Grace Faustino was running — running with a check — running to the bank — and I was running alongside her. The check had come in from the mother of Jimmy Weinstein, editor and publisher of In These Times (the newspaper I was working at) in Chicago, and not a moment too soon: The utilities were … Read more
In the summer of 1979, just after my junior year in college, my father, Paul, saw me off from a train platform at Grand Central Station. He was 55, and had just lost his job as a schoolteacher in Connecticut. I’d been home for a week, and he’d asked me to stay longer, but I … Read more
My dear, sweet stepfather suffers from Alzheimer’s and — more recently — was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. We were watching TV, and I turned to a channel playing an old movie. On the screen a blond actress was cracking wise. I said, “Maybe that’s Carole Lombard.” He shook his head: “Jean Harlow,” he corrected … Read more
When I first arrived in Chicago, in the summer of 1979, my eyes felt like they wanted to split apart. Earlier, in my teens, I’d been diagnosed with exophoria (or maybe exotropia), which is the eyes not working together. I’d done “eye push-ups” and other exercises — but until that summer I never felt like I had to … Read more
I guessed Spencer Tracy — and apparently, that was was the right answer!! (My stepfather’s favorite actor.) Rough excerpt from my current phone call with a new AT&T person: AT&T: How to may I help you? (Not an English-speaker; not clear whether man or woman.) Me: I need to move my mom’s phone service. AT&T: $#$!#%%#!$^#$^! … Read more