These Days by Stephanie | January 2009 - These Days by Stephanie

These Days/A Very Fine House

Posted by Stephanie on Jan 29, 2009 in These Days | 3 comments

In 1985, we moved to Westchester. I still refer to the day we left and moved back to Manhattan as the day I was given parole. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, and although the suburbs and I were never a great match, the kids grew up well and went to good public schools, and so it was…despite my protests, it all worked out for the best. We had a small budget back in 1985. Actually, we had no budget in 1985 given the fact that we had two babies ( Ellie at six months and David at two years), I was unemployed (a nanny would have made more than I did, so what was the point?) and Mark...

Those Days/April 1997

Posted by Stephanie on Jan 29, 2009 in Those Days | 1 comment

He was lying on the floor outside the music store at the mall wearing baggy jeans barely held up by a heavy leather belt, a Nike tee shirt, and a small gold hoop in is ear. She, long dark hair and a fresh young face, wearing tight jeans and a skimpy sweatshirt pulled down on one shoulder, lay sprawled beside him with one leg thrown over his thigh. I quickened my pace self-consciously, my children, 10, 12, and 14, trailing behind me with their heads spun around, red-faced, staring…no… gawking at the couple. Partially, I walked faster hoping my children wouldn’t catch the raw...

These Days/Appearances

Posted by Stephanie on Jan 22, 2009 in These Days | 1 comment

In the January 19th issue of The New Yorker Marianna Cook has a one-page excerpted essay accompanied by a black and white photo of Barack and Michelle Obama sitting on their sofa at home in Hyde Park. The essay and the photo are dated May 26, 1996. You can probably find it online if you don’t have the magazine. It appears to be a portrait of what appears to be a real relationship, let alone a real marriage. The two look significantly younger, innocent, entwined in one another as they sit on a sofa. Everything around them is minimalist. The essay speaks of what the future might hold for...

Those Days/August 2005

Posted by Stephanie on Jan 22, 2009 in Those Days | 1 comment

I don’t think I’ve fully grasped the impact of the verb “to adjust” until quite recently. I’ve always believed that women adjust rather well, attributable to our very cyclical biology which demands a monthly period of change from the time we are 12. Not to mention pregnancy, a state of change we are thrown into rather abruptly (there is NO such thing as being “just a little pregnant”). We are faced rather suddenly with a swollen belly not to mention swollen ankles and lips, morning sickness, back ache, and various other forms of bodily sabotage that...

These Days/Liberation

Posted by Stephanie on Jan 15, 2009 in These Days | 6 comments

Last Sunday night, I decided to take an at-home vacation. I thought, What can I do to possibly make life simpler this week? And since all of the other complexities, complications, and obligations were ones that I couldn’t eschew, I decided not to cook. My mother brought me up with an old-world European mentality, and I have been cooking since I was 21. I mean, really cooking – not opening cans and using frozen vegetables and rice mixes. But sauces “from scratch,” and slow-cooked stews, roasted game hens, poached salmon and such. I can remember my mother sitting at the...