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 →

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 →

First School Dance: Crossing the Generational Divide

Collingswood Junior High School NOTE: "Linda" is a composite of my friends. In 1954, the most common names for baby girls were Mary, Linda, and Deborah. As my father pulled the car, full of giggling seventh-grade girls, alongside the Collingswood Junior High School gym on that cool September evening in 1966, I could hear the … Continue reading First School Dance: Crossing the Generational Divide →

The Book and Other Gifts

The Grill6th and Penn Streets, Camden NJowned by Dorothy and Richard Large The Book and Other Gifts The small rectangular gift sat on the top of a pyramid of Christmas gifts on the top of the pool table in Aunt Helen’s basement. The table held about fifteen piles of gifts, all of the mounds higher than … Continue reading The Book and Other Gifts →

The Off-Season

When I was five years old, I was entrusted with a huge secret, one that no other child in the world could know: I knew what Santa Claus did in the off-season. That’s right, I knew Santa’s summer disguise. I could spot him on the street, in a store, or at the race track. I … Continue reading The Off-Season →