Family Reunion, 1979
In 1979, the year I was eight, my father’s family reunion was held at a public park in Newport News, Virginia. It was a place of woods and creeks and picnic tables, set against the eastern shore of the southern part of the James River, a few miles before it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. I heard more than one relative that day say they hoped the place wouldn’t get overrun by the locals,...
The Gloves of Summer
What is the first sensation that comes to mind when you think about a baseball glove?
Solid Sound
As in many working-class Italian American households, mine was one where loud voices and other sounds constantly ricocheted off the walls, a condition that made for a loving family life but worked against a reading habit.