they think and converse – in...

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With This Ring

I’m not superstitious or especially sentimental,  and that’s a good thing because over the years I’ve lost some precious pieces of jewelry – two or three watches,  innumerable earrings,  and even a few wedding rings. When we married my husband gave me a simple band – not of gold or silver but of jade.   I lost it. He also once gave me a lovely pink opal.   One day I looked down at my hand and although the ring was still on my finger,   I saw that the opal had fallen out...

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2026 McGraw

Leaving Manhattan recently on a wintry Friday afternoon we hit rush hour and my husband turned off the highway to avoid the heavy traffic.  We were taking local Bronx streets when I realized we were about to pass my old neighborhood,  and we decided to drive down my old street. I’ve written before about 2026 McGraw Ave,  the house I grew up in,  and that I last saw a dozen years ago when I went to a wonderful neighborhood reunion. (See Parkchester, Celebrate Me Home,  Mr Bucco and the...

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To an Athlete Dying Young

I remember that day so vividly,  it’s hard to believe it’s been almost 60 years. In the fall of 1963 I was in my senior year at NYU Heights.  (See Ghostwriting in the Family and College Theatre) I was a member of the Hall of Fame Players,  our college theatre group,    and on Friday,  November 22th  we were rehearsing a play when someone came running towards the stage crying out that Kennedy had been shot in Dallas.  Of course we  stopped the rehearsal and amidst our shock, ...

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