On Friday, November 22, 1963, after lunch the St. Stephen of Hungary’s student body assembled in the auditorium for our once in a blue moon movie. That day our feature was “The Yearling.” A kid adopts a baby deer and his father played by Gregory Peck gives him the business. I was happy and not… Read more »
Only good part to getting older is how I pop up in the early morning like a Reverse Vampire. Makes it easy to get outside when the light’s right. This past Saturday, I rode my bicycle to Central Park and arrived at Bow Bridge on The Lake at 6:45. The colors in the park slowly… Read more »
As a boy in the early 1960s, I’d go up my grandparents’ second floor apartment on York Avenue several times a week. Their hallway was lit by one low watt exposed bulb. The dark hall frightened me. Sometimes my fear was compounded when I’d hear fuzzy radio sounds coming from the usually locked basement. I… Read more »
On my 12th birthday in March 1966, Dad gave me a basketball. This was an odd present for two reasons: (1) Dad gifts to me reflected his interests and he hated basketball. (2) I was terrible at basketball. Right after Christmas 1965, I made up my mind I was going to change that. I would learn to… Read more »
Got into a sparkling new cab this morning. The seats, dashboard and windows shined. Riding my finger along the metal detail on the passenger door, I thought, the only time Rory and I were ever this clean was for one lone hour at a photography studio on 3rd Avenue in spring 1960. I repel wool…. Read more »
On January 20th, I attended a funeral service at St. John’s Pentecostal Church at 132nd Street and Lenox Avenue. A brilliant cold morning. After the viewing, I walked Lenox south to Marcus Garvey/Mount Morris Park. Went to the top to visit the old fire watch, a sister to the fire watch in Central Park, “The… Read more »
In 1964 when I was 10 years old, I needed no Farmers Almanac to tell me the season or what temperature to expect. My year revolved around sports. Baseball pitchers and catchers were due to report to spring training around February 20th. I knew the baseball season would start around April 6th, the same time… Read more »
When I was a little boy, my Ryan grandfather and I sat on his long York Avenue stoop and read The New York Daily News together. If he was feeling good, Pop would spring for a dime and I would run up to the newsstand on 86th Street and buy two newspapers, one for each… Read more »
You’d think I have an ownership stake in the New York Giants based on the joy and affection I derive from and convey for the team. I love playing catch with a football, and miss playing tackle football every day but I have a more complex role as a devoted parishioner in the Church of Mara. I stunk… Read more »
The New York Times published my indoor tackle story “When The Fire Hydrant Was The End Zone.” In 1962, the New York football Giants played fourteen games each season. Seven games at home and seven games away. Away games were televised. Twenty one hours of heaven. The League blacked out home games to discourage a drop… Read more »
