BRIGHTON HIGH SCHOOL

I have about three careers going all at once.

The journalism career is every now and then when I write a column called "Inside Track" about Mideast politics.

The ESL/EFL (English as a Second/Foreign Language) career focuses more on second language acquisition research and consultancy.  People just are not learning language and I am doing my best to help them over the hurdles.  I wrote a textbook for Ts and learners called "ESL/EFL. . .Forever!".  It's pretty state-of-the-art as my approach shuns translation from the mother tongue and maximizes the use of both sides of the brain to boost first short-term and then long-term memory.  Hence the word "Forever!" in the title.

The writing career is in the making.  Finally, after all these years, I seem to have found a "voice."  My favorite work is writing stories for "Christopher Robins". . .five-year-olds.  Some of my stories are used to teach English as a Second Language.  Learners can act them out.  This develops linguistic fluency as well as self-confidence and promotes errors as a positive experience:  as a window to the brain.

I also write for theater and "Stealing Vesuvius", a farce, was produced a long time ago in 1994 the same week as my birthday (!) at a little theater run by the NY Conservatory for the Arts near Woodstock, NY.  It was one of those flukes in life; everyone knows how difficult it is to have a show produced.  But I love to write to make people laugh for an hour and a half and people actually did laugh!  Now that's a miracle!  In my own small way, I believe it contributes to healing the world.  That's a heavy, tall order so that's why I like to focus on farce and keep it light.  I am working on two new farces, an opera libretto, and a film script.  This is what I've always dreamed of doing.  It's nice being impractical after having worked very very hard ssince I was 16 years old.

I also write poetry, my first love.  I had to give up the violin, so poetry satisfies this musical vein running through the marble of my life.  I am giving my second poetry reading May 10, 2016 from two collections, one old, one new.  The old collection is called "Sensing Worlds of Worlds."  The new collection which I am still working on is called & Directions: