Suddenly I sensed more freedom and realized that my dad had let go of the bike.
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View Marian's profile
Suddenly I sensed more freedom and realized that my dad had let go of the bike.
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The incident that led me to ditch the skirt occurred in the mid-1980s as I was driving the Honda Accord home ...
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... it is the only thing I have that belonged to grandma Rose.
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To me, Marian always seemed like a name for old ladies .... My surname, Hirsch, has a convoluted history.
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I write because I have to. I write because I can’t not. I write because I want to.
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I was incredibly nervous, never having taught anything, let alone ESL, before.
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The copy kept referencing a "head shop." Of course, they didn't know what that meant in the 1960s in the US.
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"You don't have to eat the liver."
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Starting in 2020, birthdays have been correlated with horrible incidents for no apparent reason.
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My parents seemed stuck in attitudes about half a generation earlier than my friends' parents, hence in my household there was a gap-and-a-half.
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Preparing to go to sleep for most of my life was as easy as rolling into bed ... now it almost warrants a checklist.
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In the Midwest, the voice of a wise, sweet spider as been silenced. Charlotte's Web is a banned book. Who would have thought?
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As I drove home, I noticed all the lights blurred with huge halos, and, although I knew where I was, I couldn't read the freeway signs ...
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There are flashes of behaviors and preferences, most of them quirky, that I have which are just like my mother's.
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... my name was called, the first and last time I won this organization's raffle. The people at the table were delighted I won ...
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"Then ... I can tell you," Channy said. "As a teenager, I survived the Killing Fields of Cambodia under the Kmer Rouge."
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It wasn't clear how getting a job happened in Russia, but I soon figured out it was nothing like in the United States.
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So what should we do? The best I can do is say, "It depends." That enough uncertainty for you?
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So it went for most of the night, and it was impossible to sleep. Instead of an ocean view room, we had an ocean.
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At this point I had to make a split-second choice. I could stop and tell Mr. C or just let it go.
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The basement looked bright and cheery, and the wall added a lot of color. Alas, the sentiments on the wall remain relevant today.
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Between tick and tock ... make each minute count.
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Once I got home and opened the box, I realized the fan was in several pieces ... my heart sank ...
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My mother volunteered, or was more likely pressured, into becoming the assistant den mother--a less likely role for her I can't imagine.
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This pair has been my guilty pleasure ever since ...
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I often kid people that I was "gluten-free and paleo" before those concepts existed.
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It's lonely out here. I look up and down the sidewalks, both sides of the street, and I'm the only newspaper there.
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I especially like this photo of my aunt because it captures her sweetness.
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"Uh, John," I asked, "have you ever driven in snow?" "No," he replied. "Is that a problem?"
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Route 46 was the go-to road from my early childhood in the 1950s to the day in 1972 that I left New Jersey for good.
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The one letter I get every year, without fail, is from my longtime friend Jan.
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By Christmas eve, I was both sleep deprived and overstimulated ... As midnight approached, I felt positively grinchy.
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We didn't think too much of it; at least, I didn't think much of it until ...
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Dr. Byrne's office was in his home in East Orange, New Jersey ... What first struck me whenever I entered was olfactory ...
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I didn't have a lot of friends in middle school, so I might have run out of friends to target for passing the letters along.
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As a kid I loved Halloween, but grownups have co-opted it.
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Something about the half lemonade and half tea ... symbolizes how so many of us are making do.
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Ever since I can remember, my mother could find a parking place anywhere.
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Shortly after she began, I heard a soft sniffle from somewhere in the lecture hall. A minute after that, another.
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The old variety shows had something for everyone. If you didn't like one act or segment, there would be another in minutes.
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When I think back on my professional life, I’m amazed and humbled by how I could concentrate on complex and intricate tasks that I couldn’t imagine doing now. I could laser focus and often have music or even talk radio in the background, for an hour at a time. My current clients pay me to…
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A pie in the hand is worth the fond memory.
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It started with a boom ... it continues with a global pandemic ...
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I was ready to go on my own, with my office in my apartment--my studio apartment.
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The house being located in Palo Alto, one of the pickiest cities in California, the restoration process was far from relaxed.
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I knew I'd crossed a threshold when I drew my first real blank on a name.
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I think we both kept Starbucks in business by having our first "meet for coffee" dates there.
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It was the summer of 1963, and as a 10-year-old, I couldn't wait to go to Beach Haven for an entire month.
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I wasn't thrilled at the idea of a concert by a country singer, and how good could someone be who was singing at a county fair?
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I looked at the beautiful colors of the needlepoint yarn and sighed. "Maybe I could do that," I thought.
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Valentine's Day, 2002: The date that Dick and I decided we were "serious."
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Arriving in Montreal ... on to Quebec ... finally, the Laurentian mountains ...
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He aimed and started shooting ... I found the whole practice terrifying.
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The bag has been with me any time I leave the house over night ...
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A. Adriana, my close high school friend. Q. Who do I know who was on Jeopardy!?
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When does a guest become a crasher? When they either pretend to be a member, or act as if they intend to join the club when they would never do so.
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Here are some of the pets in my life, my own and other people's, that deserve recognition for their names or other notable attributes.
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The offer we couldn't refuse: the Eco-Freaks needed a large truck, and the mobster had one.
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Two little Sony's and a tabletop radio in my bedroom.
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Stressed, unhappy parents create stressed, unhappy children.
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We'd had all the vaccines available at the time ... but this was the only time I refused a vaccine.
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... the engineers asked, "What did you do? How could you possibly break the program?"
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... so I picked up a tape of Night at the Opera and a large block of dark chocolate, and we all had a fun time that New Year's Eve.
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Used to be that "hey" was for horses ... No longer true.
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The 1930 census had my aunt's name as Ruchel and my mother's name as Henayeta. Huh?
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Most frustrating is when someone asks, "What did they say?" and I can't hear the next few minutes of dialog.
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Over the years, we've chatted about spouses, and more recently, aging parents. Philip knows me well ...
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After a couple of incidents this winter, I've concluded that I'd unconsciously adopted the successful survival strategies of the crow.
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Although there are jingles and slogans in advertising today, I don't believe they are as memorable as the ones from our younger years.
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This is my first memory, and is it accurate? I believe it is, especially now that I have a lot of context around it.
