I love the Saturday morning ritual of going to the outdoor market. I didn’t grow up shopping outside—except for the occasional summer farm stand—and even though outdoor markets are common throughout America now, the ritual still feels a little like an adventure to me, evocative of Paris streets, Italian piazze, and Costa Rican mercados. Many […]
Market Value – Brooklyn in the Summer Read More »
For years I’ve been doing a deep dive into Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, endeavoring to translate the experience of teaching a play that I knew pretty well while I went through an experience that was completely new to me. Teaching Hamlet as my father was dying I began to see the truth in scholar Harold Bloom’s
There’s a Divinity That Shapes Our Ends Rough-hew Them How We Will Read More »
“This is so surreal.” “It hardly seems real.” “I can’t believe s/he is gone.” It’s hard to wrap our heads around the death of someone we love. They are here one moment and irrevocably gone the next. We can’t make sense of it: Here then Gone.
Why Does Death Seem So Surreal? Read More »
Oh my gosh I have a website! I built a website! Well, sort of. One of my major goals for this summer has been to build a website that represents who I am, what I’m doing, what I hope to be doing, and most importantly, that is a place where I can share stories and
I Built a Website! Read More »
My friend Gwen has a magnificent yard, a bountiful garden, and a very well stocked liquor cabinet. But her huge and magnanimous spirit is the essential ingredient in the good times we share. She is over-the-top generous with her time and the bounty of her home. When I had my
Garden to Glass Cocktails Read More »
As a writer and English teacher I’m always looking for signs. I went back to yoga last week and on the inspirational quote board someone had written: “Remember me.” ~ Your body It was an apt point, without question. It’s also what the ghost of Hamlet’s father said to him at the end of their
It’s not hyperbole to say that the music of Paul Simon has helped form my emotional landscape. His lyrics, tunes, and especially the imagery in his songs, have increased my powers of observation and deepened my sense of appreciation for the magic moments of everyday life since my teens. His music has given me memories
Paul Simon: The Bard of Corona Read More »
Well, Labor Day Weekend 2018 is behind us. It’s Tuesday, fake Monday, morning and I’m at the St. Agnes Upper West Side Branch of the New York Public Library. Time to get back to business. Like the rest of the city. Except I had actually envisioned spending the bulk of the holiday making serious progress
Labor Day and Libraries Read More »
I’ve said it before. As a teacher and a writer, I don’t cotton to the concept of being lost for words. Dig around. Thesaurus it! Be like Shakespeare and make up the words you need. Nonetheless, as I teach Senior Girls Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, by Harriet Jacobs, I find myself
Creeping like snail unwillingly to school. It’s a line from Shakespeare’s “All the world’s a stage” speech about the seven ages of man. All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being
Back to School: No Time for Creeping Like Snail Read More »