I began calling myself Dr. June after getting my PhD in literature at the age of 60. I’ve got white hair and so many wrinkles that some days I don’t look in the mirror. I’ve got so many experiences under my belt, my midriff is growing. I’ve known some literary success and a great deal…
My professional bio looks like a success story. (Note the word “looks like.”) Sure, over the years, I have published a lot. And in the beginning, I had heaps of beginner’s luck. It’s what came after that made the difference. The frustrations and let downs that’s what shaped and formed me the most. But I’m getting…
Being tossed around like this professionally made me puzzle about my fate. What am I meant to do with this precious gift of life? Should I keep writing, when I was not building a sound career as an author? I wished the Oracle of Delphi was still around in Greece, just a short trip from…
Though we are no longer in touch very often and our close teacher-student relationship is just a memory, writing about my advisor makes me feel thankful. He was the one that got me a teaching job at the university which I hold to this day. He held out the hand that helped me mount the…
Part 1 I have been blessed with mentors who have put themselves out for me in inconceivable ways. Because of my professor mentor I began teaching at the university with only a BA. Because of Neil Amdur, my journalist mentor, my diaries, the first, and the second Storm of Terror: A Hebron Mother’s Diary in…
Part 2 For my book promotion tours I spoke before synagogue congregations in synagogues and at the podium at Jewish cultural fairs in the New York/New Jersey area. You speak about your book and hopefully people will buy copies outside in the hall. My sister sold twenty copies for me. And at Jewish cultural fairs…
The first time I used Craigslist online classified site. I struck gold. I don’t know what city I chose, but I did choose for jobs “Researcher/Writer.” Among the writers’ jobs that popped up on the list, the only one with the word “researcher” jumped out at me. The ad was posted by a privately funded…
I was one of the writers for the Amazon Shorts Program in 2007. When I decided to write about my participation in this program now for this Post, I decided to refurbish m my memory about how they worked. I looked up Amazon shorts and got links such as: Men’s Shorts and Women’s Shorts, Men’s…
This unbelievable act of stealing happened to my daughter during the period of time she was living in the mystical town of Safed and I was studying kabbalah for my doctorate. I wrote it down in story-like style, though every bit is factual, two days after she told me. I gave it the title “Remorse…
Some strokes are deadly. Heaven forbid if you get a brain stroke or a sun stroke. But there is one kind of stroke that is a blessing. It comes as a sharp and clear vision. It falls as a flash of inspiration and insight. It is the stroke of prophecy. It can strike a writer….