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1999: Friends first, then deep romance. 2000: Happiest time ever. 2001: He prefers time with (female) housemate, "trusted old friend."
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A saint's day isn't an appropriate holiday for nice Jewish girls, mom said.
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We all dressed carefully, and most of us wore hats. We had a lovely time, and the hats in many styles and colors added to the ambiance.
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The day of rededication ... The day of dignity restored ...
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In violation of the law, the ads were "segregated" ... Someone had to do something, we agreed, but what?
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I hadn't heard of this syndrome before it happened to me. At first I was surprised, but then later understood why it happened to me.
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Be proud of your accomplishments and intellect. Whew, all those highs and lows ...
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New ways to give thanks, even in thoughts, can show our gratitude.
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I seek solace with HGTV, the Food Network, and Rick Steves.
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It was dark, dark, dark, for days, and the bad air made walking outside impossible for nearly six weeks. And BAM, I was clobbered by SAD symptoms--in the middle of summer.
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The man winced and looked at me again. "I'm really sorry, I thought you were the stripper."
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In walked Kathy, with flawless white skin, a nice figure, and the most amazing hair ...
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Is spelling skill genetically determined? If so, where do the spelling genes reside in our DNA?
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The White Elephant Sale raises dollars in the millions for the museum and provides items for people in the community ...
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Each year, everyone complained that we were not spending enough time with them.
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It’s the Age of Aquarius, a 60s party, get your flower power on ...
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"Can I help?" a woman's voice asked from behind me. A young woman had appeared with a shovel.
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There were three other women ... and we stuck together. This was a good thing, because it turned out the men were angry--really angry.
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Trump signs are thankfully MIA, and Biden signs are relatively rare, since this preference is assumed.
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Our phone number was CE9-2609. CE stood for the Center exchange. No area code.
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No Buster Browns, Keds, or Thom McCanns for me. Just, ugh, saddle shoes ...
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While at first I didn't relish the extra burden, the experience turned out to be a gift.
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Seated there was a very elderly, diminutive woman, dressed in black, with wild white hair and a pixie-ish expression, very quiet but observing everything carefully.
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Every Sunday I listen to this amazing, funny, and very challenging game show that involves words ...
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I resorted to wearing sunglasses and a painter's mask to do any gardening, even trimming the lemon tree. Upon seeing me, my cat recoiled in horror.
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With a sigh, I gave the earring up for lost but kept its mate as a memento.
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The little girl stared and asked, "Daddy, what are those?" "These are records," he replied, "they play music."
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... it got to the point where her hands were raw, and the doctor told her to ease off. She didn't work in a sewer, he said.
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When you are the oldest, your parents practice on you. So you receive the benefits of more attention and bear the brunt of their mistakes.
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Her implication was clear. She was upset with me. While I was abashed and said I was sorry, our relationship was considerably cooler from then on.
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The point is, half our testing is useless, and even Cassandra doesn't have any idea which half.
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Unless my penmanship improved I could be held back and not go on to sixth grade.
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What was most unnerving? The police presence. While they weren't in riot gear, rows of cops stood their ground, clubs at the ready. Our knees shook.
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All seemed very normal in this town, as long as you stayed in your lane.
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One professional encounter started so small I could never anticipate how profoundly it would change how I thought about business and maybe even life.
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The room froze, and I immediately realized that I'd said something that was taken in a way I didn't mean.
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These teen-girl publications lacked content for nerdy girls like me, though.
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Occasionally I'd hear strange noises emanating from his basement office. Sometimes a squeak, sometimes a series of booms.
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Why the small beige box was in my mother's dresser I'll never know. The items pictured belonged to my father's father ...
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It didn't help that mom and grandma didn't write anything down. "You'll know when it's done ... just add a shake of that ..." was their response to my questions.
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Each time, shortly after I saw a rainbow, something bad would happen. Thus began what my husband and I called "the year of calamity and death."
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He was wearing Brut, perhaps in retrospect not the most subtle of scents. But I'll never forget the scent of Brut, forever associated with the amazing excitement of that first kiss.
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Once the shutdown happened, a friend phoned me asking when I thought we'd be released from it. "June," I replied without hesitation. I so wanted to be wrong, but the data guided me.
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The schtick was to make the parents guilty that their children were falling behind in school and things would get dire if they didn't get the encyclopedia.
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I've always dreamed in color. Colors that I've never seen in nature appear in my dreams.
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I have no memory of what we spoke about but cannot forget the image of this wonderful woman, now frail and with hands gnarled and arthritic, and her family's fortitude and selflessness.
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I looked into the back yard and saw my enormous oak tree whirling like a cocktail's swizzle stick, and then with a huge crack and boom, the tree split into three parts, from top to bottom.
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Henrietta was an awkward name for a tiny child ... so the family called her Yettie.
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What a bizarre intersection of a vacation from hell with a pandemic-stricken ship.
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"This is the weirdest, most interesting group of people I've ever encountered," I thought. "I fit right in!"
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Most of the conventional wisdom for caregivers comes down to putting yourself first, making time for yourself. To a large degree, that’s a crock. Your priorities won’t come first for the present, and probably for a while.
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Problem number one: I had no boyfriend and, although I was 17, I had never been on a date.
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My parents, who had thought it wonderful that I had grandpa Max's eyes, said it was unfortunate that I had his nose, too. Ah, well, I thought, that's the genetic roll of the dice.
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While we ate tuna fish and Soupy hawked Jello, all kinds of chaos would happen.
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I had optimistic hopes about what retirement would be like, tempered with realism.
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Things eventually calmed down ... but the next year I did not enter the football pool. Football was not yet a woman's domain.
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There are many lessons I have learned ... Moves are a complex blend of stress, opportunity, and calamity.
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I mostly remember taking my fountain pen and writing tiny, neat lines to cram the most onto the aerogram sheet.
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The floor under my feet seemed to drop away, and a roaring began in my head. I must have replayed the message 10 times. Was someone playing a cruel joke?
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Could the one Rolling Stones concert I attended have done that much damage?
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We were aware that it was bound to happen someday, but it sneaked up on us unexpectedly.
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At first I did worry about what to wear (torn, skinny jeans look great on a 30-year-old but on me, not so much), and whether I knew enough about my smart phone.
