Travels with Phil Six – The Flatiron Building – NYC

It has been called “one of the world’s most iconic skyscrapers and a quintessential symbol of New York City”. It anchors the south (downtown) end of Madison Square and the north (uptown) end of the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The neighborhood around it is called the Flatiron District after its signature, iconic building. The building was designated a New York […]

Mr. Ledoux and Theosophy

I went to high school in the 60s. Flower power, psychedelics, exploring other ways of living, thinking and experiencing the universe. Interest in eastern mysticism was huge! My friends and I threw the I Ching. I still have my copy. I owned a copy of the Tibetan Book of the Dead and practiced chanting the […]

I Don’t Think I Am In South Florida Anymore, Am I Toto?

The research team I was part of in the Everglades monitored the buildup of pesticide residues in the environment. I suggested we get samples from Taylor Slough. Everglades National Park surrounded a section of land called The Hole in the Doughnut. This was farmland which, as a compromise when the park was created in 1947, […]

The Gorilla

My mother Silvia was very sensitive about what other people thought. She was easily humiliated. When I was a little kid the Bronx Zoo got a gorilla. This was a rare in those days. She took me north on the subway from Brooklyn to go see it. A Chassid got on the train a stop […]

Central City

Among other disciplines, I studied Botany. I have taught courses on Edible Wild Plants and Field Botanical Taxonomy, or how to use botanical keys to identify plants. The North Florida panhandle is the only place in the United Sates that has ALL genera of carnivorous plants. My favorite place to see them and other native […]

Boy Scout Camp

Camp Sebring was a huge Boy Scout camp in South Florida when I was a kid. It is closed now. We would all pile into a car at the tail end of a Florida East Coast Railroad train (away from the grown up passengers of course!) for the trip there. I do not remember how […]

Rochester

          Thanks to my father growing up our house was living in a science library. I had my own chemistry lab which led to being a child science prodigy. Many of the thing I did came about due to the actions and decisions of parents and teachers, not by me. I […]

Gamble Rogers

While revising this story I realized it repeats things that are shared in other posts, but I felt I should leave it in as not everyone is reading every post (There are over 50 now! 😊).  One of my most cherished relationships with a folk singer was with Gamble Rogers. I first heard him perform […]