Anne Bradstreet, America’s first published poet, died this week in 1692. She married at age 16 and bore her husband eight children. Unbeknownst to her, her brother- in-law sent her poems back to England to be published, assuring people that she did not shirk her wifely duties by stealing time to write poems. She was, Continue reading

If you are like most Americans, I’m willing to bet September 11, 2001 is at the top of your list of things that get to you. The events of that infamous day of wreckage and carnage reawakened our long dormant sense of vulnerability and of the importance of staying watchful and informed. Another significant milestone Continue reading

It’s 1959. I am sitting on my twin bed on the second floor of our two-story colonial. My GE transistor radio is on my night stand – blaring the song “A Teenager in Love” by Dion and the Belmonts. I am annoyed. My little brother is pesty. My little sister too young to hang-out with.  Continue reading

For quite a while, I’ve been thinking about doing a column on not living in the moment. Everyone I know seems to think that they live in the moment – and that perhaps their friends and family members would do well to take a few lessons from them. I am clearly in the judgmental group, by the way. Every week, Continue reading

Okay. Let’s face it: Everyone has something in their life that could be deemed slightly or very much obsessive. It’s not surprising that the game of Maj Jong became my preoccupation during the long days of social distancing we are enduring due to Covid. The game is entwined into the very roots of my nature. Continue reading

Dear << Test First Name >>, Quarantining is  a new way of life when traveling from one state to the next –  as I found out last month when I traveled from my home in Florida to the state of New York. Along with my husband, I quarantined in a privately-owned apartment on the Lower East Continue reading

I celebrated my 73rd birthday two days ago. Here’s the whine: I’m in New York City. Every museum is closed. Broadway is dark. No inside dining. I’m in New York City and the doctor has ordered me to stay off my feet due to my very slow healing ankle injury. Maybe just a tiny, teeny Continue reading

We all have talents and as the number of candles on our birthday cakes increases, many of us learn to be both comfortable and protective of our talents and to even exploit them for the greater good. I am not a farmer –I don’t plant and harvest wheat or rice. I don’t raise livestock. I Continue reading

His name was Alfred and he was 21 years old, just like me. He was married with one child, just like me. Unlike me, though, Alfred was a high school drop-out with no kind, loving parents to see to it that he got a chance for a college education. His father had abandoned the family Continue reading

Okay. Who am I kidding? I keep telling myself how well I am coping during this pandemic and period of national and global unrest. Then I look at my ravished cuticles – picked at incessantly. Then I acknowledge my poor sleeping situation. Then I realize how often I walk around my house gnashing my teeth. Continue reading