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Think of what we all could accomplish if all parties stopped eye rolling ... and lecturing ... and started working together.
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I don't remember much from that week, except for Tony ... Every time his eyes connected with mine, my heart gave a squeeze and then a leap.
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I gasped when I realized that I was the perfect target for a workplace bully--a textbook case.
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In an instant, there was a rumble and a slight jerk, and then a slow roll, as I watched the stacks of books opposite me rise about a foot and a half, and gently fall, as if carried by ocean waves.
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"She called my cell phone and thought I'd gone to Canada and ended up in jail."
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The cops stared, open-mouthed, at three 40-something bearded men and the motley trio of cars.
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When I came to the door, often the kids would greet me with "We don't want you, we want Karen!"
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The engineers ultimately understood that the game kept Joe going, giving him energy and focus.
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Route 101 looked like something out of a Mad Max movie ...
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Roussel was tall, elegant, very perceptive and demanding, but always kind and encouraging.
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We didn't have to sleep, but had to lie quietly for a time, which seemed like forever but couldn't have been more than 15 or 20 minutes.
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When I looked out the front door, I saw a hip-deep lake where my yard had been ...
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"We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon."
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Turns out I was "only" 94% eastern European Jewish ...
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Outside my bay window I can see a parade of saris, hijabs, turbans, baseball caps, blue jeans, you name it.
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This story is something of a confession: I have had memorable episodes of boredom when I've been around other people ...
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She kept saying in her combination of Yiddish and English, "I can't believe they are walking on the moon."
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I'll never forget the syllabus for that summer Russian literature class, which included War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, plus some stories by Pushkin, Gogol, and Chekov.
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Every 4th of July I spent in New Jersey I became exceptionally popular. This one time a year, everyone wanted me to be part of their group ...
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What's scary is how computer algorithms, AI, and all our technology can take data that is perfectly true and turn it into "facts" that are frighteningly false.
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If I still was feverish, I couldn't tell once we went outside in the steamy Caribbean.
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He said, "I look like Omar Sharif." I thought, "...yeah, and I look like Michelle Pfeiffer."
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United Cigar, run by the Cohen family, was packed with cigars and cigarettes, all types of magazine, and oh, the candy!
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The best college for you is the one that wants you to be there. ... choose the "wrong" major if it resonates with you.
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The bottom of the gym suit consisted of … bloomers. Yes, ballooning from the waist and ending in tight elastic at the widest part of the thigh.
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As exam week progressed, we could hear clack, clackety-clack, ding!!, clack, clack, from the living area and dorm rooms in the entire wing, along with the crinkle of bags of potato chips and Cheetos.
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I knew I really wasn't supposed to take the car to the beach, but the temptation was too much.
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The moaning whine infiltrated my nightmares for years. It became a reminder of a situation we could not ignore.
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We poets are at all levels, from awesomely accomplished to beginner. I am somewhere in the middle.
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Add a land line phone and a black-and-white TV with a coat hanger for an antenna, and my décor was almost complete.
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It seemed like so much fun to me. The real story was much more sobering but also inspiring ...
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I kept listening for the tick of the biological clock, but it never ticked.
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I am nostalgic for many things but not all. Here is a quick take on some of the items from the 50s and 60s I don’t miss. Women’s clothing: Panty girdles, with their tourniquet-like grip on my thighs. I’ll spare folks the details of feminine hygiene products and accessories of the 60s, but suffice it…
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The diner's booths were large enough to swallow a child as small as I was.
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For the first and only time, I saw humans flying, literally levitating around the room, so graceful that their bare feet never made a sound when they landed.
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At first 1979 would not seem to be a year of love and laughter, with its gas lines, stagflation, and odd fashions. But in a subliminal moment, a butterfly might alight, even on dried grass or trash, and its perfect wings might wink at you for an instant before it vanishes. That’s how I feel…
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Reluctantly I did a second career report, but my heart wasn't in it ... I began to wish to be a writer.
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This was my first big revelation--not only had I thought I was different, I really was different. Not only was I in a different physical package from the rest of the group, I had a unique personality profile.
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[he] said that it took a special person to handle this job. The last woman left to become a nun. What an outrageous and fun way to start an interview!
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Any woman reading this will identify the "yeah, sure lady" response to our describing a problem with our cars. The same can apply to our bodies.
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One of our family favorites was the goofy spy spoof "Get Smart." Don Adams had a never-ending variety of clumsy antics as a Control agent fighting Chaos (and losing).
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The characters I played were the ugly, the sad, the silly, the mad, the funny, the old, and the dead. Any role that was quirky attracted me.
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Who knew that wind chimes, sunlight through stained glass, and sandalwood could open up another world, one of peace and love?
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Few boys, dreadful food, and gleepy green scum at the bottom of the lake--but the swimming, waterskiing, and guitar playing more than made up for it.
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How they made their way in this strange place to find my great grandfather, with no money and speaking no English, I have no idea.
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In the 1950s and 1960s, there was no television reception on Long Beach Island. Instead, we went out after dinner for lemon ice (made with real lemons and cane sugar), and played a round of miniature golf.
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Jeff lived next door to my close friend Sherry, so I hung out at her house, trying to make myself visible without being too pushy. That’s what girls did in 1970. Boys did the asking to the prom.
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She passed for 16 so she could work in a garment factory. She never saw the inside of a school room but had wanted to be a doctor. ... She was a woman grounded in tradition who never stopped looking to the future.
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... numbers corresponding to the days of the year were written on slips of paper and placed in plastic capsules, which were put into a deep glass jar (at the time I’d imagined a bingo cage).
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Her mouth rounded as she faced us and said, "This is Oh--Oh--repeat after me:
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A Novel Sense of Balance
Prompted By Riding a Bicycle
/ Stories
Suddenly I sensed more freedom and realized that my dad had let go of the bike.
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Flat/White/Heels
Prompted By Car Trouble
/ Stories
The incident that led me to ditch the skirt occurred in the mid-1980s as I was driving the Honda Accord home ...
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Worth its Salt
Prompted By What I Own That's Older Than I Am
/ Stories
... it is the only thing I have that belonged to grandma Rose.
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Growing into a Name, Grateful for Safety
Prompted By What's in a Name
/ Stories
To me, Marian always seemed like a name for old ladies .... My surname, Hirsch, has a convoluted history.
