My dad was originally from Poland, arriving in the US in the early 1950s. His journey was complicated — refusing to join the Hitler Youth he got thrown…

I first heard this on a double LP I bought while in college, Peter Gabriel plays Live, a time when horizons seemed boundless and unlimited. It would pop…

Charlie on the M.T.A. Did He Ever Return?"Did he ever return, no he never returnedAnd his fate is still unlearnedHe may ride forever ‘neath the streets of…

When I was 14, my father decided to send me to a boarding school in another state. Although my older brother had gone the year before me and enjoyed the…

Wilson Pickett: "In the Midnight Hour"I was assigned to Nsanje, Malawi (in Central Africa), in the Peace Corps, 1966 to 1968. Nsanje is at the southern…

There aren't many people that "get me," but my mom has always been one of them. She knows me on an intuitive level. She knows when something's wrong…

I grew up on the Upper West-Side of Manhattan (in area called "Washington Heights"), in New York City. It was the summer of 1959 I was 12 years old, and…

In 2011, my husband and I flew to France to visit friends and, of course, France. We took the cheapest flight available [I won't mention the name of the…

My journey into classical music was rich and eclectic. I grew up in a family with seven siblings. From an early age, I was exposed to music in my singing…