First-person writing

Wednesday night, January 16, 1980, about 11 p.m. The phone rings… "It’s for you — the Boston Globe.” “Hello?” “Mr. Levington? This is Eileen McNamara from the Globe. Do you have any comments … [Read more...] about Three Sixteen-Year-Old Boys

During the school year 1984-1985, I took a leave of absence from my teaching job in Boston and was hired by the U.S. State Department to teach at the Leningrad Branch of the Anglo-American School of … [Read more...] about Marching in a Soviet Parade

When Papa Phelps, our school principal, announced that the bubonic plague had reached our hill-top town, I was twelve years old and the year was 1939. We boarding-school kids knew nothing about the … [Read more...] about My First Pandemic

(Author's note: I wrote this story at the invitation of the leader of an interfaith group I was attending with Ben, who would later become my husband. It first appeared on the website … [Read more...] about My First Seder

So much time has passed — too many years to count. My sister and I sat in the waiting room outside the Intensive Care Unit where my mother sat with our dying father. The room was as sterile as a … [Read more...] about You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs

Bob has been wanting to get my ancient Snark sailboat out of the garage. He looked around and found a person in Waltham, Jim@sailboatstogo, that had a website for Snarks. He was going to gather the … [Read more...] about Selling the Snark

My car was due for a checkup at T&F World of Service in Lincoln at 8 a.m. this particular Wednesday, the day of Hilda’s leaving. Frank of T&F is one of my favorite people. He cares about the … [Read more...] about Did It Bloom Yet?

I used to be able to paint outside, back when I knew less. I would just sit down and slap paint on dry paper. And I was younger then. I could sit for hours on the ground and then, more importantly, … [Read more...] about The Joys and Sorrows of Plein Air Painting