In 1968, a teachers strike in NYC closed the school doors for just enough time for me to get knee-deep in my first political campaign.  While my classmates met regularly to tackle SAT words, trig problems, and new Spanish conjugations — with my parents’ blessing, I found my way to the local O’Dwyer/McCarthy HQ  and tagged on to visibility efforts across the city.  I gave out flyers, sized up delis to see if there were enough people to merit a quick visit from the candidate, and wove through a standing room only fundraiser at  Madison Square Garden collecting contributions.  36...

It couldn’t have been more than a 15 minute walk from the nine story apartment building where I grew up.  Waiting for us on cold days and on the hottest days, too   —   It was by far the loveliest meeting spot I’ve ever known.  Pavers encircled the water and created a very walkable perimeter for celebrating joys and leaving behind the rest.  Leaves from tall trees fell on the pond  — our pebbles skimmed across to the other side.  Indian Pond belonged to all of my friends and not a single soul more.   A year or so ago, I read about a developer who envisioned opportunity...

For the longest time, our gym was less-traveled.  Trainers strained to look both occupied and available at the same time.  My husband had his choice of the best lockers and had lots of machines at his command.  The ellipticals upstairs looked like theater seats long before the show began.  And as I’ve re-discovered, when you don’t have to wait,  you forget how to wait.  Not a good thing when a local chain of gyms  goes under and suddenly your old gym becomes well-traveled.   And the tranquil stretching oasis gives way to limbs that land far too close, and the treadmill just below...

I really didn’t want to write a story about how an Oregon entrepreneur automated shipping tariffs.  But International Thomson/Brandon’s Shipper & Forwarder thought an interview might dredge up info to help them decide whether  to invest in his company or not.  WMB insisted on read-backs (to be sure he wasn’t misquoted) and though they weren’t standard practice at Brandon’s, I reluctantly agreed.  Writing about computers was new territory for me, but WMB liked the story, and when he was visiting his NY office, we met near Tall Ships in the World Trade Center and got...

Just as I was starting to have fun, two family members told me they were feeling concerned about the spelling of a large word on top of the page.  Expotition, if you’re curious.   Some folks forget important things, and I told them it wasn’t misspelled by me — but by Pooh Bear in “Winnie-the-Pooh.”  And I looked it up in a special dictionary.  (A.R. Melrose, The Pooh Dictionary:  The Complete Guide to the Words of Pooh and All the Animals in the Forest, 1995)   Expotition refers to “voyages of discovery in which, it is hoped by all concerned, nothing Fierce is...