Category: Essay

Rocket Man, Rocket Woman

August 10th, 2018

My journey inside a nuclear bunker

The missileers gave us a test printout from their old thermal printer, which is still in use. Note the face circled in the code at the bottom.

The alarm beep, beep, beeps and we jump behind the curtain shielding us from sensitive, Top Secret information coming in over the Comm system.

30 seconds later, the curtain slides back open and the missileers — one man and one woman — continue explaining their roles in this bunker, this completely secured capsule dozens of feet beneath the … where, I can’t tell you.

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New York City: Then and Now

July 27th, 2018


A down-through-the-ages look at the city through my daughter’s, mother’s and other’s eyes.

It’s a far cry from THEN to NOW in New York City apartments.
Photo at left of tenement life by Jacob Riis. Photo at right of my daughter and roommate by me.

I think it was somewhere during my sixth or seventh trip up or down my daughter’s  East Harlem apartment stairs that I realized just how lucky we are, how good we have it. Living on the fifth floor of an old building with terrible heat and no air conditioning, my daughter attended grad school at Columbia for two years. Read More…

Words & Pictures: Teaching Writing and Photography

May 19th, 2018

Doing my most favorite things

My two classes in one month, writing and photography. ABOVE: I snap a panoramic while the class writes. BELOW: The photo class poses for their own panoramic.

The email came it at 4:06 pm Wednesday, “Call me as soon as you can. Need to discuss something with you.

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