Suprise Me

I always wanted a neighbor that I could talk to over the back fence. You see it in comic strips, TV shows and movies. BFFs who live next door to each other. But I wonder if it ever happens in real life. In my childhood, we knew our neighbors but were not friends with them.… Read More

But, whether related to this initial aversion or not, I have always been reluctant to embrace metaphorical fireworks either.  Just something too ephemeral and excessive for my "all things in moderation" view of life. Read More

Smokey Bear had nothing on us as we learned not only the way to build a proper setting for a campfire but also how to extinguish our campfire. No trees or animals would suffer as a result of a Girl Scout’s carelessness! Read More

My mother was a proud FDR Democrat and preached it at home. My father’s family grew up quiet Republicans, transplanted to Detroit from St. Louis. We never got him to admit who he voted for in 1960, but he became more liberal as he aged. I was not quite four years old during the 1956… Read More

I was 18 going on 19 my parents didn’t know I was going to Woodstock until they saw the cover of Life Magazine with me on the cover dancing naked in the mud at Woodstock. Anyway all the posters say 3 days but it was 4 days cuz Jimi played Monday morning and if you… Read More

As we prepared for bar mitzvah parties in 1964, my mother put me in a local dance class, which met in someone’s basement one day a week. All the “cool” kids were in the group. I was not cool, but took the class anyway. We learned to waltz, two-step and fox trot. Basic dance steps… Read More

I have some cherished stories from the times that my Mom took vacations to go back east to visit family leaving my father and I home to fend for ourselves. One time while she was gone it was my job to cook for dad when he got home from work. I enjoyed it and it… Read More

My maternal grandparents came to this country from Bialystock, Russia in 1906 to escape the pogroms. They raised four children, my grandfather ran a successful jewelry business in Toledo, OH, were free to worship as they pleased and found prosperity in the heartland of America. One could say they lived the American Dream. Two of… Read More

By Walter Nicklin Are they hiding, like stars no longer visible in the light-polluted sky? Or are they simply no longer here, gone forever, like the passenger pigeon or Good Lord Bird? What I hope to spot is another elusive species, rare and endangered, maybe even extinct. I feel like a frustrated sky-watcher or avid… Read More

Before I can start talking about PE, I need to explain a couple of things. When I was in elementary school (fifth grade, I think), I came down with pneumonia. I believe I missed an entire month of school. The teacher had all the kids in my class send me get well cards, which I… Read More