“I want to be alone.” Greta Garbo spoke that famous line from the 1932 movie Grand Hotel, and it stuck to her like Gorilla Super Glue. Ms. Garbo was considered one of the outstanding beauties of her time. The press and Hollywood pursued her for magazine covers and acting roles, but she rarely said y...

Once again, area residents of all ages are invited to journey back in time to the eras of their forbears during Union County’s Four Centuries in a Weekend event, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Sponsored by the Union County Board of County Commissioners, this tour will take place on...

A collaboration with the Westfield High School Journalism Program

A collaboration with the Westfield High School Journalism ProgramFor the past several weeks, I have seen Shawn Combs, aka P. Diddy, plastered on every news source. With the breaking news surrounding his indictment and charges including sexual abuse, racketeering and sex trafficking came a huge uproa...

“Delia watches herself get up from the beach and walk away. She watches herself leave her family without a word, hitch a ride to a new town, buy a new dress in a new style, and find a job and a room in a boardinghouse.” Delia, the protagonist ofAnne Tyler’s novel “Ladder of Years,” precipitously lea...

“I hope you don’t mind my asking…” That disclaimer sets my teeth on edge because I know the question to follow will be unduly personal. My inside voice answers: I do mind. Please don’t ask a personal question. It will create an awkward situation.Of course, once question-askers disclaim responsibilit...

A collaboration with the Westfield High School Journalism ProgramOn December 10, 2019 three people were killed in a shooting at JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City, NJ, located just under five miles from my synagogue, the United Synagogue of Hoboken (USH). In response, security measures were drasti...

A collaboration with the Westfield High School Journalism ProgramWhile one might become tired of the never-ending sequels in recent years, Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is one for the millennium.Maintaining the strange and unusual nature of the first film was top priority from the beginning...

“Why do my friends and my priest urge me to forgive my mother?” asked my psychotherapy patient, J, with anguish. “They know my mother ignored me when my older brothers hurled shoes and called me terrible names. They know she refused to take me to the doctor or the emergency room when I was sick or h...

One hundred and thirty-four years ago, on September 5, 1890, Edwin Francis (the supervising principal of the Westfield schools) published the first edition of The Westfield Leader. Opened in competition with the Pearsallowned Union County Standard, The Leader has now long outlived not only all of it...