#RacistinRecovery 2018 is almost in the rear-view mirror. On that front, at least, I think I made some progress. Professionally, I attended a pre-conference workshop on dismantling institutional racism in libraries, and was able to do that beautiful fusion of personal and professional when I took a six-week class called “Unlearning Racism” at our local … Continue reading #RIR2018 exits stage left, chocolate cupcake flowers wave in the wind as #WJDisaggregation2019 makes its entrance
Category: personal history
In the first part of this post, Debby went to Italy in 2012 and bought a pair of shoes she'd been coveting forever. They turned out to be slightly too small and, because she'd worn them outside, not returnable. She posted a small rant, accompanied by a photo from her hotel room in Rome. "Slightly … Continue reading A Cinderella story starring my sister, the Fairy Godmother of Shoes – Part Two
There is no such thing as cheap shoes in my universe. Which is what happens when a man with 9C feet makes babies with a woman who wears a7½ AAAA shoe. My sister somehow managed to dodge the narrow-footed bullet. She wears a nice, common size in a nice, common width. She also has amazing taste … Continue reading A two-part Cinderella story starring my sister, the Fairy Godmother of Shoes
Dear Trevor Noah: I hope you are taking good care of yourself and feeling better. But I feel moved to inform you that rescheduling your November 9th Milwaukee show threw me into full-on “First-World White Lady Existential Crisis” mode Bruised vocal cords are no joke. So I’m glad you stayed home and took care of yourself. … Continue reading First World White Lady Problems: An Open Letter to Trevor Noah (with photos)
Five years ago, my pal Molly and her husband Richard flew in from New York to visit her parents, "Mel" (z"l) and "Sally." It was their first visit after M&S moved into "Old People Harvard," the independent and assisted-living community where Mom had been living for two years. It was a great gift to Mom … Continue reading Accidental landlording & purposeful librarianship: a dispatch from the busy zone with a reminder to VOTE TUESDAY!
It’s been a long month. Two weeks ago I underwent a procedure most people call cataract surgery, which I have unilaterally nicknamed “extreme Lasik.” It has left me unsettled, crabby and neurologically unhappy. I know cataract surgery is different than Lasik. With Lasik, a medical professional reshapes your cornea using a laser. Cataract removal is when your cloudy … Continue reading Writing with one eye: diary entry of a neurologically unhappy quasi-cyclops
If anyone with a social media presence wants to see their blog stats tank, here’s my advice: Quit Facebook. Even though my blog is my gift to me, a place where I write what I want to in order to loosen myself up to write better and more freely and not about how many … Continue reading ‘Honoring Miss Pietsch’ or how a composer helped me get my house in order, featuring 1886 wallpaper
In 2007, I was on national television and in the New York Times for being one of the first “old” people on Facebook. On April 10th, I posted this on my Facebook feed: “I was going to just leave quietly, but it feels disrespectful to so many of you who I care about. I joined … Continue reading Hitting the ‘delete’ button on Facebook: a Dispatch from the quiet zone
Mom died on February 25th. Her funeral was in Utica, New York; yesterday was her memorial service. This is the eulogy I wrote and read yesterday. Eulogy II The first Tuesday after Mom’s funeral, I woke up and, because it has been part of my waking-up ritual for what seems like forever (even though it … Continue reading Death: the most unlikely of happy endings or ‘Bossiest Eulogy Ever’
“It is coercion of the strongest kind, because it appears in the guise of a self-evident necessity and is thus not even recognized as a coercive force.” Ludwik Fleck, “Genesis & Development of a Scientific Fact” I started 2017 with a post about making this a “no bullshit” year. Seing it out with a … Continue reading ‘No Bullshit’ 2017 is almost over: Time to ring in #racistinrecovery 2018
the sentence factory 