Suprise Me

  The Sister Lottery Just this morning I learned that one of my good friends has an older sister. They’re extremely different, apparently, but mostly their value systems appear to be miles apart. “I just don’t like her and I have no respect for her,” my friend concluded. I couldn’t help but reflect on the… Read More

Growing up in the Beach Boys days, my idea of the perfect girl hair was a shoulder-length flip.  It might be teased on top, it might have bangs, or a bow, but it had that cute little flip up on the ends that really said, “Beach Girl”.  (A beach girl who obviously never went in… Read More

Aristotle? Bible? “Ideal man”? Mit-what-zah? Sounds like a fancy way of saying “make your own bed” to me. But apparently, doing stuff for other people is supposed to be some grand declaration of inner beauty. Let’s be honest, though, favors are a minefield. A social tightrope where good intentions trip over awkward silences and unspoken… Read More

I learned to swim in Long Island Sound by New London, CT, probably when I was four or so. I like swimming in pools and the ocean. Don’t especially like lakes and their usually slimy bottoms. Concrete and sand are OK on the feet, for some reason. I started snorkeling as an adult and love… Read More

In the shadowy underbelly of society, where the sun’s rays fail to penetrate and the air hums with a palpable tension, lurks the insidious specter of racial prejudice. This pernicious force, cloaked in the guise of ignorance and fear, has long cast its dark shadow over the human race, weaving a tapestry of injustice and… Read More

...it is also comforting to believe that consciousness does not end with physical death. Read More

The thrill of the hunt, the lure of the new. No, I’m talking about shopping. Read More

Hi, fellow ‘spectors, I’m working my way through the backlog after a 4-5 week down time (long story…and I am not sure what it was about). The only thing I have apropos to this prompt is: https://www.myretrospect.com/stories/veni-vidi-ego-erravi-male/ Read More

My maternal grandparents met, married and had their first two children in Bialystock, (Imperial) Russia (after the first world war, part of Poland) at the turn of the 20th century. They survived the pogroms (race riots promulgated against Jews) in 1906, hidden by Christian neighbors and fled to the United States with their babies in… Read More

My mother was not much of a cook. She made dinner every night for 30 years (except for the occasional restaurant meal), and then, when my father retired and the kids were all grown up and gone, she never cooked again. She certainly never imbued any of her three daughters with a love of cooking,… Read More