“There is a heart in Philadelphia!” my exasperated boss yelled into the phone, “get here in 30 and you can go.” I tumbled out of bed at 11:30pm and was at Columbia –Presbyterian by 11:58. The drive from New Jersey to New York City was exceedingly faster than my morning commute, accentuating the peculiarly exhilarating theme of the evening...
I remember where I got every one of my books. My eyes skim over them, alphabetically arranged in their black bookshelves. Imperial Woman– Powell’s Books. Ubik –Half-Price Books (Houston). House of Leaves – A gift from a retiring teacher. Foucault’s Pendulum – Bookpeople. Freedom – Barnes and Noble (Sugarland). Ulysses– The Strand. Ariel – Barnes and Noble (Baltimore) . Infinite Jest – Amazon. Mrs. Dalloway – A closing Borders (Poughkeepsie)...
As I read my adjectives describing a bubbling soda can, I found my own voice begin to fizzle and pop and noticed the stunned silence of my fellow freshmen. To most of the class, the writing assignment was a chance to ramble about a baseball game or TV show, but I used it to flex my descriptive narrative...
Scans showed my grandmother’s cancer like painted stars across her cells, lightly sprinkled. Seeing that was enough of a spark to get me to work 3 summers in a laboratory. I was willing to complete admittedly monotonous tasks, comprised of pipetting, centrifuging, vortexing, copying and purifying DNA, plating cells, and measuring solution. I could be convinced that my efforts were truly for my grandma...
Dublin: the epitome of quaint. Each lawn is green with its friendly neighbors and suburban charm. Dublin is my home and I wouldn't change it for anything. I have been blessed enough to grow up in a city where we have the means to get a good education and learn so much about the world around us. So much, however that these things can be taken for granted...
I am from bike rides down the street. I am from the home of baseball. I am from mornings on the porch swing and an "egg with a hole in it." I am from the church across the street and the belief that God will always love you. I am from virtuosos, pounding at the piano keys. I am from intelligence too great to measure; crazy aunts and uncles deep in thought. I am from not one, but from many that make one. I am.....
When I began watching the series Kung Fu and my father sat beside me, I knew that he was waiting to find out what I would learn from Kwai Chang Caine’s example just as my father learned when he grew up. I saw my father in his mother’s ten-square-foot kitchenette in Buenos Aires marveling at the ten-inch television screen while making dinner...
Growing up in Union City, New Jersey is tough; growing up in Union City without much parental tutelage is even tougher. My father was away for many of my early years while my mother, with whom I lived, did not offer much support. My eldest brother was the prodigal child, and everyone else paled in comparison to him in the eyes of my mother...
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