I very distinctly remember where I was on 9/11. I was on my way into the city merrily sleeping through my everyday ordinary commute on what was not an ordinary day. From the moment I arrived at Penn Station, I knew something had gone terribly wrong. But it took me some time to piece it together. People were talking but there was no real information. I remember taking the bus across town (the subway had been shut down). I was anxious for information and so I didn't finish the ...

I was listening to a discussion among news commentators about the Jussie Smollett situation. I am reluctant to characterize it as a hoax, alleged attack, alleged hoax, or anything else. One commentator’s take away rang most true for me. He (I think it was Jeffrey Toobin) noted all of the quick reactions—from public figures and others — when the alleged assault was first reported.   The lesson for all of us is not to jump to conclusions. We are subjected to so much news and ...

  “Stop thinking, let things happen and be the ball”.   In Caddyshack, Ty Webb, (character played by Chevy Chase), has a famous exchange with his caddy, Danny where he attempts to teach him the esoteric connection between the golfer, the club, the ball and the fairway. Feeling surefooted and grounded, Ty blindfolds his eyes, visualizes his shot and swings his club. Magically, the ball lands just two feet from the pin.   Very few things provide me with the same feeling of exh...

  My husband might call this an addition to my ever growing “book of useless information.” I was reading the other day about the importance of salt in history. Yes, salt – that condiment that goes great with French fries. Apparently, in ancient and medieval times, salt was in important form of currency. Great trades took place in the form of salt, given the significance to food preparation and preservation. Salt was so valuable it seems that Roman soldiers were often a...

This past Saturday afternoon, my home telephone rang. When I looked at the caller id, it read that the call was from Mercy Hospital. Mercy is the name of a hospital in Rockville Center, about ten minutes away from where we live. Fearing that something had happened to my mother in law, who lives close by, I gave the telephone to my husband to answer. He listened to what the caller had to say and quickly replied, “Do not call this house again.”   Although the caller id registe...

Something that you learn more by observation than doing. Spacing out certain hard – aka physical – work. I still enjoy tending to my yard. Do not mind the exercise; though alternative exercise activities such as basketball or swimming I certainly enjoy why “playing.” This weekend – due to the famed midwinter recess closing the gym (in my boyhood elementary school) that my Knights of Pythias lodge rents, if the weather permitted – it did – I knew yard work would occur.   Not ...

In a recent visit to the doctor (scheduled) I had to fill out a form to update/validate my information for 2019. Part of the questionnaire was this. I was quickly filling this out and after I checked White I started to feel a bit uncomfortable. Why is Ethnicity only Hispanic or Non-hispanic?   Why is Race only these four choices? The United States Census officially recognizes six racial categories: White or European American, Black or African American, American Indian and Al...

As the photo evinces, recently I was blocked by Facebook.   What did I do?  I posted some iconic photos of the great Josephine Baker on one of Judy Mauer’s inspirational Facebook posts.   The problem, according to Facebook, is that her breasts were barely bare in one of the photos.  To be honest, I didn’t even notice, but they sure did and I had to promise to be more careful in the future to regain my platform.  If you missed me on Facebook, now you know why.   I would post t...

Today is Valentine's Day.  It is the first anniversary of the Parkland shootings.  Today is a day of many feelings.  It is a day of expressing love.  Unfortunately, today is also a day to remember how hate can destroy love.   May love conquer hate today and always- Happy Valentine's Day. ...

  Tis' Herself: An affectionate expression in both Irish and Scottish language denoting a woman of importance, usually the Lady of the house. When I think of Ruth, I think “Tis’ Herself.”   The Notorious R.B.G.   On the Basis of Sex, Mimi Leder did a spectacular job directing the movie of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s struggles for equal rights. Her life, her accomplishments and her steady reason are supernatural, G-d inspired. Ruth’s purposeful existence and creative ideas materiali...

  There was a crowd on the platform but the train was sitting in the station with the doors open. It was obvious that something was going on inside one of the cars since handfuls of MTA workers were hovering inside and around. No one seemed particularly anxious but something bad was going down.     Soon, we learned that there was a passenger on the train in need of assistance. A woman was passed out on the bench and was clearly in distress. One irate New Yorker on the platf...

Nancy and I had an interesting conversation last week. She told me that she and her husband had decided to take piano lessons. When I asked “Why?” her response was, “Why not?”   Nancy then followed her response up with, “It was always something we wanted to do so we decided to just do it.” I thought about this for a few moments and confided in Nancy that I had always wanted to learn Spanish. I had taken French in school and realized, in later years, Spanish would have been ...

Friday’s Times opinion page contained a column with an interesting title, “The Moral Indecency of the Away Message.” I only use a permanent away message for my AOL account which I elected not to regularly use almost a decade ago. I changed in a point of personal pique. Anyone interest in that back story, we can chat over a drink....or coffee. AOL does not permit auto forwarding of mail so all I could do is post an away message with instructions to resend to a different email ...

Luke Hagerty. A name you might hear a few times during the upcoming baseball season.    What's so special is the fact he is 37 years old and throwing 99...he is the ultimate comeback story for baseball.   The Cubs just signed him 17 years after they drafted him in the first round. A great story of perserverance, focus and luck. Here's the full background story from ESPN...great read (click here)   Before Luke the oldest guy to make a comeback was Jim Morris and he was 35. The...

No wonder Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is our richest billionaire (pre divorce)! One of my quirks is that I save credit card chits and check them against my monthly credit card bills.  We have a Master Card and an American Express card.  While going through this ritual I noticed that each account had a charge for Amazon Prime.    I eventually got around to calling (for me, the only way to do it) Amazon and after much up and back I learned that somehow an “Introductory Offer” of Amaz...