Williamsburg Day One

Time does not stand still. Williamsburg is no longer in a dry county and Jim Crow is dead and buried. So even in this historic set piece things have changed in the last fifty years.

Gloria at the Playground

My First Slide Conversions

Right after my mom died...that summer of my discontent II. The first summer of my discontent was the summer after my father died in 1967. Why did my parents have to die in the spring? Isn't spring supposed to be a time of renewal? I guess for me it was. I had to reinvent myself twice in those springs--first as fatherless and then as an orphan. Enough pathos. Although my father died too young for him and for me, I had wonderful years with my mother. Not every day or even every year. Some years were tough. But, you know, I really loved my parents. I thought they were the most elegant beautiful and interesting people on earth. I don't often admit it but they were more interesting to hang out with than my contemporaries which I suppose is why I was a lonely kid. While other kids, teenagers, were hanging out, going to movies, going to the Village to see the beatniks, I was at PJ Clarke's with my parents listening to them talk art, politics, and news. Oh yes, and my father, usually drank himself into a state where he was very funny and very drunk. Then the talk might turn to how my father wanted to get out from under his father's thumb. Well, he did. He committed suicide at 45. My mother said it was "for the best." Literally, she said that in the moments after the doctors pronounced that he was dead. Of course he was dead; he was lying unattended on the bedroom floor for like 12 hours. I had heard him scream in pain at 1 am but I didn't want to wake my mother up. She was sleeping in another room. She didn't go into the bedroom until 2pm when she found him. No one told me he was dead but I figured it out pretty quickly. No one said suicide, but when my mother died, I found the note among her things. That's one of the reasons that I've decided to keep nothing...I always suspected suicide and was glad to have confirmation, but really, it was hard to read. I was mad at mother and father, both of them, for not thinking about what I needed which was a mother and sober father.

Water over the dam. Which leads me back to the original purpose of this post, right after my mother died I decided to have some slides scanned for posterity. Most of them are of my China trip and the rest are just an assortment of stuff -- some duplications of subsequent scans. The first couple of hundred though are of my trip to China with my mother in 1985. That was a fabulous time.

Photo Class

In the 1980s I took a photo class with my friend and teacher, Susan Kleckner. I have destroyed most of the pictures I took from her roll-a-day class because they formed a diary that I didn't want anyone to read. I didn't even want to read it. I have come so far that it is no longer relevant to my life. True, I those diaries record the basis for what came after but as a record it was no longer of any use. I had to clean out my mother's papers and found things that I wish I never knew. I didn't want that for my heirs.

At any rate, here's what's left of the work from my photography classes. It's mostly innocuous stuff, but still, it records New York City from a time that I hope we never go back to...the crime riddled 1980s.

The 1980s

One of my worst traits is that I am lazy about dating my photographs. Therefore, I have this big agglomeration of pictures that I know date from the 1980s, but sadly, I can't tell you more.

Europe 1988

August 1988, my mother took Laurie and me to Venice and Paris. It was the best trip ever. I was with two of my best friends and the greatest women it has ever been my pleasure to know.

When Laurie was a baby

When my daughter was a newborn, I was always so tired. I know it's trite to say this, but having a daughter was the best thing that ever happened in my life. These are from her first three days home from the hospital.

Family Heirlooms

I have so many pictures. Ones I took. Ones I inherited. I look back and see the good times. And I look back and see the bad times as well. I wish I could change all to good times. Of course I can't. I guess I'm lucky to have the photos and the memories.





These are from the blizzard of February 1978:



And Laurie's day camp and sleep-away camps



The year Ben ran the marathon



The trip we made to Panama and to Contadora Island

Your Kids Grow Up Much Too Fast.

My mother always said I was growing up so fast. It didn't seem fast to me, but now that my daughter is grown, I realize that my mother was right. Wasn't she always?

Montreal

My mother took Laurie and me to Montreal to see the Miro show. It was a good trip, but me in a skirt...oy. Anyway we did have fun although I wondered at the time...doesn't Miro ever come to New York.

Around New York 1986

I loved to tour my own city. I still do. These are photos from that time in 1986 I would just go around trying to get good shots. Then I put these pictures away and never shared them or looked at them again. Times up. I'm looking and sharing now.

Mt. Holyoke College

I am Mt. Holyoke Class of 1971. When I graduated, I wasn't ready to go out in the world. I think that's why I kept coming back.

Night in Manhattan

I don't actually remember taking these pictures, but I often took Staten Island Ferry rides back in the 1980s. These pictures though seem to be from a cruise on the Circle Line or some other similar boat ride around the lower harbor of Manhattan. Lots of photos of the World Trade Center.

Operation Sail 1976

We had a sailboat at the time of the Bicentennial, and we kept it on Long Island Sound off Steppingstone park. On the day of OPSAIL 1976 we went out on the boat. Ben took super 8 movies and I took slides. It was awe-inspiring.

Summers at the Peninsula Pool Club

One of the joys of the Great Neck summers was the pool club we belonged to.

Puerto Rico Trip

The night before we left on this trip, I dreamt a plane crashed in the ocean. While we were at the El San Juan Hotel, a plane did crash in the water. These are pictures of that trip including the crash.

My Friend Robert Glass

Actually, Robby was the son of a friend. He used to come visit me in Great Neck. We would tour and visit clubs and talk photography. He made me feel like a kid again instead of an "old" married lady. He died too young.

Shopping

I often went shopping with my friend Ellie. And when I was taking a photo class, I took pictures of these events.

St. Maarten 1977

When I was pregnant, my mother rented a house in St. Maarten. There aren't too many pictures of me because I didn't like the way I looked when I was pregnant. The clothes then were hideous

Statue of Liberty Centennial

This was a great weekend. We took a boat trip and saw the big ship's parade from a friends penthouse balcony on Riverside Drive

US Open Tennis

I used to buy a scalped ticket to the US Open for opening day. I got some great pictures

Windjammer Cruises

Was I ever this young that I found this camping/fratboy/cruise experience fun?

China Trip The Lost Pictures 1985

Those Crazy 1970s