Suprise Me

17 Gas Stations  The question is,  why won’t men stop to ask directions? The answer may be in John Gray’s well-known book Men are From Mars,  Women are From Venus.   Or in another fascinating book on gender differences entitled You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation by Deborah Tannen. Tannen,  a linguistics professor, coined the… Read More

I was eligible to vote in my first presidential election in November, 1972. At that time, I was a Junior at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, but had registered to vote in Michigan before coming back to school in the fall, so voted absentee, sending my ballot back to Huntington Woods. I proudly cast my… Read More

It was a magical summer - exotic, and romantic, and educational too! I will never forget That Summer. Read More

We were put on a bus, blindfolded, and driven around country roads this way and that.  At some point, groups of four were let out of the bus, given a map, and told to find our way back.  We were all fifth graders in East Lansing public school and this was part of the curriculum… 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

(Please note: I am actually reading, and wish to comment upon, other Retrospect writer’s stories. But for some reason, since early August I am unable to reply to anyone’s stories but my own, no matter where I log in from. I also can’t even reply to other writer’s comments. All I get is a 503… Read More

Dan and Sally invited me in, and with their daughter, we played backgammon, and they made me a cup of tea and offered me some cookies. Read More

As I made that move, the brunette cutie to my right clasped her hand around my wrist and whispered "that is SO annoying!" Read More

So far, I haven’t had any desire to have my DNA tested, even though so many other people I know are doing it. I don’t really want that information falling into the wrong hands, and more importantly, I don’t think I would find out anything about my ancestry that I don’t already know. However, there’s… Read More

The Camper-Waitress Goes to the Fair The summer my friend Stephanie and I were too old to be a campers but not old enough to be counselors,   we worked as camper-waitresses at a children’s camp in the Connecticut foothills.   Stephanie and I went on to become life-long friends,  but a friendship cut too… Read More