Keeping My Foreign Tongue in Cheek
“What’s with all this telephone nonsense of “‘Press 1 for English, press 2 for Spanish’? You live in America. Speak American, you damn illegals, or
The Freshwoman
If someone had told me back in 1977 that young men barely past their Clearasil years would be saying “What’s your major” to me at age 40, I‘d have said “No way!” Well…”way!” It was all part of my experience as a student at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where I took some non-credit courses in the summer of 2000. Here’s what I wrote at the end of my first day of classes.
Phyllis Diller Shares the Spotlight with My Dad, Freddie Baby
“What I don’t like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day.” That’s just one of the many funny lines made famous by trailblazing comedian Phyllis Diller, who would have turned 98 today. Did this keen observation of corporate life qualify the flamboyant Phyllis to perform for managers in training? It’s debatable. But every year on her birthday I recall the time in 1969 when Westinghouse Electric Corporation sent a group of newly promoted supervisors, including my father, to watch her nightclub act.
The Gift of Anne Frank: Writing Till the Stoney End
Anne Frank, the Jewish teen diarist who documented her experiences hiding from the Nazis during World War II, would have turned 86 today. Her work inspired me to purchase my first diary. We were soul mates; both of us dark-haired and dark-eyed, yearning to be free, wrapped up in our writing as a form of escape and self-therapy. Like Anne, I will continue to write till my stoney end.
Walking the Haunted Chambers with my Guide, Emily D.
If Halloween is about taking a little trip to the dark, spooky, loony side of life, then every day is Halloween for me. Always has
Of Daddios and Raddios
Some of my fondest memories are of the times spent carpooling to work with my dad in the early 80s, gauging his reaction to the hits of the day and the humor of the morning DJs. “Those dirty bastards,” he’d chortle at the double-entendres of the radio hosts. Here’s a little ditty about Daddy for his birthday.