THE JACK G OBSESSION

This house lived only in my memory, until recently....

I woke up on February 22nd obsessed with finding a photo of a house that once was on a main avenue in Valley Stream. It was torn down and a street was created on which million dollar homes were built. I have many pictures of stuff that once was in Valley Stream and torn down but never had taken a picture of that house.

I asked around and there was a great discussion on my VS North High 1964 page about the memories of that house but nobody had any pictures...

This one guy suggested I try to locate and contact the family of Jack G (who now was presumed to be quite elderly) and whose parents owned that house. So I found him on facebook and looked at his friend list.

I took a chance and yesterday called Rebecca G (on his facebook page) and we had a long talk and she said she would ask her brother for a picture. She is Jack's daughter.

Anyway... I knew Jack had recently died because I found his obituary (never noticed the exact date) but here's the eerie uncanny thing: he died on February 22nd, the exact day I became obsessed with finding a picture of the house and here is the picture above that his brother sent of the house which has been gone for decades.     

"There are more things in heaven and earth Horiatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." 

DAN WAKEFIELD RIP

This first appeared at marjorie-digest in 2009. 

Dan Wakefield, 1932-2024.

Dan Wakefield has written the novels, "Going All the Way," and "Starting Over." Both of those books were made into major motion pictures. Now, he writes books on spirituality. "How Do We Know When It's God?" is his spiritual memoir. 

Dan lives in Florida, so I sent him a list of questions for this interview and today he replied in an E-mail.

Q: Many baby boomers who grew up all over the country during the 50s are fascinated with that time period and have a general feeling of nostalgia for all things connected to those years. Do you think all children are sentimental about the years during which they grew up, or was there something special about the 50s?
A: I don't think all people are sentimental about their youth- especially those who grew up as Jews during WWII, as well as all children whose homes were bombed or (those who had) parents or family members killed in wartime- and probably many who grew up in our Depression of the '30s. The '50s was a time of peace, except for Korea and there were no new wars when Ike was president (1952-1960.)

Q: What year did you leave Boston? And please speak a little about your decision to move to Florida and about your present life there.
A: I left Boston in 1992, lived back in NYC until I went to Florida in 1994- for the reason I was offered a good position as Writer in Residence at Florida International University.

Q: You have said you believe in "putting aside the 'numbing' distractions of television and music." Do you watch any television or go to the movies... and are there any recent television shows or films you have seen that you enjoyed?
A: I go to movies and I think "Mad Men" is the best thing I've ever seen on TV and the only accurate description of the '50s on TV or film. I also watch "The Good Wife" and "Glee."

Q: Do you think there has been a general "dumbing down" of American culture in the past few decades?
A: Yes.

Q: Helen Weaver, in "The Awakener," suggests that today's Village may be just a facade and that the real Village may still be there underneath... just like it used to be. Do you think time creates a sort of pentimenti that drives imaginations to dream of time travel?
A: Helen Weaver said that in my book, "New York in the Fifties." "The Awakener" is a terrific book and a great remembrance of Kerouac and the era!

Q: If you believe in reincarnation, do you think it is possible to be reborn into the past?
A: I don't believe or disbelieve in reincarnation. I am open to anything, but I just don't know. I'd like to come back as Babe Ruth.

Thanks, Dan Wakefield!

Dan was a writer from Indianapolis, IN. 

Dan Wakefield has approved the use of the above photo at this blog.

THE MANHATTAN PLAZA AND PS 51 AND ME

There is an inherent sadness as I write about those years so long ago. But in some way, those days still live inside me as if they happened only a short time ago. 

What sticks with me is how that neighborhood, called Hell's Kitchen, changed so rapidly during the time I was there. I remember looking out of my classroom on the back of the top floor of the school and watching The Manhattan Plaza being built. You can see it in the distance in the photo above. It is residence for those who are connected to the arts... and it is where Larry David once lived. 

And it is where Timothée Chalamet grew up.

PS 51 still lives inside me. It is where Nell, Bernie, and Sue were my colleagues. They are all gone.

The Market Diner was where we had lunch every day. The old PS 51 has since been changed to a condo called The Ink Well and The Market Diner was demolished for a fancy condo...

 

CENTRAL PARK, A NYC TREASURE

 

A LEVI AND A BENJAMIN

I am a direct descendant of the 12 tribes of Israel: my great grandfather was Abraham Levine and my great grandmother was Goldie Benjamin.

ESSEN

 

DON'T SLIP ON THE BANANA PEEL

 

THE WALL AND OTHER PARTS OF BROOKLYN

 I stood with my mother at this wall as the sirens blared and we had to wait for the "all clear" signal.

And this was why:

It all happened in Brooklyn... and the memories keep flooding back.

This was at one time my father's factory:

This is where I waited with my father for some nefarious men to show up with some dubious intent:

This is where my mother and Toni went for a coffee run:

This was my grandmother's house and the house in which my mother grew up:

That house on the left once belonged to Dr. Feldman. It has been torn down. 

This is where we dropped off my grandmother one day so she could vote and then go to a psychic for a "reading."

THE LONELINESS AND DESPAIR OF FOUR HOT SUMMERS ON MARTHA'S VINEYARD

"Every time I turn around, I am always here." -- Gail C., during the summer of 1960

And so it was for me, during the summers of 1959, 1960, 1961, and 1962. I was sent off to a summer camp on Martha's Vineyard that was owned and managed by the dance instructor of The Chapin School in NYC. Her name was Kathleen Hinni and she was well admired and a force to be reckoned with. She was formidable. 

Margaret Bourke-White spent a few summers with us in her own cabin by the cliff. But KT, as we called her, had a dark side and she managed the camp in strict ways and the result was that many of the girls there longed to go home. Some took drastic measures to find alternate ways to get out. I have never known a time when I was surrounded by so many others and felt such loneliness. 

I can still feel the hot air as I stood by the long staircase that led down to the water. I can still hear that sound of nothing as the breeze passed and made me feel so hopeless. I looked up to the blue sky and saw a plane high above and that sight created in me a desperation and a longing to go home. 

My parents visited one summer and I have a picture of me with my mother at the Martha's Vineyard airport that was taken so long ago. It is displayed above.

I wrote this poem in 2009 and it appears in my book. The photo above does not. 

I BASK, I EAT, I REST, AND I SCHMOOZE