I graduated from Brandeis in 1974 with a degree in Theatre Arts and a Massachusetts Secondary Teaching Certificate. I also got married a month after graduating. Dan, my new husband, worked at a small software company in Waltham, MA called SofTech, but would start graduate school in the fall, though he continued to work part…
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Suprise Me
Over-Educated, Under-Qualified
Prompted By Working
/ Stories
I graduated from Brandeis in 1974 with a degree in Theatre Arts and a Massachusetts Secondary Teaching Certificate. I also got married a month after graduating. Dan, my new husband, worked at a small software company in Waltham, MA called SofTech, but would start graduate school in the fall, though he continued to work part…
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Skee Ball
Prompted By Amusement Park Memories
/ Stories
Skee Ball When I was a kid my grandparents lived a few blocks from the beach in Far Rockaway, in Queens, New York. I loved visiting them – and especially in the summer when Rockaways Playland was open for the season. Created in 1902 by roller coaster designer LaMarcus Adna Thompson, Rockaways Playland had…
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Those Were the Days, My Friend
Prompted By Grandparents & Grandchildren
/ Stories
Readers of Retrospect may recall my maternal grandparents from two other stories, No Way To Say Goodbye, about my grandfather’s death, and Which Side Are You On?, in which I discussed their flight from the Cossacks and their search for the American Dream. They were a significant part of my childhood, living with my parents, my sisters, and me in our…
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Kodachrome
Prompted By Group Photos
/ Stories
I do not relate to the idea that group photos are no longer in vogue. For me they are a constant in my life!
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Ms Information
Prompted By Directionally Challenged
/ Stories
No matter where I am–at home or abroad–people ask me for directions. I don’t know why. Most of the time I can answer correctly, but I’m sure I’ve made some mistakes. Years ago, I brought this up at lunch with my friends and colleagues at the high school where I worked. One of the (younger)…
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THE BOSS
Prompted By One Song That Moves Me
/ Stories
Forgetting, or Just not Remembering?
Prompted By Forgetting
/ Stories
Earlier, life seemed to be an endless acquisition of information and experience. More and more stuffed into my brain. At some point, that balance seems to have tipped into forgetting more than remembering.
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The Day I Met Lucille Ball
Prompted By Fame
/ Stories
I’d heard how tough and intimidating Lucille Ball could be, but on the day I interviewed her at her home in Beverly Hills she was warm, unguarded and down-to-earth. It felt like hanging out with a favorite aunt. Lucy picked up quickly on the fact that I was a fan, and since I was young…
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Fish in the Street, Snakes Under Glass
Prompted By Weather
/ Stories
When I looked out the front door, I saw a hip-deep lake where my yard had been ...
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Waiting Rooms: Tales of Torture and Triumph
Prompted By Waiting Rooms
/ Stories
Ah, waiting rooms. Those fluorescent-lit purgatories where childhood dreams went to die a slow, magazine-fueled death. Remember those giant, uncomfortable chairs swallowing you whole like a bad couch on “Laugh-In”? The only escape? Dog-eared copies of National Geographic filled with pictures of naked butts and confusing maps of exotic lands (where, presumably, dentists/ doctors…
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