You are currently viewing the stories for January, 2022

Shoveling Snow

by 01/30/2022
Neighborhood: Upper West Side

Out early yesterday morning after the big snowfall. The streets are being cleared. God, it’s been years since I did any of that. Now I have no car to dig out, no store to clear the street for; nothing special to worry about (save for not slipping on the ice and cracking my old bones).  […]

Selected Observations on Urban Fauna

by 01/23/2022
Neighborhood: All Over

Illustrations by Aurélie Bernard Wortsman  __________________________ A contemporary take on the medieval bestiary, featuring the actual and apocryphal creatures that share our constricted urban space. The following is the first installment in a series of observations on urban fauna, text and image gleaned from the lifelong perambulations on asphalt and cement by two native New […]

A Trio in Search of a Blech

by 01/16/2022
Neighborhood: Lower East Side

As my plane landed at JFK, the third day of Hanukkah gave way to the night before Christmas. Wise men and Maccabees, manger and menorah, holy night and holy light all merged on the taxi ride to Brooklyn for a winter holiday vacation visit with my sister Rivka. Fortunately, there was room at the inn; […]

Shop Around

by 01/09/2022
Neighborhood: Gramercy Park

My mama told me, “You better shop around, (Shop, shop)Oh yeah, you better shop around” (Shop, shop around)— Smokey Robinson & Berry Gordy, Jr. The store on East 23rd was my favorite Salvation Army Thrift Store, although there were several I visited often.  Most Saturdays I spent the whole day walking the streets of the […]