I don't do it very often, but the last few nights I've been binging on a television series called Red Oaks. My friend turned me on to it, and I'm finding it very entertaining. What peaked my interest is that the story starts out with the lead character playing the part of a tennis coach at the Red Oaks Country Club. Of course that led me to think about my tennis and country club days and of my son who currently works as a tennis coach. Plus the tennis shown in Red Oaks is pretty good to watch. But that's not all that goes on. Here's what Google has to say about it: "It's the summer of 1985, and NYU student David lands a summer job at the Red Oaks Country Club in New Jersey. As the assistant tennis pro, he rubs elbows with the clientele, as well as his fellow employees. And they all have advice to offer him on how he should be planning for the rest of his life. His father urges him to buckle down and improve his grades ("a C is a Jewish F!" he tells his son, just before collapsing … [Read more...]
Writing down the memories
It was almost an obsession of mine to get my Paul memories written down. I even wrote poems and journal entries about how I went about it. And fortunately I did write them down because a lot of that material ended up in my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. Memory List I'm making a memory list. I don't want to forget my son Paul, So I'm writing down all the things I can think of that were unique to him. I keep grabbing, scratching my bony claws at the surface of my brain to remember, to rediscover, to reconnect with how he looked, what he said, what he did, how he did it. I am continually searching for little mannerisms that were so Paul. I keep adding to it I keep going back to it I keep rereading it I keep editing it, so I don't duplicate what's already on it. But, hey, I know a little list of things he did or said isn't going to bring him back to me. That's the truth. You should have seen him. He walked so fast like the rest of the New Yorkers. I … [Read more...]
