So you know my last post, about latchkey kids ? I made the mistake of posting it to the Gen X subreddit, with a link back to the blog, without getting permission to do so. I shouldn't have done that, but apparently this is an offense so egregious as to permanently ban me from the subreddit! I was stunned. I replied to the MOD, and they get to hide behind anonymity mind you, that I didn't realize I was in violation of the rules? I tried to…
By today's standards, childcare in the 70s and 80s would have gotten our parents arrested. I watch a lot of "body cam" police videos on YouTube (shut up it's fascinating) and I've seen a fair number of parents put in handcuffs for child abandonment. This one woman went to visit another apartment in the same apartment complex while her 13 year old was in charge of the 9 year old. They were both asleep. Ummmm...yeah. Should I…
So get this. Last night I wanted to look up the GoFundMe that got set up for Joe and me when we got hit with calamity in August 2023, so I Googled for it. Imagine my surprise when I found us on a site listing "Couples 'Dying Suddenly.'" What the fuck? I sent the link to Joe asking, "Are we ghosts?" He found it to be both shocking and hilarious, so he posted it on Facebook. He posted the link with: "But I'm not…
Well. The Olympics are on TV again. It's Day One. That means it's the 12th anniversary of my wholly unexpected, life-altering and remarkably inconvenient psychotic break . That fraught, violent week-long episode opened a chapter in my life that is still playing out in many ways. At the time I wrote in an essay called Behind Three Doors: "I went into the psych ward three times, under three different circumstances. The
first time I hav…
I just don't think I will ever be over what happened to Trayvon. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was crying for weeks when the court let Zimmerman off, citing "Stand Your Ground." Like...I'm thinking about it now, and I'm still incredulous. He was just 17. He wasn't doing anything. He had Skittles and iced tea. He was walking home. And a monster stalked him and killed him. And a Florida jury found Zimmerman not gu…
My brother Michael Lombardi (different fathers) is a handsome, talented actor. The first time I realized it for real, I'd made the trek from Boston to New York to see him in an off-Broadway production of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. From Wikipedia: Set in the Bronx, the story revolves around Danny and Roberta who strike
up a conversation in a bar.
"He is a brooding, self-loathing young man who resorts more to violence
than reason; sh…
Can't say I saw this one coming, guys. I found out the other day that my stepfather has a daughter. My stepfather has a daughter. It would appear that, apparently, I am the last to know that Louie fathered a daughter before he met my mom. And The Daughter's half-sister reached out to me over Facebook last night. It was in a post about Louie's old store, The Karmel Korn Shop. I posted: "Do you guys think you can post any memories …
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