Leaving West 83rd Street

It’s 2016 and I have happily arrived at sixty six years of age with the many stories of a lifetime and lots of baggage. ‎

So begins the journey of my blog, linking my distant past through my middle age to the present me.

I am prepared to share with you what brought me to this particular present and the details of what that present looks like.

We will travel from West 83rd Street in Manhattan to Long Island, NY, to Forest Hills, Queens. Sometimes the links will be quite obvious. At other times clarity will not be easily achieved; there is a path and we will make this trip together.

“Leaving West 83rd Street” will be filled with stories in the form of essays, some very short, some relatively short; some for you to read for your pleasure, and some for you to read and perhaps think upon.

Here at the beginning allow me to provide you with some basic facts :

I have lived in 8 decades, from the end of the 40’s through to the present. I was taken home from the hospital to 222 West 83rd Street and didn’t leave West 83rd Street for any significant amount of time until just after my 29th

  • I went to public schools through my master’s degree. I have an older sister. Dad died just before my 21st birthday and mom when I was 44.
  • I married in 1978 and divorced 29 years later. I have three remarkable children and, so far, two amazing grandchildren.
  • I have worked in drug programs and multiple psychiatric hospitals. I had the most fun when I was public affairs director at a now closed hospital in Suffolk County, NY

Some of what you will read here has been published elsewhere; it’s all my work, my story, my becoming.

Please join the journey and feel free to comment.

PICK A POST FROM THE LIST AND READ ON. IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU READ PLEASE SHARE!

HERE’S A LINK TO THE BOOK PUBLISHED IN LATE 2022:

 https://a.co/d/1p323BE

THE WORLD TRADE CENTER AS IT WAS

Photo by Documerica on Unsplash I know what you’re all thinking.  How could he possibly be writing about the towers?   It is truly difficult to think about the world trade center towers, having watched them crumble while looking out the window of an office down the hall from mine on Hudson Street.  Like so many, almost 25…

by leavingwest83rdstreet

YOUTH GROUPING

As a high school senior I was very much involved in the United Synagogue Youth (USY) program at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun. I had joined the youth group during my junior year and became a chapter officer in the ’65-’66 school year.  There were numerous significant events that year.  There were weekends at other synagogues, meeting…

by leavingwest83rdstreet

36 thoughts on “Leaving West 83rd Street”

  13. Really enjoy your writing! We are close in age. I lived at 219 W81 Street, attended P.S.9 and 44′. We moved to Forest Hills in 1967. I particularly liked that you worked at Irving’s Candy Store. You can see Irving’s in “The Naked City” episode
    ; “Alive and Still a Second Lieutenant”.

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  15. A Blog! I am surprised but perhaps not… You’re a theater man, after all, of course, your manifesto will be new age and written in the form of a blog. It will have a life after death, you’re forever memorialized. I love it!
    I followed~ #myfriendKen

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  19. Just read your piece on Riverside, and loved it. I grew up at 51 W. 83rd St. as of 1971, and most of my neighborhood friends went to PS9 and then IS44. I look forward to reading more of your work!

    Liked by 1 person

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  23. I sent an email on March 22nd with pictures entitled “sort of not corona related…”. today I read your entry on building the kiosk and thought you might enjoy this note from what seems like years ago.

    “I was walking the deserted street on the way back home from Zabar’s when I noticed a kiosk on west 83rd street. It was somewhat familiar but I hadn’t paid much attention to it before. Of course not, because after all before (BC?) the street was crowded with fast moving people and I too would have hustled with the bags. Plus the folk may well have obscured my view. Today none of these things applied so I went closer and saw beautiful, heartbreaking watercolors and drawings of The Lost Synagogues of Europe. I also learned the history of the kiosk which you can read in in one of the photos.

    The sun was shining, the air was cold even through my mask (yes, my mask) and things were somewhat surreal admiring the pictures and reconciling them with the chilling captions.”

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  24. The clarity, the sincerity… I dunno.. but I am looking forward to reading your posts. And I am gonna start way back in 2016 and slowly make my way up. In advance..Thanks for choosing to share your stories (-:

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