Stories abound of Jewish people who grow up warm and secure in their faith. Those for whom the eight days of Hanukah didn’t compete with Christmas: Jewish nurses, firefighters, and doctors (the ones my mother wanted me to marry) who take Christmas Eve shifts to ensure that their Christian brethren are home for the holidays. … Read more
If you read as I do (unceasingly, never sticking to any one genre, and always with a backup book (or ten) just in case, you’re always seeking books to match your current mood, yes? Pride and Prejudice won’t do when you’re in a Frankenstein mood. There are times nothing will work except dark and broody-moody, to … Read more
Unless one’s made of stone and iron, having writing a novel (Waisted) based on extreme body-shaming & how the eyes of others scorch women, must change one, yes? Pair that with compiling an anthology titled Women Under Scrutiny, and voila, the perfect storm for facing personal crucibles. Examining ‘knowing one’s character’s crucible**’ is paramount, I … Read more
“If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.” I sing those words to newly-purchased plants I drive them home. My garden, rather than a zone of tender nurturance and rule-following is a survival of the fittest zone. I began gardening on a whim, with containers in the front of my then-narrow townhouse, and … Read more
About a million years ago I read (a now out of date) mystery, Gastronomic Murder, by Alexandra Roudybush (look for this book. I got a second-hand copy recently. Try the library. That’s where I got in back in the day. At that time, I couldn’t afford to buy books and the local Boston library was … Read more