Suprise Me

The Honorable James L. Oakes and his wife Mara lived next to me on Martha’s Vineyard until his death in 2007. He was kind, patient, brilliant and I adored him. Mara, with whom I remain close, shared this article on citizenhood, reprinted from the Brattleboro Reformer, on July 4, 2010. She gave me permission to… Read More

My grandfather died when I was a kid, but he gave me a love for the game. Read More

Even though I received a formal invitation to participate in the Viet Nam war, I declined. Read More

These teen-girl publications lacked content for nerdy girls like me, though. Read More

“There was a sense of exhilaration,” my friend Wesley remembers, “a feeling that we were reacting as a group, as one. That was a really intense, positive thing.” I believe the emotions and commitment generated that day forever altered the spirit and culture of Humboldt State. Read More

She passed for 16 so she could work in a garment factory. She never saw the inside of a school room but had wanted to be a doctor. ... She was a woman grounded in tradition who never stopped looking to the future. Read More

9/11  I’ll never forget the date my husband’s college roommate Joel came from Newton, Massachusetts to spend a few days with us in New York – it was Monday,  September 10, 2001. On that Monday Joel drove down from Newton to New York’s JFK airport.  His cousin and her three kids were arriving from Israel… Read More

Early in this new year, I resolve to take a walk on a quiet byway down to a river. On my way, I’ll find a stick dry enough to snap from its source and large enough to see at a distance. When I reach a bridge, I’ll walk halfway across and lean over the downstream… Read More

My first serious hobby was philately . . . I didn't know it as "philately" until Tom Lehrer rhymed it with Lady Chatterley. Read More

Still, on a quiet Sunday there is nothing more relaxing than working my way through that pile of newspapers. Read More