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Eleven Lines in Six Words
Prompted By Why We Write
/ Stories
I write because I have to. I write because I can’t not. I write because I want to.
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Found in Conversation
Prompted By Lost in Translation
/ Stories
I was incredibly nervous, never having taught anything, let alone ESL, before.
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The Localizer
Prompted By Lost in Translation
/ Stories
The copy kept referencing a "head shop." Of course, they didn't know what that meant in the 1960s in the US.
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From Liver to Life
Prompted By What My Father Told Me
/ Stories
"You don't have to eat the liver."
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May-hem birthdays
Prompted By Special Birthdays
/ Stories
Starting in 2020, birthdays have been correlated with horrible incidents for no apparent reason.
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A Gap-and-a-Half
Prompted By Mind the Gap
/ Stories
My parents seemed stuck in attitudes about half a generation earlier than my friends' parents, hence in my household there was a gap-and-a-half.
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A Senior Sleep Routine
Prompted By Sleepy Time
/ Stories
Preparing to go to sleep for most of my life was as easy as rolling into bed ... now it almost warrants a checklist.
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Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte
Prompted By Banned Books
/ Stories
In the Midwest, the voice of a wise, sweet spider as been silenced. Charlotte's Web is a banned book. Who would have thought?
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Anxiety at the DMV
Prompted By The Eyes Have It
/ Stories
As I drove home, I noticed all the lights blurred with huge halos, and, although I knew where I was, I couldn't read the freeway signs ...
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Said/Unsaid
Prompted By What My Mother Told Me
/ Stories
There are flashes of behaviors and preferences, most of them quirky, that I have which are just like my mother's.
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Experiential Prizes
Prompted By Auctions and Raffles
/ Stories
... my name was called, the first and last time I won this organization's raffle. The people at the table were delighted I won ...
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Channy
Prompted By Refugees
/ Stories
"Then ... I can tell you," Channy said. "As a teenager, I survived the Killing Fields of Cambodia under the Kmer Rouge."
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Hi-Tech Culture Shock
Prompted By Refugees
/ Stories
It wasn't clear how getting a job happened in Russia, but I soon figured out it was nothing like in the United States.
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The Fog of COVID
Prompted By Pandemic, Year Three
/ Stories
So what should we do? The best I can do is say, "It depends." That enough uncertainty for you?
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The Oddest Ocean View
Prompted By Hotels, Motels, Inns, and Hostels
/ Stories
So it went for most of the night, and it was impossible to sleep. Instead of an ocean view room, we had an ocean.
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The Chemistry Cheat
Prompted By Cheating
/ Stories
At this point I had to make a split-second choice. I could stop and tell Mr. C or just let it go.
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Teen Art in the Basement
Prompted By Basements and Attics
/ Stories
The basement looked bright and cheery, and the wall added a lot of color. Alas, the sentiments on the wall remain relevant today.
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Time Haikus (Minutes)
Prompted By Time
/ Stories
Between tick and tock ... make each minute count.
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A Step-by-Step Fan
Prompted By Some Assembly Required
/ Stories
Once I got home and opened the box, I realized the fan was in several pieces ... my heart sank ...
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Cub Scout March
Prompted By Scouting
/ Stories
My mother volunteered, or was more likely pressured, into becoming the assistant den mother--a less likely role for her I can't imagine.
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Coffee and Crosswords
Prompted By Guilty Pleasures
/ Stories
This pair has been my guilty pleasure ever since ...
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Satisfying Substitutions
Prompted By Comfort Food
/ Stories
I often kid people that I was "gluten-free and paleo" before those concepts existed.
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The Only Edition on the Block
Prompted By Newspapers
/ Stories
It's lonely out here. I look up and down the sidewalks, both sides of the street, and I'm the only newspaper there.
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Some bunch of kids, huh?
Prompted By Group Photos
/ Stories
I especially like this photo of my aunt because it captures her sweetness.
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From “Great Snow” to Dismal Drive
Prompted By Snowy Days
/ Stories
"Uh, John," I asked, "have you ever driven in snow?" "No," he replied. "Is that a problem?"
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Route 46
Prompted By Highways and Byways
/ Stories
Route 46 was the go-to road from my early childhood in the 1950s to the day in 1972 that I left New Jersey for good.
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Do less. Feel more. Write true.
Last Letter Standing
Prompted By Holiday Letters
/ Stories
The one letter I get every year, without fail, is from my longtime friend Jan.
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Python for Christmas
Prompted By Comic Relief
/ Stories
By Christmas eve, I was both sleep deprived and overstimulated ... As midnight approached, I felt positively grinchy.
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Let’s Give ’em Something to Talk About
Prompted By Gossip
/ Stories
We didn't think too much of it; at least, I didn't think much of it until ...
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Dr. Byrne’s Office
Prompted By Family Medicine
/ Stories
Dr. Byrne's office was in his home in East Orange, New Jersey ... What first struck me whenever I entered was olfactory ...
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Broken Chain
Prompted By Chain Letters
/ Stories
I didn't have a lot of friends in middle school, so I might have run out of friends to target for passing the letters along.
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Halloween Grinch
Prompted By Trick or Treat?
/ Stories
As a kid I loved Halloween, but grownups have co-opted it.
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Arnold Palmer
Prompted By Lemons to Lemonade
/ Stories
Something about the half lemonade and half tea ... symbolizes how so many of us are making do.
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The Good Fairy of Parking
Prompted By Parking
/ Stories
Ever since I can remember, my mother could find a parking place anywhere.
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The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Prompted By Children's Books
/ Stories
Shortly after she began, I heard a soft sniffle from somewhere in the lecture hall. A minute after that, another.
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Unity Through Variety
Prompted By Variety Shows
/ Stories
The old variety shows had something for everyone. If you didn't like one act or segment, there would be another in minutes.
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Focus
Prompted By Attention Span
/ Stories
When I think back on my professional life, I’m amazed and humbled by how I could concentrate on complex and intricate tasks that I couldn’t imagine doing now. I could laser focus and often have music or even talk radio in the background, for an hour at a time. My current clients pay me to…
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A Pie in the Hand …
Prompted By Mealtime
/ Stories
A pie in the hand is worth the fond memory.
