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WE ARE ALL NEW YORKERS - Those of us who used to work or live there and those of us who have never set foot in the Big Apple - We share the pain and the pride in a great city that has been wounded.- On October 18, 2001, we returned to see it for ourselves. Click here for a few photos and few thoughts. And now New York begins to heal. The site has been cleared, the new World Trade Center has started to rise. The neighborhood itself is almost back normal. But the emotions represented by the photo on this page will never be forgotten, so I decided to leave this picture on the web site for a long while. We don't want to forget!
Sioux Falls, South Dakota -- updated New Year's Day 2009 (the Alice pictures are the famous Tenniel Illustrations from the original Lewis Carroll books . If you are interested them simply click here for more resources. Actually, you can learn a lot from visiting the Lewis Carroll Home Page)
Sioux Falls is quiet city of about 140,000 located in the southeastern part of South Dakota near the borders of Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska. It's a long, long way from New York not only geographically, but spiritually. I spent almost 49 years in and under the shadow of the Big Apple, so I figured I earned the right to live somewhere else, anywhere else. In November of 1993, we first selected Tyler, MN because we have family there and because the cost of living is very low. But finding work was not easy, so in July of 2002 I drifted to Sioux Falls and bought a home in the historic district. Sioux Falls is one really nice place to live a wonderful small city, with things to do and lots of friendly people. Visit the Sioux Falls, South Dakota web page and see for yourself. OK, it's not New York, but I never have much trouble finding a place to park.
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And I've been pretty successful at doing both. I've raised money for major organizations like The Legal Aid Society of New York and the United Jewish Appeal. During and in between the fund raising, I wrote for The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the Christian Science Monitor, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, New York Newsday, TV Guide and lots more. (you won't find my articles through these links unless the paper has a really good archives section. I put the links in just for fun and to give you a quick way to leave in case you get bored reading this page) My Israel pieces have appeared in 40+ American-Jewish newspapers and I've completed 3 novels. I actually published one a few years back (see the graphic at the top of the page). Since I just retired from full time work, I hope another book will be coming out soon.
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But writing is a drug... the more you get the more you want. After all, a NY Times byline is not something everyone has, and once I had my first, all I wanted was another. So when my daughter the doctor graduated from college, and no longer needed as much financial support, I decided to leave New York's big money jobs and high expense living. The idea, the hope, was a better way of living and more time to write. It didn't work out quite the way I planned. (When does it ever?) Fifteen years have passed since the move and only one book was written. Somehow things didn't get much simpler and sometimes my life feels just like the Mad Hatter's Tea Party which is why I chose themadhatter.net for my domain. Now that I am retired, just maybe... Come with me and I'll share some with you, some tea, a few entertaining words to read, a little insanity, whatever. By the way, thanks for visiting.
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