Countdown to Celebration: My Memoir Arrives Next Month!

What to DO in CALGARY, Canada?

By

Thank you to my friends who shared their city with me! I loved my first trip to Calgary. Nicole and I worked on cruise ships together decades ago and we had a reunion in Banff in 2018. She took me strolling to see her favorite spots in the Mission and Inglewood. The trails and parks … Continued

Our Stories Matter: How Writing Can Heal Our Hearts

By

Thank you to Holly Corbett and Consciously Unbiased for publishing my article: “Our Stories Matter: How Writing Can Heal Our Hearts“ During the past two years of the COVID roller coaster, life has been more obviously uncertain. Anna Quindlen’s newest book, Write for Your Life, suggests that “it [is] possible to be in a dreadful situation … Continued

THE LETTERS PROJECT: A DAUGHTER’S JOURNEY

By

THE LETTERS PROJECT: A DAUGHTER’S JOURNEY By Eleanor Reissa The Letters Project is about big history, the Holocaust, but it is also an extraordinarily intimate personal narrative—a rare blend of informative, poignant, excruciating, startling, humorous, and ultimately inspiring storytelling. In 1986, when her mother died at the age of sixty-four, Eleanor Reissa went through all of … Continued

Stephen Wise Temple: A Place to call Home

By

During Yom Kippur services at Stephen Wise Temple on Sept 16, 2021, Phil Koosed shared his family story from the past when his grandfather was the only survivor in his family from the Holocaust to the current generation when his own father now has eight grandchildren and Phil is spearheading the efforts of The Big … Continued

How Jew(ish) Are You?

By

Thank you to Thrive Global for publishing my article, “How Jew(ish) Are You?” Reading Matt Greene’s autobiography, Jew(ish): A primer, A memoir, A manual, A plea, during COVID19 Thanksgiving weekend, I thought gratefully about my relationship to being Jewish. Growing up in Los Angeles, California at Stephen Wise Temple, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the … Continued

Italy: Grazie, Villa Lante, Grazie Bagnaia

By

Grazie, Villa Lante, Grazie, Bagnaia! Esther Kane Meyers I drove straight from the Rome airport to Bagnaia and the Villa Lante. I had not called ahead, but was confident that the grand Renaissance-era Villa would greet me warmly. I passed through her towering iron gates and immediately found Rosella, the art curator. The Villa, my … Continued

Poland: The Magic of Discovering Legacy

By

The Magic of Discovering Legacy By Esther K. Meyers My trip grew from a seed planted in the earliest of my days. It gradually took shape inside me and finally demanded to bloom into reality. My parents’ stories about this place populated my youthful dreams. Six decades before I was to walk it, I imagined … Continued

We Said Go Travel