The air is crisp and chill, the pumpkins have been harvested, and the corn stalks are drying out in the golden, auburn fields under a soft gray mist. It’s autumn, my favorite time of year, and November is nearly over. That can mean only one thing: There’s a frenzy of activity in the frozen turkey […]
In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day, honoring veterans of World War I. On June 1, 1954, Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day to honor the men and women who served in all wars to protect our freedom. I was two months old, and my dad was one of those veterans. […]
It’s that time of year when frightening creatures appear around the house and ghastly moans and groans emanate from every room. For most people, it’s all part of preparing for Halloween. For me, it’s my London-born husband complaining as I bedeck the house with spooky decor. “Why do you do that?” he queried while I […]
My British husband was born into a Jewish family in Hackney, on the east side of London. I was born in Spokane, Wash., to a predominantly Italian-American Catholic family. Raising our grandchild, Mini-Brit, in the Jewish faith has provided quite an education for me! You see, I am not just any Catholic. I am an […]
It’s August, and in the Waterman house that means back-to-school preparations and the start of football season, by which I mean soccer. My British husband scoffs at the word, reminding me that American football is a poor copy of the English sport of rugby. I watched a rugby game once. The players wear no padding, […]
My husband, the Brit, spent the first half of his life in London, where they drive on the wrong side of the road. But try and tell them that! Once he moved to America, he had to retrain his drive train and, for 40 years, worked as a sales representative for confectionary and cigar companies […]
I love nature as much as the next person. That is, if the next person is my mother. Her least favorite form of recreation is camping. Roughing it means only one thing to her: a motel with a black-and-white TV and no cable. She must have running water and indoor plumbing. I inherited this particular […]
When I was a kid, I loved to jump rope. Double Dutch was one of my favorite games. All the girls would gather at recess, two of us turning two ropes in a configuration that resembled a giant egg-beater. One or two at a time we’d jump in, chant a rhyme, and jump out without […]
This month I celebrate mothers, especially my own, in honor of Mothers’ Day (this Sunday, just in case it slipped your ungrateful mind). My mother and I have a solid, communicative, and loving relationship because my mother has always accepted me for who and what I am—a punishment from God. I admit, I was not […]
Welcome to my column! You may have read some of my past stories in the commentary section of this paper, and many of you sent favorable comments to my editor and fearless leader, and for that I thank you profusely. I have been given a monthly column and byline with my mug at the top. […]
THE FOUR QUESTIONS by Lynne Sharon Schwartz illustrated by Ori Sherman recommended for kindergartners to adults “On a certain night each year when the dark of winter is passing and the world is warming up for the green of spring, Jews in all lands gather to celebrate a joyful holiday: Passover, or Pesach.” So begins […]
“Mama, is it time to go?” asks 7-year-old Emi, as she wipes away the tears and prepares to leave her home in this haunting story by Yoshiko Uchida. Emi and her family are Japanese-Americans in California in 1942, when the United States and Japan were at war and the U.S. government sent every Japanese person […]
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