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Booms, Dust, and Pathogens
Prompted By 9/11 Twenty Years Later
/ Stories
It started with a boom ... it continues with a global pandemic ...
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Home Ahead of my Time
Prompted By Going to Work
/ Stories
I was ready to go on my own, with my office in my apartment--my studio apartment.
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Reluctant Remodeler
Prompted By Home Repair
/ Stories
The house being located in Palo Alto, one of the pickiest cities in California, the restoration process was far from relaxed.
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Foiled by Finkel and Foyle
Prompted By Senior Moments
/ Stories
I knew I'd crossed a threshold when I drew my first real blank on a name.
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A Numbers Game
Prompted By Dating
/ Stories
I think we both kept Starbucks in business by having our first "meet for coffee" dates there.
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Beach Haven Heaven
Prompted By That Summer
/ Stories
It was the summer of 1963, and as a 10-year-old, I couldn't wait to go to Beach Haven for an entire month.
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Paisley at the Fair
Prompted By State or County Fair
/ Stories
I wasn't thrilled at the idea of a concert by a country singer, and how good could someone be who was singing at a county fair?
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Needlepoint in Winter
Prompted By Hobbies
/ Stories
I looked at the beautiful colors of the needlepoint yarn and sighed. "Maybe I could do that," I thought.
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Lazy Holiday Anniversaries
Prompted By Anniversaries
/ Stories
Valentine's Day, 2002: The date that Dick and I decided we were "serious."
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Oh, Canada [impressions]
Prompted By Family Trips
/ Stories
Arriving in Montreal ... on to Quebec ... finally, the Laurentian mountains ...
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Making Peace with Guns
Prompted By Guns Then and Now
/ Stories
He aimed and started shooting ... I found the whole practice terrifying.
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Go Bag for 40 Years
Prompted By Can't Leave Home Without It
/ Stories
The bag has been with me any time I leave the house over night ...
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Adriana on Jeopardy!
Prompted By Quiz and Game Shows
/ Stories
A. Adriana, my close high school friend. Q. Who do I know who was on Jeopardy!?
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The Club Crashers
Prompted By Cliques and Clubs
/ Stories
When does a guest become a crasher? When they either pretend to be a member, or act as if they intend to join the club when they would never do so.
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My Pet Awards
Prompted By Naming Pets
/ Stories
Here are some of the pets in my life, my own and other people's, that deserve recognition for their names or other notable attributes.
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Eco-Freaks Meet the Mob
Prompted By Recycling
/ Stories
The offer we couldn't refuse: the Eco-Freaks needed a large truck, and the mobster had one.
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Impressions: Radios
Prompted By Remembering Radios
/ Stories
Two little Sony's and a tabletop radio in my bedroom.
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Stuck-at-Home
Prompted By Stay-at-Home Parent
/ Stories
Stressed, unhappy parents create stressed, unhappy children.
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From Sugar to a Shot at Freedom
Prompted By Vaccination
/ Stories
We'd had all the vaccines available at the time ... but this was the only time I refused a vaccine.
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Honey, I Broke the Software!
Prompted By Technology Tribulations
/ Stories
... the engineers asked, "What did you do? How could you possibly break the program?"
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Sanity Clause
Prompted By Rewatchable Movies
/ Stories
... so I picked up a tape of Night at the Opera and a large block of dark chocolate, and we all had a fun time that New Year's Eve.
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Hey! You’re Welcome.
Prompted By Manners
/ Stories
Used to be that "hey" was for horses ... No longer true.
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Hidden in Names and Eyes
Prompted By Inequality
/ Stories
The 1930 census had my aunt's name as Ruchel and my mother's name as Henayeta. Huh?
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Quiet, Please
Prompted By Pet Peeves
/ Stories
Most frustrating is when someone asks, "What did they say?" and I can't hear the next few minutes of dialog.
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Forty-Plus Years with Philip
Prompted By Haircuts
/ Stories
Over the years, we've chatted about spouses, and more recently, aging parents. Philip knows me well ...
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The Year of the Crow
Prompted By One Year of the Pandemic
/ Stories
After a couple of incidents this winter, I've concluded that I'd unconsciously adopted the successful survival strategies of the crow.
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Eat too Much? Drink too Much?
Prompted By Advertising Jingles and Slogans
/ Stories
Although there are jingles and slogans in advertising today, I don't believe they are as memorable as the ones from our younger years.
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Tongue Tied
Prompted By First Memory
/ Stories
This is my first memory, and is it accurate? I believe it is, especially now that I have a lot of context around it.
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Found-Lost-Found-Lost-Found?
Prompted By Reconnecting
/ Stories
1999: Friends first, then deep romance. 2000: Happiest time ever. 2001: He prefers time with (female) housemate, "trusted old friend."
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V-day Mini Rant
Prompted By Valentine's Day
/ Stories
A saint's day isn't an appropriate holiday for nice Jewish girls, mom said.
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A Hat for All Seasons
Prompted By Hats
/ Stories
We all dressed carefully, and most of us wore hats. We had a lovely time, and the hats in many styles and colors added to the ambiance.
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January 20, 2021
Prompted By Inaugurations
/ Stories
The day of rededication ... The day of dignity restored ...
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Signing on the Line
Prompted By Good Trouble
/ Stories
In violation of the law, the ads were "segregated" ... Someone had to do something, we agreed, but what?
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Stendhal Syndrome at the National Portrait Gallery
Prompted By Art and Art Museums
/ Stories
I hadn't heard of this syndrome before it happened to me. At first I was surprised, but then later understood why it happened to me.
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To My Many Selves
Prompted By Letter to My Younger Self
/ Stories
Be proud of your accomplishments and intellect. Whew, all those highs and lows ...
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Many Paths to Gratitude
Prompted By Thank You
/ Stories
New ways to give thanks, even in thoughts, can show our gratitude.
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Pandemic Fantasies
Prompted By What Are You Bingeing?
/ Stories
I seek solace with HGTV, the Food Network, and Rick Steves.
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‘Tis the Season?
Prompted By Hello Darkness
/ Stories
It was dark, dark, dark, for days, and the bad air made walking outside impossible for nearly six weeks. And BAM, I was clobbered by SAD symptoms--in the middle of summer.
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Marian’s Interview Academy Awards
Prompted By Interviews
/ Stories
The man winced and looked at me again. "I'm really sorry, I thought you were the stripper."
