Auld lang syne

My dark month is over and with the passing of the winter solstice and the lengtheniing of daylight hours my mood improves. Yet I find myself returning to memories of happier days gone by.

Recently I re-read novelist Irwin Shaw's (1948) The Young Lions, a story of four young people enmeshed in the battles in Europe during WWII. Players change from decade to decade but the horrors of war anmd their impact upon us remain the same.

Last night while search for a TV movie I noticed the 1960 film "Never on Sunday" being shown. I re-watched the delightful fantasy of an intellectual and Greek tragedy scholar, played by Jules Dessin, trying unsuccessfully to reform a fun loving and free-living Greek prostitute (Melina Mercouri). My aunt, now deceased, traveled to Greece with her husband and learned to do the dance featured in the film

An e-mail from the alumni of my high school alma mata announces a sixtieth reunion. The first reunion was only ten years ago. I did not attend, having maintained few relationships from high school over the years. However when I read the list of those already registered, I recognized two of my friends from that time. I searched an old list of graduates and their addresses and called my closest buddy at the time, Burton, who lived in the same apartment house as I and cheered me with his humor all through my adolescent years. There were five of us from the old neighborhood in West Bronx. Two are now physicians--one a brain surgeon in New York City, the other a profesor of medicine at a prestigious New England university. The fourth became a lawyer attached to the State Attorney General's Office. When I searched his address I was shocked to see he had listed his office--the 45th floor of The World Trade Center. I Googled the list of 9/11 victims and was relieved when I did not find his name. The fifth, always an angry rebel, would never attend a reunion and was not listed in my directory. Burt and I lost touch except f0r an occasional phone call when I went off to Cornell and he stayed at New York's City College. He had become a writer for TV comedians after graduation but gave it up and went into the real estate business, where he prospered. He began writing poetry. His third book is about to be published and he has been nominated for a national honor. He was delighted to hear from me and we agreed to attend the meetings and re-kindle our friendship.

So, as we now enter a new decade, I continue to cling to old acquantances, not soon to be "forgot."

New Year

It's been several weeks since I entered a new post. I can't use the holiday excuse as I had eleven days off from work and much time to write. Chalk it up to my seasonal letdown around the holidays and the shorter days (SAD?). Nor can I attest to any new year resolutions. I don't believe in them and assume accountability for tasks on only a daily basis.

That said, we are past the solstice and my spirits are improving, if not my muse. My writing has ground almost to a halt. Shrink and Finding Jackson are out and I have done a book signing. I have two pieces in press--Becca in Cyberlanbd, sans illustrations, should be published shortly. I don't have high hopes for successful marketing without pictures to a children's audience. A short book of poetry, Oliver Twists in America, is also due out soon but will do no better than my first attempt, Bronx Lyric. I have written some pieces on line for Ezinearticles.com and Hubpages with no visible results in books sales or private practice referrals,so I stopped writing for them. I renewed my website (www.shrinksite.com)but I don't think I get many hits there either.

I receive occasional comments on my blog, usually from people interested in dreams and authors of their own blogs. I keep advising them that there are no universal symbols and that they need to associate to and interpret their own dreams.

My work at the high school is rewarding; I see about 20 kids regularly, some with srrious emotional and family problems. How much longer will I continue to do this? I'm not sure. I dislike the driving. Consulting is not what it is cracked up to be when school holidays come around since, unlike regular staff, I do not get paid for days off. However, I am free to manipulate my schedule and take long weekends.

We have discovered the Hudson River Valley as a great place for hiking and exploring Hyde Park and the Vanderbilt estate. From New Paltz, the Shewandunk Mountains are only about a mile or two to the west. The newly opened pedestrian bridge across the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, to the east, is a very pleasant walk on a nice day. The areas was the site of the Hudson River School of painting in the nineteenth cantury--the beginning of naturalistic art in this country. SUNU at New Paltz has an excellent art museum.

