the red badge of courage...

veteran's day 2015...a time to pause and reflect...from the birth of this day following the great war, WWI, to the mideast battles we cannot seem to leave...and all those in between..to the new veterans continuously joining the ranks of all who came before...how strange the turn of events must be for a veteran...forced to reconcile the past and present...the greatest generation that fought and died on many continents in WWII...without benefit of last rites or kaddish...this generation passing before our eyes in obituary columns from portland to seattle...what must it feel like to remember the skeletal people they rescued at liberation...to seeing the berlin wall go up...come down...and watch as angela merkel leads germany, now our ally...or vietnam veterans...reading brochures for cruises on the mekong...a river that flowed hot and red with blood of lost friends...the wound of all our veterans is memory...it is open...constant...and relentless...veteran's day...skip the run to macy's...there will be another one-day-sale in three minutes...take a minute to appreciate the real cost of war...and pray for sweet dreams for those who came back...

do not go gentle into that good night...

november 1st...new york...you'd be sitting on easy street if you'd invested in nike, neutrogena and advil...the marathon, halloween make-up removal and the headache you've had since the mets started their final leg of the world series journey...it ain't easy being a mets fan...living in the shadow of the presumptive champs across the bridge...waiting during painful years when october meant crying over the giants or jets...or just raking leaves and counting days till february's spring training...i am watching this young team and thinking back to 1969 and classmates being sent to the principal's office for sneaking transistor radios into class...to 1986 when the "R" went to queensboro plaza...and the doors would open...and we would scream to riders waiting on the platform..."what's the score?"...to the 2000 subway series...when the whole world was new york...before all our innocence was shattered in 2001...and now 2015...two teams so hungry...and we arm ourselves with poetic clichés and deep rooted chants...i think back to a lee mazzilli poster in the 70's...the joke that if i'd met ron darling in the 80's...i might be sherri darling now...or the piazza jersey i wore faithfully at the games in the '90s and early 2000's...and now...this baby pitching staff...some younger than lauren...with the enormous weight of years of mounting hope on their shoulders...and i am hoping too...i am hoping for safe and spiritually filling runs for all those marathoners as they cross that verrazano bridge (and they will cross that bridge faster than any poor car come tomorrow morning)...i am hoping that parents of younger children are not od'ing on all the candy you stole while such children went to sleep last night...and mostly i am hoping that our 2015 mets find some extra gas in the tank tonight and continue on to kansas city this week...but remind fans that no matter what the ending to this fairy tale season...that we embrace our team...keep our jerseys poised and ready...we're mets fans...you gotta believe..

the ties that bind...

the monday after a family wedding weekend...feeling comes back to your feet...the hairdo is falling...and life resumes...saturday, i was fortunate to share in the celebration as mike's cousin, matthew, exchanged vows with our new beautiful cousin, marlye...now, let's see..math...i met mike's family in 1987...and matthew was...four!...there's a grey hair...waiting for the ceremony i looked behind me at my daughter, and nieces and nephew...smiling and radiant...adulthood snatching them so quickly...now they are only babies in worn photographs....that afternoon i had pulled out my wedding album...waxing nostalgic, if you will...there i was...the hair, the makeup...the staten island hairdresser who promised me subtle but looking so much more tess mcgill than tess of the d'urbervilles...and you all know the feeling as years go by...the ache for all faces smiling in pictures...faces no longer here...and so as i looked around that night at the party at all the new faces...i smiled...and then shared a drink or two with dear sisters-in-law, and cousins...and even a niece!...and laughed during selfies...watched the torch pass...and hope to be passing it in those tight heels for many years to come...

the big chill....

joaquin...hurricane joaquin...almost behind us...had to load up on the entenmann's...in case of a power outage...the box is looking at me...oh, what the hell...my ass is gonna look big in that dress next week anyway...but back to joaquin...you gotta love it...a name no one can freakin' spell...hit or miss...kind of like a certain actor's career...but I digress...there it was...christie in his fleece...de blasio's 2015 tour interrupted....oh, and not to be outdone...fighting for lead story...massacre in oregon...putin shitting on syria...and me?...i had to pull out the long sleeves...slippers...pack the sandals away...sigh at fading tan lines...heat up soup for the first chill...and wonder...when did it really happen for me...or for you...when did the weight of this world leave me so cold...why does each tragedy elicit less of a response...this the new norm...and a dive into bad tv...or good...the latest novel...or obscure paperback on a sale rack...that pinot waiting for a special occasion...nothing really settles the unease...nothing really warms my core...i just find myself more cynical...more jaded...i pause to watch an ad for a local district attorney race...and one candidate claims the advantage...she is not a "politician"...i can't stop laughing...honey, the minute your name was entered you joined the circus...yeah, you all know the lyric...send in the clowns...don't bother they're here..

