Memoir

I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland back when downtown department stores were what malls are today. Cleveland had three major stores, May Company, Higbees, and Halles. My mother, I think, preferred May Company and Higbees, but when her sister worked at Halles, I know she spent a fair share of time there. If … Read more

Growing up, there were a couple of years during which I didn’t have close friends in my neighborhood. It started when Wayne B. moved away just before Kindergarten, and there weren’t any boys my age. There were plenty of kids–a couple of girls my age, a few younger kids, and then a ton of kids … Read more

But it’s the anger and frustration that ripples through the holiday crowds that truly unites us as a people.

I bought a Ford Fiesta around 1984 in order to commute from Ann Arbor to Detroit for a job while I was in college. If you’re not familiar, the Ford Fiesta was nothing like the new one; it was better than a Yugo, but not much bigger. It’s amenities were few, it’s functionality was minimal, … Read more

I may have become a little bit of a bore and a twit. I know my teenage children would agree, but I often catch myself explaining obscure references in conversations, and taking the discussion off track in tangents. It’s bad enough to make an obscure reference, but then to explain it in detail, and go … Read more