Category Archives: Family

Reconnecting in paradise

Three years ago, my cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer. The thought of losing her galvanized me. We began talking again, visiting each other, sharing secrets the way we did in childhood. But I had one foot in Philly and the other in Costa Rica by then. We decided she had to come for a visit- the sooner the better. “I won’t go through chemotherapy again,” she said, in the understated way she has. Continue reading

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You CAN go home again

In Spanish, the word casa means house; as far as I can tell, there’s no word that means home. In English, we differentiate between house and home, but often use the two words interchangeably. Lately, I’ve been wondering: How can … Continue reading

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Meet me on South Street

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the South Street Renaissance, and I’m thrilled that my visit coincides with the festivities. I’m sure South Street will have changed in the year and a half I’ve been gone, but not as much as it did between the seventies and eighties. Continue reading

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A slice of life

The first time my mother baked bread, the story goes, the loaves were more like bricks than bread. Mom tried to re-write history by trashing the evidence. But she didn’t get away with the crime: on trash pick-up day, much … Continue reading

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