Recently we drove to Massachusetts for grandparents' day for one of my seven grandchildren. The first grade teacher asked the assembled grandparents how things were different in our day in school. I responded that desks were bolted to the floor and children were not as free to move around as they are today. The children seemed surprised at that, one claiming, to the embarrassment of the teacher, "We run around all the time." I also talked about the inkwells, blotters, and disposable pen points. We sat at our desks with our hands folded when not otherwise occupied. I did not find school to be a pleasant place but we did learn. My experience now at two high schools today suggests that it is a lot easier to graduate now without doing much work but that bright kids still are as conscientious as we were at The Bronx High School of Science in the late 1940s.

Enough for today. I'll try (but not resolve) to do better at blogging.

Buy high/sell low

The business of writing is precarious. Last month I succombed to the temptation to do book signing for Shrink and Finding Jackson. A local bookstore here in Chester County was kind enough to indulge me. The owner even went to the trouble of making me a poster for promotion of the event, which I placed in 24 willing stores in the area. My wife, Joyce, also induced friends and relatives to attend the event. She did her job well. Sixteen loyal troops came out and some bought books, which embarassed me. My daughter buying a book was the worst indignity. How could I have forgotten to send her one? But that's not the worst of it.

If you are Sarah Palin and can get someone literate to write a book for you, you can sell it. She's even touring with the book but on her second 1,000,000 copy printing, I wonder why she needs to beat the bushes. But then she is probably more interested in the 2012 election than selling books at this point. But if you are a first time novelist and need to pay an exhorbitant rate to purchase your own books forget about selling, let alone making money. Dan Brown's new book goes for about $19. To make a couple of dollars on my book I would have to charge $30! Come on, only a few close relatives and friends will pay that. So I priced Shrink at the signing at $20, losing moiney on each sale. Some of my neighbors now want Books. I'll have to buy some more and likely will just give them away.

If this sounds somewhat sour grapeish I guess it is. I don't fault Sara for wanting to make a buck or a million. That's the American way. I just don't want to sse her within a thousand miles of the White House.

One positive. The book store owner would like to help me self-publish my next book, if there is one, and market if so that I might fare somewhat better than my first, and second efforts. Perhaps. Right now I will stick to blogging and other on-line publishing.

On parle francaise

I was a good French student in high school and took three years of it. We were translating short stories at the end and I was an "A" student...except for speaking. My accent was terrible. "Vous parley francais comme un vach espagnol (You speak English like a Spanish cow) my teacher remarked. When I got to college it was necessary to take a year of language or to opt out by passing an examination. There was no way I failed that exam yet I was placed in French 1. I don't know how that happened but, supidly, I didn't protest. It was six credits of aguaranteed "A" without work. Concerned about keeping up with college assignments I kept my mouth shut. That was the last time I dealt with French for about 55 years.

In 1955, my wife and I scheduled a trip to Paris. I borrowed some tapes to tune my ear but didn't do much with them. When I landed at de Gaul Airport, and started listening to people talking French, it was as if a switch had been thrown, unlocking phrases, idioms, and vocabulary I thought were long lost. Delighted with my newly rescued memories, I decided to speak only French during our stay. I asked a gendarme directions to the opera house. He answered so rapidly I understood nothing but I wasn't going to reveal that to him. I managed to upgrade our room at the Hotel du Louvre by complaining in pigeon French that it was difficult to make love in a double bed where the two matresses were alligned vertically, with the split down the middle. The two young female clerks were so amused they gave us the best room they had the next morning, including a genuine double mattress.

