You are currently viewing the stories for November, 2009

Ditmas Park

by 11/26/2009
Neighborhood: Brooklyn

It is hard to live near houses. Big, broad Victorians, houses I dream of, with rooms and dark staircases, and sky painted porch ceilings. Houses with trees that shade unattainable octagonal-walled bedrooms, with people who I never see, walking up and down the stairs. It seems not right to live near houses, houses with yards, […]

Better Signs in Sunnyside

by 11/26/2009
Neighborhood: Queens

Happy Thanksgiving: One of Nelton Small’s hand-painted signs at Home Depot. (Photo: Sabine Heinlein) In September 2008 my husband and I bought an old house in Sunnyside, Queens. Due to unpredictable but steady cracks, leaks and drafts, we spent much of our first year at our local Home Depot. While some cunning pigeons who had […]

Everyone’s Glass Onion

by 11/26/2009
Neighborhood: Astoria, Queens

There is something unsettling about having a therapy session at the home of your therapist. It is on par with a Halloween night of childhood trick or treating and having to step through the threshold of a nameless neighbor’s doorway for handful of candy corn or tootsie rolls. Your seven-year-old nose inhales a waft of […]