Suprise Me

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? Read More

We lived at the edge of a forest in Massachusetts. The hay field across the road served as a planetarium surrounded by stone walls and maples. From there, the night sky unfolded for us: an unusual moon, the northern lights, an eclipse, but now. . . who could predict? “Tonight!” My old man shouted. “Sputnik!… Read More

When I thumb through my mother’s attempt to memorialize my early childhood, it doesn’t really matter what she wrote or what she saved. The love with which she did it is what endures. Read More

I favored one dress—an electric-blue sateen-spandex thing—that was cut down to here and up to there. It threatened to expose my left breast every time I reached for the bass notes. Read More

On this particular November Friday, we were sitting in home ec class learning how to make salad dressing. Read More

The driving age in NJ, where I grew up, was 17 for some reason, even though in almost every other state in the union it was 16. Read More

Seems to me that Covid-19 has set the stage for the emergence of new superstitions. Read More

I would be remiss in my discussion of the Newark Public Library if I did not mention Philip Roth's novella Goodbye Columbus. Read More

He gave me all kinds of intangible gifts. As I wrote in Dude – A Message of Love, I knew Dude Stephenson virtually my whole life as he was my operetta teacher for five glorious summers at the National Music Camp, Interlochen, MI from 1965-1969. He taught me the value of being an important member of… Read More

I was going through a stage, right? I was SUPPOSED to hate little girls when I was a little boy. Read More