All this is preamble to a happening this week at the high school where I consult for mental health services. I routinely call teachers to release students from their classrooms for counseling. I always ask first if it is convenient. Most teachers cooperate readily. Some conscientious souls demur so that the student can complete an exam or finish some make-up assignment. No real problem. However, after agreeing to my request for Chistopher, a nineth grader who needed to learn social skills, she followed up with a note that I had interrupted his review for a vocabulary test, suggesting strongly that I not remove him from French class again. Now Je comprende that academics are important. Somehow, however, I think that it is more essential for Christopher learn eye contact and basic communication skills than French vocabulaire. Nevertheless, I sent her an apology note, written en francaise. True, I required a french dictionary for some words but, all-in-all it wasn't a bad effort. I also excused myself for my mauvais French, explaning that il y'a beaucoup d'ans since I studied French au lycee. I await my grade.

Packing it in

Former Buffalo Bills coach Marvin Levy was well into his 70s when he was asked when he would retire. "When you start thinking about retirement," he quipped, "you're already retired."

I've retired three times and none of them lasted. My most recent retirement lasted six months. I persuaded my wife to retire with me. After a while you have nothing to talk about. We both returned to work part time with a great deal of freedom to decide our own hours. I changed jobs, consulting for another school district. When I paid a visit to my last job I was warmly greeted by my former colleagues. For this reason I was surprised and annoyed by the booing Brett Favre, legendary quarterback and superstar for the Green Bay Packers, received playing against his old team at Lambeaux Field. Favre had retired from Green Bay after some poor seasons but came out of retirement to play for the Minnesota Vikings. The facts of his retirement and failure to be re-hired by Green Bay have not been revealed. Whatever the reasons, he did not deserve booing after 14 years of service. True, there was also some applause, but the jeers predominated. I was happy to see the Vikings trounce the Packers and especially elated to watch Favre throw a touchdown pass in the closing minutes of play to finalize the Packer's loss. What better way to stick it to his detractors? Shame on you Green Bay!

I will probably continue to work so long as I am healthy and believe I am still making a contribution

On consulting

I need to get this off my chest. Recently I changed my job status from part time employee to consultant. I receive more money but no days off vacations or benefits. I work the same amount of time. I don't need the benefits because of Medicare but I previously was paid in lieu of benefits. What realy irks is the way that schools treat consultants--not the admistration or the staff who really seeem to value what I do, but the finance people. Three schools have delayed payments to me beyond what is reasonable. After seven weeks and three invoices I still have not been paid by one school district. They claim each payment must be approved by the Board. This itself is wrong. Boards should set policy, not get into operations. Perhaps it is the recession. Pennsylvania delayed passage of its education budget until just recently but it now has passed and I remain unpaid. I didn't appreciate the Union I was forced to join in my previous position but I do now. Teachers wouldn't stand for non-payment. I guess I could go on strike but it wouldn't even be noticed. Consultant? Just a euphemism for second class citizen.

On marketing

When I started writing my novel, "Shrink," I was advised by a publisher to spend 30% of my time writing, 10% editing, and 60% marketing. In truth I spent much more than 10% editing and much less than 60% marketing. But then, I am a God-awful editor and I havn't sold many books. Typos crept into my creations--one had to be redone. I just don't see the errors--missing periods, misspellings, etc. I know the rules and my grammar isn't bad but my perception stinks. My brain corrects the errors when i proof read and I miss them. But this is about marketing. I created a website (www.rosenshrinksite.com) to promote the book. I created this blog to promote the website. I wrote articles for WWW.ezinearticles.com to advertise my books and my private practice. After a dozen submissions, eleven of which were published on- line, I am discontinuing this outlet. While many people find it helpful in promoting their business, I have seen no results. The final straw was their trashing of an article I did on meditation. They claimed I used foreign words. Usually they ask me to edit and correct what was wrong. This time the article disappeared from their website. I had not even kept a copy. The foreign words were names of Buddhist monks from India and Tibet who originated the practice. I believe the real reason for the rejection is an aversion to anything that smacks of religion.
They had asked me to remove a religious reference once before. My articles are not religious but psychological in nature. So much for marketing except thatI have two book signings scheduled in November. Initially I refused book signings but now I'll give it a try.