Suprise Me

The summer of 1961, the place—the Federal Justice Building in Connecticut, the courtroom for hearings before the Selective Service hearing officer, me. By refusing to accept the legitimacy of the draft, I received a federal order to appear before a judge who would accept my refusal or punish me with a two-year prison sentence for… Read More

I was missing those illustrated elevator rides. I was regretting that we wouldn’t be able to go to lunch together after the appointment in the third-floor cafeteria, with its salad bar, its fish baked on the premises, its hardy soups, its many dessert choices.  Read More

“Excuse me… there seems to be a mistake on my paycheck. A big mistake.” Read More

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. Read More

I LOVE chocolate – fudge cake, fudge, frosting, M&Ms, 3 Musketeer Bars. You name it. Each has a particular association for me. As a youngster, my family vacationed in Charlevoix, MI, a lovely resort spot on Lake Michigan. In their downtown was a fudge shop named Murdick’s. We would wander over, watch them make the… Read More

Something about the half lemonade and half tea ... symbolizes how so many of us are making do. Read More

I must confess that I have never been very interested in science. Conversations on scientific topics tend to make my eyes glaze over. My only good science experience was in first grade. We had a lovely teacher named Miss Garcelon, who had just graduated from teachers college, and we were her first class. She decided, for… Read More

My father appreciated every meal my mother prepared for him as if it were the best meal he'd ever eaten. Read More

I perused my small, kid-targeted weather book (maybe even a Golden Book?) ‘til I cracked its spine. Read More

A quick list. Good riddance to a number of things, some of which passed through my life but briefly, others that lasted a long time. P.E. class. Prayer meetings. Striving to be a Virtuous Woman (a la Proverbs 31). Carbor paper, and typing up multiple copies of office memos for distribution and filing. Bow tie… Read More