Leon Spitzer Eulogy
Thank you all for coming to show our Dad your respects. Many years ago when he could not attend his own father’s funeral his Aunt Bess, his father’s sister, told him “Funerals are for the living”. I hope to share some stories that say a lot about the kind of person he was. When we […]
Yiddish Name Calling
Everybody calls people these things all the time, without having ANY idea what they mean. As a public service, I thought this would be helpful. Nebish A person regarded as weak-willed or timid. A person who is ineffectual, timid, and often luckless; a person of no significance. One who is fearful and timid, especially in making […]
Introduction to the poem Mosaic
I have previously explained how people had given me things to put in the PaPeR, our underground newspaper in Miami, in the 60’s. Due the PaPeR’s short life much did not get published. This is one that after 60 years I cannot even remember who wrote it. But I like it enough to think it […]
Phil’s Sense of Humor
And a thousand giants of the land…
This is another of Nanlee Haston’s poems. I’ve introduced her story in an earlier post, The PaPER and the Poets Two And a thousand giants of the land, took hold of humor and burned it at the stake: heretic of fate. As mothers fathers children dogs were turned to bark at moons (too soon to […]
Lewis Mumford, renowned Twentieth Century scholar of urban history and architecture
I have never seen this story about Lewis Mumford told anywhere in spite of my extensive reading of his work and works about him, including his authorized biography. I was disturbed at reading that, which the author agreed not to publish until his and Sophie’s daughter had died, as it told of his affairs. I […]
Founding The Down Under at FSU
By now my readers know I was involved in the folk music world of the 60’s. That lasted into the 90’s. I’ll tell that story another time and what eventually led me away from that clientele. There was a woman named Nancy I was interested in during my 2 years at FSU. A mutual friend, […]
Dad and Agriculture School
Dad grew up on his grandparents’ truck farm. It’s a fad now to promote “farm to table”, but in the early twentieth century farms were right in the city. Philip and Johanna Spitzer were born in the old country. They were first cousins. Explains much of the mental idiosyncrasies of my family. They were in […]
The Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge
The US Geological Survey decided they wanted an aerial map of the refuge. Interference with water flows in Florida due to drainage for development, capturing drinking water for cities and agricultural use since the 19th century had dramatically impacted the natural environment of Florida, which was basically water based. Before the flyover we went up […]
Mumford Correspondence
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