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At first I wrote a blog every few days. After awhile I chose to do it on a weekly basis. And here I am feeling the need to write something I am not aware of but feel its pressure upon me. The most recent blog was on Chicago and our stay there with my son, Jordan. And here I am looking out my office window at the Tucson light. I need both worlds, the warmth and rays here as well as the grit of urban life. Thoreau did return to “civilization.” We need time out. Here I am still struggling to…

I want to share some of my impressions of Chicago since I now live in Green Valley, Arizona, a geriatric and retirement community which is comprised of somnabulists. Of course, being a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker, any city is home to me. The visual verticality of skyscrapers and high rises as well as the individuality of Chicago streets make its appeal. The grunge of the streets, the panhandlers mumbling to themselves and to you for handouts, the boutiques that hawk fascinating and trendy wares as well as the places to eat are arrayed along the city blocks like faceted gems in…

When I was about 12 or 13 I caught a film in the Oceana movie theater in Brighton Beach. In those days you  just went to the “movies.”  “Captain’s Paradise,” if I have the title right. It was in black and white, starring Alec Guinness and Yvonne DeCarlo. The premise was simple: here is a captain who had two wives in two different ports. In one scene he is observing number one or two from the side of a building with a chum of his. He is asked what he is doing and Guinness, in that impeccable and clipped English accent,…