Suprise Me

I think my mom was ahead of her time, a real ‘Granola.’ She didn’t look anything like a hippie, but she read religiously things like Prevention Magazine and  books on natural ways to have healthy children. We ate piles of vitamins and supplements. From a very young age I knew what each one was and… Read More

There were milk and cookies afterwards. Read More

“What in the world will we do with all this stuff?” Soon after our mother passed away, my sister and I were faced with the daunting task that so many of our generation are dealing with these days: sorting through a lifetime’s accumulation of clothes, jewelry, tchotchkes, and mementos. Drawer after drawer revealed scarves, purses,… Read More

The point is, half our testing is useless, and even Cassandra doesn't have any idea which half. Read More

This week we are asked to write about our forebears’ refugee/immigrant experience. I wrote what I know about how my maternal grandparents came to this country several years ago and will link to that story at the end of this essay. I wanted to tell a more urgent story, given that this story will go… Read More

My reconnecting stories begin with ways to rekindle old ties that have fallen away over the years. Read More

Imagine my surprise when my dear mother-in-law called, saying she wanted me to host Thanksgiving in 1982. I had never cooked a meal like that before and at the time we lived in a 5th floor walk-up, rented condo, left partially furnished by the owner, with some of our own furniture strewn about. It had… Read More

  Right, let’s talk about stuff. You know, that ever-expanding collection of… well, stuff. It’s the creeping crud of capitalism, the flotsam and jetsam of consumerism clinging desperately to our lives like a toddler covered in ice cream. We buy it, we hoard it, and then we spend the rest of our days muttering darkly… Read More

"It's a dance. Well, it's a hoedown." Read More

Personally I feel what most people consider a disaster in reality is quite the contraire. Not at all unlike the way most people see events in life, so many seem to see the dark side of so much instead of the light on the other side. This is the way man has survived countless centuries.… Read More