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The Kathy Legacy
Prompted By Interviews
/ Stories
In walked Kathy, with flawless white skin, a nice figure, and the most amazing hair ...
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Spelling: Nature vs Nurture
Prompted By Spelling
/ Stories
Is spelling skill genetically determined? If so, where do the spelling genes reside in our DNA?
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Elephants and Libraries for Oakland
Prompted By Volunteering
/ Stories
The White Elephant Sale raises dollars in the millions for the museum and provides items for people in the community ...
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Holidays Past and Now, Memories of Italian Songs
Prompted By Pandemic Holidays
/ Stories
Each year, everyone complained that we were not spending enough time with them.
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A Doggerel for the 60s
Prompted By Fads and Trends
/ Stories
It’s the Age of Aquarius, a 60s party, get your flower power on ...
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Shovelers Anonymous
Prompted By Random Acts of Kindness
/ Stories
"Can I help?" a woman's voice asked from behind me. A young woman had appeared with a shovel.
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What Would Reagan Have Done?
Prompted By Ghosts of Elections Past
/ Stories
There were three other women ... and we stuck together. This was a good thing, because it turned out the men were angry--really angry.
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Signs of election times
Prompted By Buttons, Pins, and Badges
/ Stories
Trump signs are thankfully MIA, and Biden signs are relatively rare, since this preference is assumed.
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A Mixed Bag of Tech Then and Now
Prompted By Life Before Computers
/ Stories
Our phone number was CE9-2609. CE stood for the Center exchange. No area code.
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One Decade of Pretty Shoes
Prompted By Shoes
/ Stories
No Buster Browns, Keds, or Thom McCanns for me. Just, ugh, saddle shoes ...
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Way to Go
Prompted By Final Farewell
/ Stories
While at first I didn't relish the extra burden, the experience turned out to be a gift.
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A Degree Day of Observations
Prompted By Rites of Passage
/ Stories
Seated there was a very elderly, diminutive woman, dressed in black, with wild white hair and a pixie-ish expression, very quiet but observing everything carefully.
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Listening to words
Prompted By Brain Games
/ Stories
Every Sunday I listen to this amazing, funny, and very challenging game show that involves words ...
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A Garden of Visual Delights
Prompted By The Garden
/ Stories
I resorted to wearing sunglasses and a painter's mask to do any gardening, even trimming the lemon tree. Upon seeing me, my cat recoiled in horror.
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Long lost, newly discovered
Prompted By Lost and Found
/ Stories
With a sigh, I gave the earring up for lost but kept its mate as a memento.
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All Sales Final on Vinyl
Prompted By Yard Sales
/ Stories
The little girl stared and asked, "Daddy, what are those?" "These are records," he replied, "they play music."
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Right, then wrong, then almost right
Prompted By I Swore I'd Never
/ Stories
... it got to the point where her hands were raw, and the doctor told her to ease off. She didn't work in a sewer, he said.
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The Big Sisters’ Club
Prompted By Birth Order
/ Stories
When you are the oldest, your parents practice on you. So you receive the benefits of more attention and bear the brunt of their mistakes.
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A Two-Way Path
Prompted By Forgiveness
/ Stories
Her implication was clear. She was upset with me. While I was abashed and said I was sorry, our relationship was considerably cooler from then on.
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Cleared for Take-off, Hard Landing
Prompted By Pandemic Summer
/ Stories
The point is, half our testing is useless, and even Cassandra doesn't have any idea which half.
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A cursive compromise
Prompted By Cursive — Curse or Blessing?
/ Stories
Unless my penmanship improved I could be held back and not go on to sixth grade.
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Candlelight and cops
Prompted By Protests
/ Stories
What was most unnerving? The police presence. While they weren't in riot gear, rows of cops stood their ground, clubs at the ready. Our knees shook.
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Redlines, artists, and mobsters
Prompted By My Hometown
/ Stories
All seemed very normal in this town, as long as you stayed in your lane.
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Random meeting, profound changes
Prompted By Chance Encounters
/ Stories
One professional encounter started so small I could never anticipate how profoundly it would change how I thought about business and maybe even life.
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A Junior Mistake
Prompted By Embarrassment
/ Stories
The room froze, and I immediately realized that I'd said something that was taken in a way I didn't mean.
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From Fashion to Feminism
Prompted By Magazines
/ Stories
These teen-girl publications lacked content for nerdy girls like me, though.
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A Geek in the Best Sense
Prompted By Aunts & Uncles
/ Stories
Occasionally I'd hear strange noises emanating from his basement office. Sometimes a squeak, sometimes a series of booms.
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A War Experience Recovered
Prompted By Memorabilia
/ Stories
Why the small beige box was in my mother's dresser I'll never know. The items pictured belonged to my father's father ...
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Creative cooking with what we have
Prompted By Recipes
/ Stories
It didn't help that mom and grandma didn't write anything down. "You'll know when it's done ... just add a shake of that ..." was their response to my questions.
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Calamity Rainbow
Prompted By Superstition
/ Stories
Each time, shortly after I saw a rainbow, something bad would happen. Thus began what my husband and I called "the year of calamity and death."
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Scents and non-scents
Prompted By Fragrant Flashbacks
/ Stories
He was wearing Brut, perhaps in retrospect not the most subtle of scents. But I'll never forget the scent of Brut, forever associated with the amazing excitement of that first kiss.
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Some Random Pandemic Thoughts
Prompted By Pandemic - Pandemonium or Panacea?
/ Stories
Once the shutdown happened, a friend phoned me asking when I thought we'd be released from it. "June," I replied without hesitation. I so wanted to be wrong, but the data guided me.
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Someone’s at the Door
Prompted By Door-to-Door Sales
/ Stories
The schtick was to make the parents guilty that their children were falling behind in school and things would get dire if they didn't get the encyclopedia.
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Dreaming of Oz in Technicolor
Prompted By Dreams
/ Stories
I've always dreamed in color. Colors that I've never seen in nature appear in my dreams.
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A Seder Celebrating Sacrifice and Safety
Prompted By Spring Celebrations
/ Stories
I have no memory of what we spoke about but cannot forget the image of this wonderful woman, now frail and with hands gnarled and arthritic, and her family's fortitude and selflessness.
