WriteRunRead Blog

Does it matter that you're way too busy or that a kindergartner wants (and is getting) an iPad for his birthday?  Not really.  Not when you consider other things, like working hard and getting out of your comfort zone and challenging yourself, truly working toward something at which you may or may not succeed. Today is the NYC Marathon.  The weather conditions are perfect for running 26.2 miles, if ever that could be the case.  This glorious day and the accomplishments of the runners inspire me.  In 2009, I ran a half-marathon.  Crossing that finish line was within my reach: I had trained and was prepared for the distance, despite the balmy weather that May morning.  I've put off any thoughts - that creep back in from time to time - of running the full distance, the full marathon. My son is playing on a Tier 1 ice hockey team for a second season and I'm always encouraging him to work hard and challenge himself out there.  The league is full o...

Reading this novel was a form of meditation for me.  With each passing page, the words delicately carried me to a quiet, somber place.  The beauty in the passages, the insights and the stories are lasting.  While there was much beauty, almost every sentence touched me in some meaningful way -- it was painful to read of the four main characters’ suffering and solitude.  But boy, could I relate to at least an aspect of each of their lives. Because of the meditative effect I experienced while reading GREAT HOUSE, I chose to pick up the book for short intervals of time, basking in its quiet rhythm unlike most dialogue-driven novels. I was often overwhelmed by this trance-like feeling and needed to reflect and absorb many of Krauss’ lovely passages. This is a book for people who value books and the craft of writing.  One of the main characters, Isabel, describes her feelings about not accumulating domestic items, such as a pot, a chair, a lamp for fear of being w...

A brief review of a terrific novel: Meet the Foxmans.  I can’t help thinking of the Flintstones’ tune, while humming, “Foxmans, Meet The Foxmans…”  Can you hear it? If you’ve read this book, you’ll understand why you have to meet them. There are bits and pieces of each of us - in each of them.  Tropper’s all-star dysfunctional cast is as honest and hilarious as they come.  And if you read this book, you’ll have spent a week together with this troupe, mourning the death of the patriarch as the family is “forced” to sit shiva for seven days. Judd Foxman is our lonely, recently cuckolded, sensitive narrator.  He delivers keen insights into maleness, from the teenage years straight into adulthood.  His fantasies about women he passes on the street are both heart-wrenchingly funny and achingly sad.  Just like everything else in this book. His brothers and one sister each have their own tales of woe and joy.  And Judd's unforgettable mother, the...

As my kids and I were driving somewhere, my cell phone was connected to the Blue Tooth device in the car.  The "hands free" technology allowed me to make a call, albeit on a speakerphone, that was audible throughout the car. I dialed (already an outdated verb in this instance) a telephone number through the Blue Tooth mechanism.  After placing the call, I reached a busy signal.  Funny, I thought to myself, I hardly reach a "busy" anymore.  When the droning busy signal was amplified throughout the car, my daughter in the back seat yelled, "What is that noise!?" "What do you mean, what noise?" I responded, thinking that something might have been wrong with the car. "That noise on your phone, what is that?" What!? Yes, that's right, my 11 year-old had never heard a busy signal in her life and had no idea what it could possibly be.  Wow.  I explained to her how things worked before "call-waiting" was invented.  It se...

I went to my local post office in Roslyn Village today to mail a magazine to my son while he is at sleep-away camp.  He's been gone for over five weeks so far.  Maybe I've mailed him three or four magazines, several letters, postcards and I've even sent some emails.  We've been in touch. So the man behind the counter recognized me today.  I sort of sighed when I handed him the envelope to affix the correct postage.  He glanced at the address on the package and then responded to that sigh by saying, "How many more weeks?  I guess you're tired of writing." I was so surprised by that comment.  I said, "Two more weeks, and no, actually I'm tired of him being away.  Seven weeks is a long time for a child to be away." He said, "Yeah, you're right.  It is." I know that the minute he is back, I will be back to whipping up snack (meals) at odd hours, driving him all over the place, doing his hockey laundry and coordinating his sc...

