Category Archives: Personal
Patience
It was the summer of 1963. I was 15 years old, a Boy Scout, just in from a week on the trail at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. We had a day to kill in Tent City, the base camp, before the bus took us back to Buffalo, N.Y. I was drinking a […]
Accidental Self Destruction
War is a dangerous pastime, and the enemy is not the only hazard. This was brought home to me recently when I was researching four young men from my village who died in the war in Vietnam. One was just 19 years old, and the news reports said he was killed in action while on […]
The Origin of Dirk Wagstaff
As a writer I’ve only used two pseudonyms: “Evan Nescent” back in the ‘70s and more recently, “Dirk Wagstaff,” which came into being after the collision of two movie memories. Fans of the Marx Brothers will recall that Professor Wagstaff was Groucho’s character in Horse Feathers. Groucho had many wonderful names: Wolf J. Flywheel in […]
My Aunt Mary Meets Big Bertha
Big Bertha I didn’t know my Aunt Mary. She was my grandfather’s sister, and he never said a word about her. But I do know that in May of 1916 she helped out at a 10-day bazaar raising money for the widows and orphans of German soldiers who had fallen in battle in the Great […]
The Bears’ Den
One of my favorite parts of the Pittsburgh Zoo is a shadowy doorway between the bear pits, with an inscription showing the dates for their start and completion, 1936-1937, and crediting the Works Progress Administration. I’ve read that this exhibit was the first effort at the zoo to do more than cage the animals, to […]
Passing the Torch
In 1968, my fraternity brother, Bud Shulman, and I, felt it was time to teach our younger brothers how to tap a keg of beer. The lesson, almost a sacred ceremony, took place in the kitchen of the Delt house at 115 College Place on the Syracuse University campus, a dry campus, but what of […]
Why Grandma Hated Catholics
I grew up in a family that taught its children to distrust and dislike Roman Catholics. My father’s father believed that if John F. Kennedy became President, the Pope-o-Rome (one word) would relocate to Washington D.C., and rule the nation. I believed his attitude came from his rural Baptist background, a distrust of The Other, […]
Park Winship Writes
“Dear Cousin Mae, Just a few lines to let you know that I am still living now. How are you all feeling now? I trust this will find you all well now. Park Winship, Ellicottville, N.Y.” Posted to Mrs. Mae Cummings of Ripley, N.Y., in Ellicottville on August 12, 1918, at 10 a.m. * * […]
Holiday Memories
My family’s holiday was the same every year. On December 23 or 24th, we would drive from our home in Kenmore, N.Y., to spend Christmas Eve at my father’s parents’ house in Salamanca. This was in the early 1950s, and there were no superhighways; from Kenmore we drove into downtown Buffalo, where we picked up […]
Zeno and the White Light
July 28, 2004 While Chris Zenowich and I were working together, the agency hired another writer. He was an older gentleman and he had flair. He drove a white Bentley with vanity plates that read “WRITER.” He claimed relation with a famous actor and producer. He smiled warmly as he gave us advice, leaning back […]
