Suprise Me

This is what I read at my Dad’s funeral in 2001. It sums up many of the life lessons I learned from him. My dad was a teacher, and like many outstanding teachers, he never took time off from teaching. Sure, there were vacations and summers, but he was always on the job. If no… Read More

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. Read More

The Parking Lot Seniority List For many years until I retired I worked as the librarian at Jane Addams,   a small,  inner-city vocational high school in the infamous south Bronx.   True,  the neighborhood was sketchy,   and the local bank where many of us cashed our monthly paychecks was robbed a couple of… Read More

Good gawd how we tried. Read More

I read Lorraine Hunt Lieberson’s obituary with great sadness and keen interest. She passed away in 2006, aged 52 from breast cancer. She was a leading mezzo-soprano of her day and, though I’d never heard her perform, our lives intersected at a few points. She had also attended the Interlochen Arts Camp in her youth,… Read More

He must have noticed that the word “kidnapping” shocked us. He took the time to give us the word-for-word definition from the California Criminal Code: “Moving another person a substantial distance, without the person's consent, by means of force or fear.” Read More

Les Halles I went to Europe for the first time in the late 1960s with my husband Alan on a belated honeymoon.  We spent a few days in Copenhagen where we saw Victor Borge in concert in Tivoli Gardens.   And then a week in Paris where our hotel room reeked of garlic –  thanks,… Read More

We decided to take our first-ever trip to Italy and began planning in 2010. The trip took place in October, 2011. We reached out to our wonderful and well-traveled Vineyard neighbor, who delights in offering travel suggestions. We told him our thoughts about destinations and price points for accommodations, he came back with a variety… Read More

Here are two fairy tale endings to stories I wrote last month. Read More

Lately, I have been thinking that, aside from the little ones in my life who love to tear open wrapping paper to find a new toy, the best gift may be the gift of time. Read More