As I was swimming laps at my town pool, with goggles on, I looked underwater and saw other swimmers' legs and arms mid-stroke, dangling, moving, submerged.  This underwater image of extremities in motion evokes a mild dread, an eerie foreboding, a sense that something terrible is going to happen. I blame it all on the movie JAWS.  Every last fear, anxiety or minor apprehension about the water: ocean, lakes, you name it.  And as irrational as it is, the movie has even instilled a passing concern about swimming in chlorinated pools! I grew up swimming in my backyard canal, the bay, the ocean.  Endless salt water surrounded my home, my life.  The hours of a summer day were tracked by the ebb and flow of the tide. When I was 10, my dad, the fisherman, captain and boater, took me to see JAWS at a huge air-conditioned theatre in Massapequa, N.Y.  It was a hot summer night and I brought along a ziploc bag of semi-stale pretzels from home. For the entire mo...

Midnight in Paris was delightfully different and, to me, believable!  If you have seen the movie, you will understand that Owen Wilson's character, Gil, travels back in time, while "vacationing" in Paris with his fiance and future in-laws.  There are some clever moments and of course views of the beautiful, historic sites, but the real draw for me was the concept of time travel. We learn early on that Gil, a Hollywood screenplay writer, feels like a "sell-out."  He seems to regret living in today's society, rather than in the roaring 1920s, especially while walking through the streets of Paris, considering the writers and artists that flocked and flourished there, at that time.  His fiance is eagerly awaiting their future together in the hills of Malibu.  She is drastically portrayed as plastic and shallow. Gil is drawn so much to that time period and to those artists and poets who have contributed to our culture that, at midnight, while walking along a ...

One of my sisters said I should “blog” more often.  I take that as a compliment, even if she is related to me.  So I decided to write about the Honeysuckle. Yes.  The Honeysuckle.  They are in bloom right now and if you pay close enough attention, soon enough, your nose will lead you to one.  When I was a kid, the summers were full of quiet time.  We didn’t go away to camp and barely went to day camp.   We played outside with whoever was home too.  We visited the town pool, with its icy, unheated water and biked home afterward. Right around this time, when the line between spring and summer starts to blur, I remember feeling like such a lucky girl.  My best friend, and across-the-street neighbor, had tons of Honeysuckle bushes lined up along her tall, wooden fence.  We spent hours picking the flowers and tasting the nectar found within the yellow and white stems.  It was dreamy. Just the other day I was playing golf with my mo...

My review of "A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD" by Jennifer Egan “What is a “Goon Squad”? “I don’t know yet, maybe the book is about a bunch of weird people, with goon-like qualities.” “Nah, can’t be just that.  There must be some other reason for a unique title as that.” A little less than halfway through the book, an aging, has-been rocker seeking a comeback of sorts is urging his publicist to document and publicize his life.  He wants to expose every last humiliation, as he remarks, “Time’s a goon, right?  Isn’t that the expression?”  So it’s TIME, is it?  Time is a goon -- and not just one goon, but a squad of them.  I never heard that expression.  I wonder -- did Ms. Egan make it up?   I wouldn’t be surprised if she did.  Egan’s book is innovative: the chapters, dance back and forth through decades, characters, settings and plots, circling the reader, challenging us to keep track of events, people, situations.   She makes us thin...

" When you hear a clock ticking, what do you think about?" asked my daughter Maggie. I immediately responded, without thinking, "It feels like time is running out."  Then I paused.  "Why, what do you think about when you hear it?" "Everything is being wasted.  Second by second." I was inspired to share this thought so that you may share your thoughts...

Is anyone been paying attention to the lyrics of the songs our children are listening to?  I'm certain that I sound like my mother right now, but I cannot get over the title  ("S & M") and the accompanying lyrics that I hear my kids singing along to in the backseat.  Have you ever heard an 8 or 10 year-old sing this song in its entirety?  It's quite shocking.  The only saving grace is that - in all likelihood, they have no idea what they are singing about. I'm disturbed.  I know that throughout time, music lyrics have referenced sex and drugs and other things that may not be appropriate for people of all ages.  But I really do think the "artists" have taken this notion to an unprecedented extreme. Here is a quote from an article that appeared on the cover of the New York Times (By Jon  Pareles, 3/15/11)   last month: "Three of the Top 10 hits on last week’s pop music chart have choruses that can’t be played uncensored on the radio ...

