Is there any food memory more visceral, more redolent of childhood, than that of eating a melting ice cream sandwich, with a gritty coating of sand, on a hot Jersey beach while sticky rivulets of vanilla ran down your arm? “Fudgy Wudgy Man!” We could hear his call before we could spot him on the … Continue reading THOSE WILDWOOD DAYS
I WAS A BLUEBERRY THIEF
AUNT JO AND UNCLE JOE “Don’t worry! I know the farmer. He doesn’t mind if we pick his blueberries.” Uncle Joe Siligato waved away my father’s concerns as Jimmy and I jumped into the back seat of the Oldsmobile. Unsafe and unsecured, we held on to the seat rim as Uncle Joe hit the gas … Continue reading I WAS A BLUEBERRY THIEF
CONFLAGRATION: THE TRAGEDY OF LAURA JAKUBOWSKI
By Deborah Large Fox LAURA During the last week of July 1940, the residents of Camden NJ sweltered in a heat wave with temperatures reaching nearly 100 degrees. The sun beat down on the alleys and brick row houses of the hard-working people, who got little relief from open windows and noisy fans. The employees … Continue reading CONFLAGRATION: THE TRAGEDY OF LAURA JAKUBOWSKI
Measles, Mumps, and Isolation Memories
While Boomers did not experience quarantines on this current worldwide scale, we endured the mini confinements of pre-vaccine times. Waves of measles, mumps, and chicken pox would spread through neighborhoods and keep us indoors. We had no online social networks, so any contact with friends was reduced to waving from behind doors or windows. My … Continue reading Measles, Mumps, and Isolation Memories
Uncle Bill’s Stetson Fedora
Uncle Bill and Aunt Katherine Landy visit us at 1127 N. 19th Street in Camden NJ on Christmas Eve, 1956 My job, when company arrived, was to take the guests’ hats and coats upstairs to my parents’ bed. All the men wore fedoras. All the women’s coats smelled of Chanel No. 5 or a popular … Continue reading Uncle Bill’s Stetson Fedora
COFFEE TIME WITH SISTER WILHELMINA
“Child, what are you drinking?” Usually, we could hear a nun approaching behind us. Those clacking rosaries and heavy footsteps gave children advance warning before the wrath of heaven descended upon their misdeeds. I must have been extra tired that day because I heard nothing, not even the rustling of the voluminous black habit Sister … Continue reading COFFEE TIME WITH SISTER WILHELMINA
We, Then and Now
We were gorgeous, then and now. We didn’t know it Didn’t see it Didn’t feel it. But We were gorgeous, then and now. We saw only flaws Saw the frizz hair And the spot face. But We were gorgeous, then and now. We were so splendid Youth shining through Hormones rising. Yes We were gorgeous, … Continue reading We, Then and Now
Philip Large. Detective, POW, and Newsboy
Philip Large “Are you a praying man?” Detective Phil Large said as he hoisted the suspect by the collar and belt, then hung him, head-first, out of the third story window. “If you are, you better start praying now.” According to the story told to me by a veteran detective in the Camden County Prosecutor’s … Continue reading Philip Large. Detective, POW, and Newsboy
THE HUMAN TOUCH
Dominican Sisters of the Shrine of the Perpetual RosaryHaddon Avenue, Camden NJ about 2007 The Human Touch A finger poked through the metal grate separating us. I reached out my hand and was immediately hooked into a finger embrace. “Me, too! Me, too! Me, too!” Fingers wiggled through the metal barrier that separated me from … Continue reading THE HUMAN TOUCH
A FEARLESS PARADE
Note: "Dziadzia" is a diminutive term that our family used for the Polish dziadek (grandfather). As children, we pronounced it "ja-ja." My grandfather could not fly, or leap over tall buildings with a single bound, but I would not be surprised if one day I heard a story told that he accomplished those feats and … Continue reading A FEARLESS PARADE
