Have been speechless since the election. All wherewithal has drained out through the soles of my feet. Just want to get under the covers: K.M. wrote: “He acted beyond badly, said things that were beyond repugnant and was thus rewarded. That feels so deeply destabilizing to me. My only solace is that in times of strife and(…)
Hannah “Hanneli” Goslar [R.] and Anne Frank [L.] were best friends, fellow Jewish refugees who had come to Amsterdam with their families as small children in 1933 fleeing Hitler’s Germany. In photo [above] these friends have fun with Anne’s marbles on the sidewalk in front of their apartment building in safe Holland unable to imagine what fate awaits them.(…)
I’ve begun a new book. It’s theme is very heavy and dark. Irrespective of promises made (to myself and others) to lighten up, I can’t seem to do so. At least not with work. Only gravitas engulfs me – provides me with raison d’être. Where do you find your ideas, I’ve been asked many times. Ideas are like gum. I’ve(…)
… “He’s about as sincere as a jellyfish; as an ironing board,” I said about my doctor to Pierre. Being a Jew, Pierre had been made to wear a yellow star. Blackouts became common. Often in the dark I saw blue-and-white-check carpet slippers shuffle toward me. A ring-encrusted hand would reach out of the darkness(…)
The new khaki jeans I spied at an Army-Navy-type place on 7th Avenue (unbeknownst to me) buttoned below (not at or above) the waist; otherwise they fit like a dream. I grabbed s pair in my size, paid up, went home, slipped them on, felt great. As I am way overdue with refreshing my wardrobe one item at a time, with these jeans, I(…)
… Natalie Wood, wearing a belted raincoat with upturned collar, was standing in the elevator when the door opened. But because my neighbor had not finished talking, I could not get on and the door slid shut, taking Natalie Wood downstairs to the wet street Dear Aleksy Nowak, Thanks for your efforts. Miep’s birthday(…)
20 JULI 1938 … I have been slimming non-stop and his face fell when I removed my clothes. He complained, When I first met you, you were nice and chubby and now you’re thin as a rail. This is my reward now that my thighs no longer stick together in the heat, and pop when I(…)
Window? Please. *I cozy into the window seat, close my eyes. Finally, I’ve gotten away from constant (corrosive) talk of politics for a few days. I’ve taken Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited. Tomorrow morning, in Chicago, I’ll walk over to the Art Institute, have a look, have lunch, then catch the Southwest Chief for Los Angeles. I’m counting(…)
… They arrived in Prague, Czechoslovakia, by train. The consulate was an old, rococo building on the Moldau River. the interior was luxuriously furnished and had a grand crystal chandelier. Several rooms were lined with Japanese silk, one contained silver decorations, two others contained gold decorations. As soon as he was settled, Sugihara was ordered to(…)
Only one of the many tomato plants growing all summer in my little garden-patch has ripened – the rest remain green. Granted the unripened are beautiful, photogenic shades of lime-green, grape-green, Moldovan-green, but green is not red is not ripe. Whose failure is it: Mother Nature? The sun or lack of? Could it be that a my tomato plants were strangled by morning(…)
