When she entered the room her hips would bang against desks toppling papers, vases, ashtrays, picture frames and the like. Large in every way and at the same time oblivious to her surroundings, she …
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by Ramona Jan
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6/17/22
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My grandmother, Lina Dreher, was sixteen when she kept this diary as she worked in the family bakery. I have not changed any of the vernacular though some of it may be politically incorrect today. …
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Ramona Jan
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6/14/22
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I’m watching the Netflix special, Andy Warhol Diaries. They’re going through his massive archives of Polaroids, and it occurs to me that I must be somewhere in there. I had three …
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Ramona Jan
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6/7/22
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Ah, June is now merely a day away. When I think of June, I think of my childhood neighbor about whom I wrote the following lyric:
I watch her from across the way,
wondrin’ what makes her …
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Ramona Jan
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5/31/22
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My grandmother’s diary of 1913 spanned one full year. The longest entry was entitled My Only Secret.
It begins with, “when I went to school…” a reference to her being …
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Ramona Jan
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5/24/22
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My grandmother, Lina Dreher, was sixteen when she kept this diary. Her father, my great grandfather, was a talented German baker who rescued bakeries in NYC and NJ, and then sold them for a profit. …
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Ramona Jan
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5/17/22
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My grandmother, Lina Dreher, was sixteen when she kept this diary. Her father (my great grandfather, an immigrant to this country) was a talented German baker who rescued bakeries in NYC and NJ, and …
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Ramona Jan
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5/10/22
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“I’ve already told your sister,” begins my 88 year-old mother, Nancy, who’s not laughing, “My wedding dress is in the attic in a trunk. The only one it will fit is your …
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Ramona Jan
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5/3/22
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I’m taking the daughter to an interview at a Manhattan architectural firm because she solved an incredible engineering issue that for centuries perplexed even the most masterful of architects. …
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Ramona Jan
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4/26/22
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“I wrote a hit song called Sparkle in the Streetlight,” said Marc J. Switko (the J, he once told me, was for Jane, but I suspected otherwise). He then started singing, “Well, I …
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Ramona Jan
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4/19/22
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The phone rings. It’s a New Jersey detective and he’s looking for my cousin, Davie. “He’s wanted for car theft,” informs said-detective.
“Spell your full …
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Ramona Jan
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4/12/22
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My grandmother, Lina Dreher, was sixteen when she kept this diary. She attended high school while also working in the family bakery, and she had eight siblings, some of whom are mentioned …
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Ramona Jan
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4/5/22
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