How genealogy figures in to “Regina of Warsaw”
The phrase, “children’s orphanages” were not words that ever came up in my life and circles. When most of us think of orphanages, we think of Charles Dickens and Oliver Twist. His story gruesomely illustrates the cruelty of life for children, women, and the poor in Victorian London. He tells of the horrors of life in an unscrupulous orphanage owner like Mr. Bumble, or the likes of Bill Sykes.
read moreA Parent’s Sacrifice for Hope – To Save a Child’s Life
Ilse never saw her family again. For a short while she received some letters from them through the Red Cross. “He [her father] wrote into my diary saying he hoped his words would give me courage and comfort, knowing not when or where we would meet again. During the war, the Red Cross forwarded correspondence, until about 1941 or 1942. The letters stopped and I learned my mother and sister were shipped to Therezin and later Auschwitz and murdered by the Nazis.”
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In honor of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s passing San Francisco Literary Scene
“A place of escape, refuge, and salvation from the rest of America” “It’s the dream city at the edge of the continent, an exotic jumble of cultures, a fogbound oasis offering freedom and escape for people hoping to shed the past and begin anew.” San Francisco...
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What I’ve learned About Researching My Grandmother
Regina, my mother’s mother, was not very nice. I have no warm, fuzzy memories of her. In fact, she was just downright mean. Regina was 5’ 2“ with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. She was the second eldest daughter, one of eight siblings.
read moreWhy Multitasking Reduces Quality and Intelligence
For years, the term “multitasking” was the thing to do. Do more than one job at a time, and do them all very well. That’s what the experts told us and how we would get ahead. Experts define it this way: Performing two or more tasks simultaneously Switching back and...
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My Pandemic Brain
It all started with the onlaught of Zoom meetings. I called it the Zoom Apocalypse. Zoom meetings were busting out all over my inbox. It got to the point where I couldn’t keep them straight. I was worried I’d miss a meeting; not sure which one was in what group? What time? They began to run over each other.
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