I have been a writer most of my life. My work has appeared in the Gettysburg Review, the Palo Alto Review, Columbia College Today, Columbia Magazine, the Tribeca Trib and other publications.

CLARENCE THE FAT BOY

(First published in the Palo Alto Review, Spring 2009)

The printing firm where I used to work was a family business, established when the last century was new, on the lower west side of Manhattan, and it was there that I came to know Clarence Perweiler.

When I first saw him he was in his late twenties, although I couldn’t tell that from a glance. While his height and coloring were unremarkable, his girth was prodigious. When he walked, his sausage-like arms bounced off the sides of his spherical torso. He moved short distances with a shuffling roll from side to side, settling into a chair like an ocean liner coming into dock.

[download PDF]

 

THE RIVER’S SIDE

(First published in the Tribeca Trib, April 1998)

A psychic once told me that I should live near the water. Shortly after that I moved to a place near the East River, and the vibrations proved beneficial. The location brought love and creativity — what passes for happiness.

[download PDF]

 

BY ANY OTHER NAME

(First published in Columbia Magazine, Spring 1991)

As anyone knows who ever sat down to write, writing is thinking. The thought not only precedes the word, it follows it too: we do not know what we mean to say until, after many trials and errors, we have found the words.

[download PDF]

MY THREE MONTHS
WITH THE GREAT MAN

(First published in the Gettysburg Review, Fall 2008)

When I sent my résumé to the Great Man’s magazine, I expected no response. The Magazine had advertised for a “fast-thinking, literate secretary” to transcribe tapes and process words, tasks at which I was reputed to be a whiz. But I couldn’t believe that the prestigious Magazine — even the President read it — could not find among its own some girlfriend or cousin with the requisite skills.

[download PDF]

 

THE LITTLE CORPORAL

(First published in Columbia Magazine, Fall 1991)

Beneath the gilded dome of the Invalides in Paris lie the bones of Napoleon I. The fallen emperor is protected by six concentric coffins within a sarcophagus, in a crypt adorned with statues commemorating his career.

[download PDF]

 

CONFESSIONS OF A PHI EP MAN

(First published in Columbia College Today, Fall 1988)

In my lost youth, before I became conventional, I joined a Columbia fraternity. It was the end of my freshman year at Barnard and I was tired of the shrieks and giggles of women.

[download PDF]