The Thin Green Line

Like most of us I have lots to worry about in my own little corner of the world,  but every now and then I’m reminded of the bigger picture. The other nite we watched The Thin Green Line on the PBS series Nature and got some more bad news.  It seems frog populations all around the world are dying out as humans encroach on their natural habitats,  and continue to pollute the environment and contribute to the global warming that’s throwing the earth’s ecosystems out of...

Read more

Mr. October

Recently my friends Pat and David and I were planning a reunion for our old teaching colleagues at Jane Addams, the small inner-city high school where we first met in the 1980s.  Pat was our principal then and she was justifiably proud of the school,  described by the local press as “an oasis in the south Bronx.”  And indeed the blight and devastation in the neighborhood was countered by the warm, nurturing environment within the school,  and by the achievements of our students...

Read more

Downton Abbey

This past Sunday night,  like most of you I bet,  we were glued to the couch for this season’s final episode of Downton Abbey. Much has been written about this PBS television series and its portrayal of the historically rigid and inequitable British class system,  and the show’s often ridiculous or inexpicable plot lines,  and why,  despite all that,  Americans are so obsessed with it.  My friend Marilyn wrote about it humorously on her blog,  and Maureen Dowd reminded us in...

Read more

Aunt Frances – for Eric

I drafted this post days before we got the sad news that my cousin Eric Bercovici died in Hawaii on Feb 9.  Rest in peace Ricky. I’m from a small family and have always felt close to my aunts and uncles.  Now save for my aunt Babs who lives in Florida and I see far too seldom,  like my parents they are all gone. My parents were each the middle child of three,  and both had strong bonds with their siblings and stayed close despite geography,  and sometimes politics.  But of them all...

Read more

Menemsha Sunset

On these cold winter days it’s nice to think about summer sunsets in Menemsha.  But first let me tell you a joke. A police car was cruising down the highway when the cop saw the passenger door of the car ahead of him suddenly fly open and a woman come tumbling out.  The cop stopped to help the woman, who miraculously was unhurt,  and then they sped ahead to catch up with her husband. When the cop pulled him over the husband hadn’t even realized what happened.  “What a...

Read more