everybody's talking at me...

and i don't hear a word they're saying...here it is...i was driving today and in front of me was this suv...it had the decals on the back...representing the family...you know...cute little boys...girls...kitties...doggies...but after i lost count of the kids and pet decals i thought...where is this suv going?...cause when it parks i'm thinking of leaving a pack of trojans on the hood...oh, yeah, half of you are cracking up and the other half are yelling at your phones...and there it is in a nutshell... the conundrum of political correctness...and now in the political quagmire that presidential elections stir...i am wondering...which came first the chicken or the egg...the prejudice masquerading as political incorrectness...or the assertion that no one is ever wrong, we all receive a free pass...the guilty, and innocent...all to atone for past sins of political incorrectness...and this leaves me baffled...if everyone would just hit the damned pause button, and look in the mirror...if everyone did a little soul searching...would there really be anyone left waiting at those pearly gates?...l'shanah tovah to all...peace in your soul this new year...

think about the sun, pippin...

it is labor day weekend...in the blink of an eye, summer winds down...oh, i know she is not gone yet...she will roast us a few more times...probably around the jewish holidays when my tan toes will squish and cry in heels...my skin prickle in exasperation under the weight of wool-blends...but now, it is squirrel time...time to soak it in down to your core...and store it away deep inside...really open your eyes to september sunsets...ignore that moon grinning at you all too early in the evening...don't admit to anyone how you looked more than once at the rich palette of autumn colors tempting you in stores everywhere...crimson, burnt orange, chestnut...or how you closed your eyes and thought of the pungent aroma of pumpkin spice...no, now is the time for a crisp chardonnay or iced beer late in the day...september, always the ultimate transitional month...even if there is no one in your home heading back to school...we all head back to reality...a time when we harvest our summer dreams...hold them tight to nourish us in the dark that comes after fall...when we dream about the beauty in one perfect flame...ah, yes, pippin think about the sun...

hot child in the city

the dog days of august...and it's hot...it's a 10 on the frizz alert...my natural waves will look like shit...but i will stop...i will not break my vow made earlier this summer...i will not complain...but schvitz in silence...this summertime sadness is for my city...even if i no longer am technically a resident...i did grow up as a young child in brooklyn...then onto staten island...almost manhattan - nyu student (albeit commuter)...years in queens before the move to the "island"...but to this day...for all things that feed my soul and creative core...i am a child of the city...and i bet all who read this would agree...any pangs of nostalgia for city days gone by...whatever your current age...they do not revolve around those times in the seventies...you know...dark, dank subways...garbage piled high...hey, wait a minute...now when i walk around i don't need a flashback...it's here...the city is overrun with homeless...i read a very good editorial about this that had homeless divided into three categories...one, those who are not homeless at all, but find humor in shaking down people for money and seeing what their daily haul will be...think this isn't true...take a good look outside penn, port authority...somehow, i'm not laughing...two, the mentally ill...there is not enough time in this blog to address, without raising my pressure to unsafe levels, how we treat mental illness in this country...and then, three, those who have fallen through the very large cracks...i don't want to be insulted any longer by mayor dumblasio or other statisticians...this is their city...and these are offices they ran for, wanted , and won...so this is their inheritance...responsibility...and so i challenge them all to just walk the city...and pay attention...sit alone in any fast food establishment and wait...someone will approach you...ask you for money...aggressively...those minimum wage employees won't help you...foot police...that's a memory...what's left is your conscience, street savvy and divine intervention...then i challenge them to walk in any subway station...in any borough...and breathe deep...especially in august heat...then hit the ground running...and think of the best minds your administrations can bring to the table...rome in the twenty-first century...and the lions are hungry