Summer in the City: Blintzes, Neil Simon, and the Jewish Book Council

If you can go through life without experiencing pain, you probably haven't been born yet. Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018)

For reasons that are neither interesting nor worth a few sentences here (they have to do with a rental car), my husband and I were at Katz’s last Saturday before 10:30 am. It was my first time there in 41 years. I typically don’t eat ‘that way’ anymore. Unlike the people around us scarfing down pastrami sandwiches at 10:30 am, we ordered blintzes with fruit. Talk about delicious. I won’t (and can’t) wait 41 years to eat Katz’s blintzes again.

Thank you everyone for your emails and comments on “A Mildred Kind of Therapist,” my op-ed piece in The Baltimore Sun, also my August 18 blog post. Mildred meant the world to me. Writing about people, who have died, allows me to keep them close.

So does reading their work. I reread “The Odd Couple” last night and plan to get to Neil Simon’s others in the next few weeks. I saw his early plays on Broadway with my parents. I got to his later ones on my own when I moved to NYC. Thank you, Neil Simon, for making me laugh and hitting the right notes. Oscar and Felix and the others you created live on.

Every attendee at my Strand workshop last week was writing. We filled up the rare book room. Literally. Spiritually. I loved every second there.

No waiting 41 years to offer my next workshop. It’s next week, September 5: 6:30-8:30 at the Jewish Book Council. My writing exercises will be different from those at the Strand. Registration is required in advance. If you were at the Strand and plan to attend the JBC workshop, let me know. I'll try to wear something different, too. Link to Jewish Book Council Workshop