Last Friday I sat with Gotham Executive Director Debbie Lindner at a lunch honoring our Annamarie Bondi-Stoddard. The luncheon was hosted by The United Cerebral Palsy Association of Nassau County. Any time I am with Annamarie and Debbie (plus a goodly number of other Gothamites) it is guaranteed to be a very nice time, but this time was even more s …
Last Friday Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick took the unprecedented decision to shut down all of Boston and its near environs. The shut down was coined "Shelter in place" and intended to facilitate the massive manhunt for the "White Hat" bomber. However, as the hours ticked by and there was no capture, the political and practical pressure must …
When I was young I was addicted to long distance running. In fact I finished 33 (26.2 mile) marathons in my running career, but the only one that mattered was the Mecca of distance running: The Boston Marathon. "Boston" was the goal and inorder to be eligible to participate you had to achieve a qualifying time (under 3 hours and 10 minutes) at anot …
I'm pretty sure that if I had my life to live over I would not be a lawyer.When I was growing up my sole interest was baseball and my goal was to replace my Idol Mickey Mantle in center field for the Yankees. As such, I was not much of a student and only the rude intrusion of the Viet Nam era draft caused me to alter my plans. Suddenly, a law scho …
My birthday was last week and my wife Joanne greeted me at breakfast with a card that said "Life Isn't About Finding Yourself. Life Is About Creating Yourself. (Unknown)"Surely, this is a universal message. Take it to heart and aspire toinspire others to compliment you, as Jo did by adding "You are a piece of work!" to the card.
My wife Joanne was my high school girl friend and we have been married 46 years. Among the many many things she brings to our marriage is that of the great "Leveler". She has an inexhaustible capacity to cut through all the spin, puff and noise to bring me down and ground me. This is a not always pleasant for me, but I know it is a good thing as, f …
I recently took the 2 featured photographs:"Murder The Rich" and "Kill Money" The messages are clear. Are they too chilling to ignore?Could there be Revolution in the air?
Lately the concept of Control has come to the fore and into focus. Control is defined as "To exercise authority or dominating influence over; direct; regulate". The definition brings back the memory Alexander Haag blurting (erroneously) "I am in control", just after Reagan was shot. I really didn't consider my self a controlling type person until …
I am really excited! Only 2 days to go before the Worldwide, grand debut of Gotham's First Battle of the Bands. Details, directions, etc., appear in the upper right next to this blog. Just click on the speaker. 10 bands will compete for the $2500 first prize, plus a 30 minute Show Case at Greenwich Village's storied Cafe Wha?Each band comes to us …
More than the gore and abundant use of the N word, what struck me about this movie was the depiction of plantation life. To me, it was as if Tarantino rented a time machine and transported us back to 1858. Shown was the day to day operation of plantations and acceptance of slavery. It was chilling to witness the mostly unprotested day to day lif …
One of the advantages of being old is being old fashioned. I was tempted to stop here and just let the reader fill in the blanks, but I could not stop without remarking on the tremendous benefit of paper in this digital age. Paper? Yes. For example, my paper pocket calendar saves me oodles of time each day while young techies struggle with their d …
One of the duties-pleasures of being Grand Parents is having the kids over for a weekend (while the parents vacation). Recently we were on duty and on the first night my "6 and a 1/4" year old grandson carried a book over to me and asked "Grandpa would you read to me". How could I say no. It ends up he was lugging the third Harry Potter book which …
My father in law is a 92 year old WW II veteran and was my surrogate father when it mattered. To look at him you would never know. He has his hair and it is still mostly naturally brown. He has lost much of his belly, but his cheeks are full and he could be an ARRP poster boy. However, as it must for all of us, his body and mind are failing him. An …
As many who know me have experienced, I am addicted to photography (it is amazing how fine the "in the moment" Blackberry snap shots can be). Most of all, I am hooked on shots of sunrise and sunsets. No doubt, the celebration and lamentation of the sun's eternal rise and fall is embedded in our primeval DNA. We are wired to worship the sun, the sou …
As they awaited take off Eddie leaned forward and asked Johnny "I know the Needle and you had something going on and we're going back to the city because of it, but more than that I don't know. What's going on?". In response, Johnny asked Eddie to change seats so he could fill him in during the flight. It was a long and winding story. Johnny s …
Fridays With Fred
A perfect way to send you into your weekend