A couple of years ago, I raised the topic of whether parents should be watching, monitoring, surveilling what their kids do online.  This includes their "AIM" (or any instant messenger chat) or "iChat" communications with friends, acquaintances and family members. The responses were varied and at that point I hadn't really digested all of the scenarios.  Now that my kids are getting older and technology is continuing to evolve more rapidly than I'd like, I'm wondering how parents feel about keeping an eye on their kids' chats. Part of me feels like it's an invasion of their privacy - their personal conversations are just that: personal.  One other part of me wants to ensure that they are safe and using good judgment and decorum while texting, chatting, emailing, etc.  While yet another part of me wants to be able to trust them and for them to know that I do. I know a large part of this equation concerns their age, maturity, sensibility and ...

One of the goals of my local library is to foster a lifelong love of learning.  While it's a lovely alliteration, it's also a worthy aspiration.  It's a concept that we should teach our children to embrace. Yesterday, while my 10 year-old daughter and I were together in the car, I taught her something new or advised her about something she didn't know about already.  Okay, so that sort of thing happens often, by virtue of her age and mine (!), and me being the parent and all.  At that moment I told her how much I love teaching her new things.  And she said, "Well, you're the mom, you should be teaching me things." And she was right.  But I quickly added, "You know, I've also learned so much from you -- you've taught me more than you'll ever know." She seemed to be very surprised by that sentiment.  But then she sort of nodded, giving it some more thought. You just never know what another person takes away from a conversation. ...

ROOM is Jack’s world.  It is an 11 x 11 square foot sound-proof room with no windows but a skylight that has been crafted to be completely escape-proof. Five year-old Jack lives in ROOM with Ma.  It’s the only world he’s ever known.  When their captor visits at night, Jack slips into the wardrobe.  Ma endures. To hear about this “life” in ROOM from Jack’s narration, you must pick up this book.  His voice, perception and story are haunting, and the effects, lasting. ROOM will change you – the way you see things: people, sunlight, grass, trees, groceries, even your own family. Here’s a special website, designed for ROOM: http://www.roomthebook.com/ Take a look at ROOM.  You’ll never forget it. And join us on March 24th to discuss ROOM with author Emma Donoghue at: http://www.gothamnetworking.com/goth/index.php/books/.

While listening to a "pop" station at the urging of my kids, we heard the beginning of an intimately familiar song: "Time of My Life."  I started singing, because like the rest of us (40-ish year-olds) we know all of the words. Here's the exchange that followed: Me: "Wow, I can't believe they are playing this song!"  (As I begin singing aloud, every word) Kids: "What!?  How do you know THIS song!?" Me: "What are you talking about, this is from my generation - it's from the movie "Dir..." Before I could finish the word, I heard something very strange happening.  The song started to morph into something incomprehensible, some other "Dirty" phrase emanated from the speakers and all sorts of weird techno stuff was going on.  And right away, I reconsidered. Me: "Wait, maybe I don't know this song after-all.  Maybe it was a figment of my imagination..." As it turned out, I didn't know i...

Are you the type of person who likes to have a few books lined up so that once you're finished with one, you can swiftly and easily pick up the next?  Or would those books in-waiting drive you crazy, impatiently sitting there wondering how long it will take you to finish what you're reading? I like having a few lined up.  I love knowing there's another great suggested book sitting quietly on my night table or on a nearby shelf ready to be devoured.  In fact, with today's technology, I am able to "read" three books at once! There's the real deal, the paper and ink kind that I keep next to my bed.  Then there's the e-book-book that I transport with me from place to place out of sheer convenience (lighter and more accessible when traveling around).  Then, the most intriguing to me of late - the audiobook! I mentioned this method of reading in an earlier blog, but feel that I must again tout the benefits: I can listen while walking the dog, turning a...

Do you have a "Blackberry voice?"  Do you know what it is?  Well, I know what it is and I've been told that I have one. In the car at a stop light my daughter in the backseat was telling me a story.  I was checking my email on my Blackberry.  She went on about something at school and I was "listening" while texting and pressing "send." She then said, "So, what do you think?"  I had no idea what she had just said.  I said, "I don't know." She said, "You weren't listening.  Your were on your Blackberry.  I can hear it.  You are speaking in your Blackberry voice!" "What's a 'Blackberry voice?'" I asked as innocently as possible.  "Oh, you know, when you pretend you're listening, you respond to me, but I can tell you are doing something else, like texting or reading a text or emailing..." "Oh." I sunk. That's just terrible, was all I could think.  I have a Blac...