Aunt Ruth used to chide me when I complained about being exhausted after chasing my young children around. “In my day,” she said, “we’d put the kids to bed—and then figure out how to save the world!” Saving the World Saving the world meant throwing herself into the fray: she’d hoist a sign, march and… Continue Reading
Simple Pleasures
Today is the first day of the spring season. Although the spring equinox isn’t until March 20, today may as well be considered the first day of spring. Where I live, the trees are vibrant with pink and white blossoms. Bunches of yellow daffodils have sprouted up everywhere in my neighborhood, clustered together along the… Continue Reading
Nu? So it’s Christmas
Just like those old chestnuts roasting on an open fire, it’s that time of year again. A holiday favorite–of mine, anyway. Christmas morning on Humphrey Avenue in Richmond, California, the 1950s: the quiet before the wrapping paper storm. As if on cue, all the other kids on the block would come running out of their… Continue Reading
The Calm After the Storm
We’re in the middle of a drought here in California. So when the weather forecasters predict a big storm, we have to acknowledge that “we need the rain,” and can’t justify even a little whining about it. Even so, when heavy rain pelted the roof this morning, I thought about staying in, drinking some nice… Continue Reading
Random Acts of Kindness for Caregivers
Thank a Caregiver November is National Family Caregivers Month. It is also, coincidentally, the month when families and friends gather together and give thanks for whatever it is they feel thankful for. When you combine these observations in the same month, November becomes a great time to thank those special people who may not be… Continue Reading
October: It’s almost over
Don’t let the door hit your butt on the way out, October. Ever since 1989 and the Loma Prieta earthquake, followed two years later by the Oakland Hills firestorm, I have not been a fan of October. Those two major disasters in two years leave me feeling uneasy the moment I flip the calendar from… Continue Reading
A tribute to my sister
C.J. Hirschfield–friend, columnist, and Executive Director of Oakland’s beloved Children’s Fairyland–wrote this beautiful tribute to my sister Susie. Delighted to be sharing it with friends, family, and the community. A Tribute to Susie In this picture, she’s cutting the cake at my 25th anniversary party. It’s not the first time she’d stepped up… Continue Reading
Susie Moments
We held a celebration of my sister’s life a couple of weeks ago. Several of us spoke–family and friends–and this is what I read. So many of you have expressed your shock and grief over Susie’s passing, and have talked about the ways to keep her memory alive. I have a few suggestions. If you… Continue Reading
So Hard to Forget: Lessons from the Piano
This is poor, poor, pitiful me: stuck sitting at the piano and failing to get my fingers on the right keys. I know I mastered “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” because I found the book of children’s easy pieces in the piano bench, where it has been since the 1960s. I know this lesson took place… Continue Reading
Remembrance of Pickles Past
The first time I bit into the pickles at Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen San Francisco, I was immediately transported back to the grand Victorian house where my grandparents lived. 1825 Turk Street in San Francisco. That’s where my memory took me with that first bite: my grandparents’ tiny apartment kitchen. I’m not sure where their… Continue Reading