Category: Real Personal History
-
The Brick Pond
I grew up in a small town in upstate New York. The name is Owego, which is derived from a Native American term that means “where the valley widens” or something close to that. The village has everything that a typical small American town should have. There is a beautiful cemetery on the hill…
-
Good-bye Blip
I will miss the blip. The blip and I go back many, many years. I saw the blip when I was very young but I didn’t know what it was back then. Over the years, the blip took on a special significance when I would look for it in dark movie houses, from the next-to-last…
-
The Thing
A few months ago, I stopped at a small country deli for a turkey and swiss cheese sandwich. The store was in Keene Valley, New York. There are fine views of the High Peaks of the Adirondacks from the porch of the deli. I had some brown mustard and low-fat mayo on rye bread. The…
-
The Skeleton in the Taxi
The Division Head in the private school where I taught was very adamant. “All this stuff has to go, Pat. Everything you don’t use in a year should be cleaned out.” I looked around the Middle School lab and began to make mental notes of what needed to be tossed. The chemicals, of course, had…
-
Lord Knows, I Tried
I believe that giving the gift of music to one’s own child is very important. This tendency to pass onto a child is something I got from my mother. When I was about ten years old, she signed me up for private piano lessons from a Miss Shepard, who lived next to the Presbyterian…
-
A Brief History of Chains and Chainmaking
I am holding a very special letter in my hand right now. But, first… Whether we realize it or not, chains play a very important part in our lives. Indeed, chains have, throughout history, helped to hold the very fabric of our changing civilization together. For example, I was astounded to learn that the metal…
