Suprise Me

William Styron put the finishing touches on Sophie's Choice on this very island. Read More

The most complete darkness I ever knew was in Vietnam Read More

I have no control over the holidaze. The only thing I can control is how I respond to it. Read More

Many kids had cap guns in holsters on their hips. These were loaded with red strips which were impregnated with dots of chemicals, and would explode with a loud bang when the trigger was pulled.  Read More

To get to Martha’s Vineyard, an island in the Atlantic Ocean, 7 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, one must drive on various types of roads and take a scheduled ferry. It has been a tourist destination since the mid-1800s when people arrived by horse carts. Now there are highways for much of the drive.… Read More

Looking back at my hobbies as a young girl, I realize how passive and home-bound they were. Read More

My mother was a proud FDR Democrat and preached it at home. My father’s family grew up quiet Republicans, transplanted to Detroit from St. Louis. We never got him to admit who he voted for in 1960, but he became more liberal as he aged. I was not quite four years old during the 1956… Read More

To play the “Gas Station Game,” you began by taking turns choosing different brands of gas, the way you might pick players on a pickup baseball or touch-football team. He would pick first—that was just the rule—and he would always pick Standard, Read More

This is an op-ed piece my daughter Molly wrote for her college newspaper back in 2016. Read More

I can think of lots of things I should regret…or that you might think I would regret. I married a drug addict, for one. But if not for him, I wouldn’t have the same beloved daughter I have, or the same beloved granddaughters. I do kind of regret that I didn’t demand child support or… Read More