Tag: family
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UR TEXT
To say that this book saved me is an understatement. I’m not getting schmaltzy on you, but yes, like other parents way back then, when the Encyclopedia Britannica was the flavor of the year, many parents bought a set. Mine did. But when some other guy pressed our doorbell years later, and my father and…
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PATIENCE
My cab broadsided another cab in an intersection, and my face slammed into the plexiglas divider, my nose broke, and my mouth was severely cut on the coin cup. When the ambulence arrived, the police told my cab driver to hold my purse and stand over there. When I was extracted from the cab, he…
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SELLING OUR HOME
SELLING OUR HOME Everyone in our circle, including our neighbors, is aware that our home has been listed for sale multiple times, due to our past experiences with real estate agents. Mostly, it’s been an enormous shock. Two critical, ethical sins were made regularly. First, since no one else is in the room or can…
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FORGETTING IT’S A MAN’S WORLD
Sometimes, I forget what a f*&ked up, paranoid, white, straight man’s world my husband deals with most days, mostly because I am way too busy dealing with the f*@ked up world most women have to deal with. My husband’s a teacher and a lifelong public servant, so his time is spent writing lectures, grading papers,…
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IT’S ONLY A RECIPE
Right now, the aroma wafting from our kitchen is the chocolate chunk Mandel Bread baking in our oven for our celebration of Hanukkah. We are celebrating Hanukkah and our love for the Jewish community. My husband’s father is full-blooded Italian, and we know his family enjoyed the same cookie, but they called it Biscotti. I remind…
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ROLLER SKATING AND WHEN IT’S TIME TO QUIT
This morning, I saw an aerial shot of Columbus Circle, which reminded me of our first time living in Manhattan in the 1990s. In traffic, I used to roller skate from our West Side apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, weaving between cars and running red lights, all the way to Central Park, skate the entire big…
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WE DONATE FOOD BECAUSE WE’VE NEVER STARVED FOR ONE THING
The other day some asshole yelled at me: “Hey, what’s in the bags?” and this blog post is my response because in general, people who yell stuff at me make me feel afraid. MOST Fridays before Shabbat service begins, my husband and I make an in-kind food donation to David D. Frazier Food Pantry at…
Mary Louise Penaz 