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Saved from the Tree by the Cat
Prompted By Close Calls
/ Stories
I looked into the back yard and saw my enormous oak tree whirling like a cocktail's swizzle stick, and then with a huge crack and boom, the tree split into three parts, from top to bottom.
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Loud and Abominable
Prompted By Nicknames
/ Stories
Henrietta was an awkward name for a tiny child ... so the family called her Yettie.
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COVID-19 and the Cursed Princess
Prompted By Vacation or Staycation from Hell
/ Stories
What a bizarre intersection of a vacation from hell with a pandemic-stricken ship.
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Reconstructing a Tribe
Prompted By Finding Your Tribe
/ Stories
"This is the weirdest, most interesting group of people I've ever encountered," I thought. "I fit right in!"
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Confessions of a Guilty Caregiver
Prompted By Caregiving
/ Stories
Most of the conventional wisdom for caregivers comes down to putting yourself first, making time for yourself. To a large degree, that’s a crock. Your priorities won’t come first for the present, and probably for a while.
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Cinderella at Jersey Girls State
Prompted By Leap Day
/ Stories
Problem number one: I had no boyfriend and, although I was 17, I had never been on a date.
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Grandpa Max’s Nose
Prompted By Family Myths
/ Stories
My parents, who had thought it wonderful that I had grandpa Max's eyes, said it was unfortunate that I had his nose, too. Ah, well, I thought, that's the genetic roll of the dice.
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Attracted to Anarchy
Prompted By Children's TV Shows
/ Stories
While we ate tuna fish and Soupy hawked Jello, all kinds of chaos would happen.
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Not My Parents’ Retirement
Prompted By Retirement
/ Stories
I had optimistic hopes about what retirement would be like, tempered with realism.
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A Conflicted Super Bowl Fan
Prompted By Super Bowl
/ Stories
Things eventually calmed down ... but the next year I did not enter the football pool. Football was not yet a woman's domain.
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Life on the Move
Prompted By Moving Day
/ Stories
There are many lessons I have learned ... Moves are a complex blend of stress, opportunity, and calamity.
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Aerograms, a Pen Pal, and a War
Prompted By Snail Mail
/ Stories
I mostly remember taking my fountain pen and writing tiny, neat lines to cram the most onto the aerogram sheet.
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Rumors of his death …
Prompted By Tracking People Down
/ Stories
The floor under my feet seemed to drop away, and a roaring began in my head. I must have replayed the message 10 times. Was someone playing a cruel joke?
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Tweet Tweet, Beep Beep
Prompted By Surprise!
/ Stories
Could the one Rolling Stones concert I attended have done that much damage?
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In Praise of Invisible and Brave Women
Prompted By Ageism
/ Stories
We were aware that it was bound to happen someday, but it sneaked up on us unexpectedly.
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Becoming a Modern Elder
Prompted By Ageism
/ Stories
At first I did worry about what to wear (torn, skinny jeans look great on a 30-year-old but on me, not so much), and whether I knew enough about my smart phone.
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OK, Younger Generations
Prompted By Ageism
/ Stories
Think of what we all could accomplish if all parties stopped eye rolling ... and lecturing ... and started working together.
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A Sweet Kennebunkport Crush
Prompted By The Crush
/ Stories
I don't remember much from that week, except for Tony ... Every time his eyes connected with mine, my heart gave a squeeze and then a leap.
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Surviving a Workplace Bully
Prompted By Bullying
/ Stories
I gasped when I realized that I was the perfect target for a workplace bully--a textbook case.
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Shakin’ in the Stacks
Prompted By Libraries
/ Stories
In an instant, there was a rumble and a slight jerk, and then a slow roll, as I watched the stacks of books opposite me rise about a foot and a half, and gently fall, as if carried by ocean waves.
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Grandma Gets Lucky
Prompted By Hacks and Scams
/ Stories
"She called my cell phone and thought I'd gone to Canada and ended up in jail."
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Redd’s Sledd and the Imp Do Donuts
Prompted By Potpourri (Writer's Choice)
/ Stories
The cops stared, open-mouthed, at three 40-something bearded men and the motley trio of cars.
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Sitter of Last Resort
Prompted By Nannies and Babysitters
/ Stories
When I came to the door, often the kids would greet me with "We don't want you, we want Karen!"
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Joe Defeats Google, Both Win
Prompted By Games People Play
/ Stories
The engineers ultimately understood that the game kept Joe going, giving him energy and focus.
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Ten Miles in Ninety Minutes
Prompted By Road Rage
/ Stories
Route 101 looked like something out of a Mad Max movie ...
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Loved the material, loved the students
Prompted By An Unforgettable Person
/ Stories
Roussel was tall, elegant, very perceptive and demanding, but always kind and encouraging.
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Snacks and Naps
Prompted By Kindergarten
/ Stories
We didn't have to sleep, but had to lie quietly for a time, which seemed like forever but couldn't have been more than 15 or 20 minutes.
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Fish in the Street, Snakes Under Glass
Prompted By Weather
/ Stories
When I looked out the front door, I saw a hip-deep lake where my yard had been ...
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Back to the Garden
Prompted By Woodstock
/ Stories
"We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon."
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The Great British Heritage Mystery
Prompted By Genealogy
/ Stories
Turns out I was "only" 94% eastern European Jewish ...
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A New Normal Neighborhood
Prompted By Neighbors
/ Stories
Outside my bay window I can see a parade of saris, hijabs, turbans, baseball caps, blue jeans, you name it.
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Bored Among the Crowds
Prompted By Boredom
/ Stories
This story is something of a confession: I have had memorable episodes of boredom when I've been around other people ...
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From Earth Dust to Moon Dust
Prompted By Moon Landing
/ Stories
She kept saying in her combination of Yiddish and English, "I can't believe they are walking on the moon."
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Tomes Against the Tides
Prompted By Beach Reads
/ Stories
I'll never forget the syllabus for that summer Russian literature class, which included War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, plus some stories by Pushkin, Gogol, and Chekov.
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Mosquito Magnet
Prompted By Fireworks
/ Stories
Every 4th of July I spent in New Jersey I became exceptionally popular. This one time a year, everyone wanted me to be part of their group ...
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Algorithms Never Lie
Prompted By Honesty
/ Stories
What's scary is how computer algorithms, AI, and all our technology can take data that is perfectly true and turn it into "facts" that are frighteningly false.
