Suprise Me

It is said that a predictor of happiness and longevity as we age is maintaining strong friendships. Read More

The Wheat Field My grandparents emigrated from eastern Europe,  and my parents lived through a world war – my father sent overseas while my mother worked for the Army on the homefront.  (See Parkchester, Celebrate Me Home) And like all families there were skeletons in the closet,  and there were suicides on both sides that… Read More

The late ’60s were exciting, turbulent times, especially for a young man growing up in a Catholic seminary.  When I entered the Juniorate of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in Pascoag, RI in 1966, there were 24 of us guys (most of whom were gay, I now realize), from all parts of New York/New… Read More

I tied piles of accumulated newspapers together to form a solid block of newspaper, which I used as a guest stoop. Read More

I appreciate the value of a good story, but you have to meet me halfway. Read More

Perhaps a more accurate name for the game is “Revenge!” Read More

I have learned over all these years and in every election, voting is a sacred honor and every vote matters. The whole world is watching. Read More

It was the end of the summer of 1992. Ed and I had bought a beautiful big old house and moved into it with my two children, seven-year-old Sabrina and four-year-old Ben. It seemed like the right time to get a kitten. We knew if we took the kids with us to the animal shelter,… Read More

One can either greet the dawn or dread it. Read More

But in 1961 our family was headed for East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) for a two-year stint and I was now eleven-going-on-twelve.  For me, it was an escape into the unknown, a reprieve from the prospect of junior high, and I was certain that all my frames of reference would shift. Read More