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Cruising with the Flu (Hot, Hot, Hot)
Prompted By Honeymoon
/ Stories
If I still was feverish, I couldn't tell once we went outside in the steamy Caribbean.
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My lunch with Omar Sharif
Prompted By First Dates
/ Stories
He said, "I look like Omar Sharif." I thought, "...yeah, and I look like Michelle Pfeiffer."
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A Stroll Down Bloomfield Avenue
Prompted By Shopping Local
/ Stories
United Cigar, run by the Cohen family, was packed with cigars and cigarettes, all types of magazine, and oh, the candy!
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Why Virginia Woolf Landed Me a Client
Prompted By College Majors as Career Gaugers
/ Stories
The best college for you is the one that wants you to be there. ... choose the "wrong" major if it resonates with you.
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PE ABCs: Agony from Bombardment to C Stunts
Prompted By PE Pleasures and Perils
/ Stories
The bottom of the gym suit consisted of … bloomers. Yes, ballooning from the waist and ending in tight elastic at the widest part of the thigh.
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Exam Week and Daiquiri Parties
Prompted By Exams
/ Stories
As exam week progressed, we could hear clack, clackety-clack, ding!!, clack, clack, from the living area and dorm rooms in the entire wing, along with the crinkle of bags of potato chips and Cheetos.
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Driving Down the Shore
Prompted By Learning to Drive
/ Stories
I knew I really wasn't supposed to take the car to the beach, but the temptation was too much.
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Shelters, Signs, and Sirens
Prompted By Cold War Coping
/ Stories
The moaning whine infiltrated my nightmares for years. It became a reminder of a situation we could not ignore.
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Poetic Solace in Turbulent Times
Prompted By Poetry
/ Stories
We poets are at all levels, from awesomely accomplished to beginner. I am somewhere in the middle.
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Quirky Neighbors in a Modest Place
Prompted By My First Apartment
/ Stories
Add a land line phone and a black-and-white TV with a coat hanger for an antenna, and my décor was almost complete.
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Ta-ra-ra-boom-dee-ay
Prompted By The Draft & Vietnam
/ Stories
It seemed like so much fun to me. The real story was much more sobering but also inspiring ...
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Childless with no regrets
Prompted By Parenthood
/ Stories
I kept listening for the tick of the biological clock, but it never ticked.
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Some “thens” I don’t miss
Prompted By That Was Then, This Is Now
/ Stories
I am nostalgic for many things but not all. Here is a quick take on some of the items from the 50s and 60s I don’t miss. Women’s clothing: Panty girdles, with their tourniquet-like grip on my thighs. I’ll spare folks the details of feminine hygiene products and accessories of the 60s, but suffice it…
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Hot turkey sandwiches at the Claremont Diner
Prompted By Restaurants
/ Stories
The diner's booths were large enough to swallow a child as small as I was.
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The Kendo Mindset: Art Imitates Sports
Prompted By Sports
/ Stories
For the first and only time, I saw humans flying, literally levitating around the room, so graceful that their bare feet never made a sound when they landed.
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The Year of Learning, Laughter, and Love
Prompted By A Year in the Life
/ Stories
At first 1979 would not seem to be a year of love and laughter, with its gas lines, stagflation, and odd fashions. But in a subliminal moment, a butterfly might alight, even on dried grass or trash, and its perfect wings might wink at you for an instant before it vanishes. That’s how I feel…
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A wish that went full circle
Prompted By Be Careful What You Wish For
/ Stories
Reluctantly I did a second career report, but my heart wasn't in it ... I began to wish to be a writer.
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Different in many ways
Prompted By Being Different
/ Stories
This was my first big revelation--not only had I thought I was different, I really was different. Not only was I in a different physical package from the rest of the group, I had a unique personality profile.
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Do what you love, even if the money doesn’t follow
Prompted By The Road Not Taken
/ Stories
[he] said that it took a special person to handle this job. The last woman left to become a nun. What an outrageous and fun way to start an interview!
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The Kvetching Diseases
Prompted By Illness
/ Stories
Any woman reading this will identify the "yeah, sure lady" response to our describing a problem with our cars. The same can apply to our bodies.
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Smart Spies
Prompted By What We Watched
/ Stories
One of our family favorites was the goofy spy spoof "Get Smart." Don Adams had a never-ending variety of clumsy antics as a Control agent fighting Chaos (and losing).
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Belonging
Prompted By Let's Put On a Show
/ Stories
The characters I played were the ugly, the sad, the silly, the mad, the funny, the old, and the dead. Any role that was quirky attracted me.
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Day tripping to the Cape
Prompted By Summer of Love
/ Stories
Who knew that wind chimes, sunlight through stained glass, and sandalwood could open up another world, one of peace and love?
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A summer “a la francaise”
Prompted By Camp
/ Stories
Few boys, dreadful food, and gleepy green scum at the bottom of the lake--but the swimming, waterskiing, and guitar playing more than made up for it.
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Bypassing Ellis Island
Prompted By Immigrants
/ Stories
How they made their way in this strange place to find my great grandfather, with no money and speaking no English, I have no idea.
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Salt Water, Lemon Ice, and No TV
Prompted By The Beach
/ Stories
In the 1950s and 1960s, there was no television reception on Long Beach Island. Instead, we went out after dinner for lemon ice (made with real lemons and cane sugar), and played a round of miniature golf.
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How I almost went to the prom but got even instead
Prompted By Prom
/ Stories
Jeff lived next door to my close friend Sherry, so I hung out at her house, trying to make myself visible without being too pushy. That’s what girls did in 1970. Boys did the asking to the prom.
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Grandma Rose
Prompted By Grandparents & Grandchildren
/ Stories
She passed for 16 so she could work in a garment factory. She never saw the inside of a school room but had wanted to be a doctor. ... She was a woman grounded in tradition who never stopped looking to the future.
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Betting on the end
Prompted By The Draft & Vietnam
/ Stories
... numbers corresponding to the days of the year were written on slips of paper and placed in plastic capsules, which were put into a deep glass jar (at the time I’d imagined a bingo cage).
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Oh!
Prompted By First Day of School
/ Stories
Her mouth rounded as she faced us and said, "This is Oh--Oh--repeat after me:
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