The Well-Dressed Gardener

[Email subscribers ... remember to click on the headline to be transported the the website for the full Silverback Digest experience. SB SM] Here's the well-dressed gardner, prepared to ply his trade. Take note of (from top to bottom): Blackberries in background. They're looking good for this year. Ballcap from Saratoga Raceway, a great summer... Continue Reading →

The Los Angeles Alligator Farm

[It won't be difficult to get the 'Gators to join the Orcas and the Silverbacks in their revolt against the humans. SB SM] Photographs of the Los Angeles Alligator Farm (ca. 1907) From 1907 until its relocation in 1953, the area of Lincoln Heights was home to what the Los Angeles Times dubbed “the city’s most exotic residents”:... Continue Reading →

Memories of Mercedes, Part 3

Part 3--Things Get Worse Spring came, and the Mercedes remained in storage. I checked periodically with the guy selling it, but there wasn’t a lot of activity. The car now was officially an albatross around my neck. Supposedly there was an Internet site featuring the car, but I wasn’t able to find it. I searched... Continue Reading →

Memories of Mercedes … Part 2

Part 2- Things Get Bad The seller insisted that we pay him cash, which seemed odd, but, frankly, he wasn’t a Mercedes kinda guy. He was probably selling the car, because he couldn’t handle the prestige. The first premonition that maybe, just maybe, this was not the greatest idea came about ten minutes after our... Continue Reading →

Memories of Mercedes, Part 1

[This is a short story I wrote when my son Patrick was 17 and a junior in high school. He's now 40. It was brought to mind when I saw the notification in our local newspaper, The White River Valley Herald, of the passing of Chip Milnor, an all-around good guy, great mechanic, and worthy... Continue Reading →

A Quaker Jew … part II

[Part II of a Quaker Jew Screwing Around in G for the Honor of the Truth, chapter 4 of my unpublished autobiography Extra-Ordinary. SB SM] Screwin’ Around in G One of the transcendent words of my generation is “cool.” “Hot” has morphed from jazz to women. “Groovy” has gone the way of flower power. “Boss”... Continue Reading →

The Silverback Guide to Wokeness

[I reprint this article, which was submitted to Silverback Digest for publication, without editorial comment. Of course, those who dwell in so-called cancel culture would immediately claim "That, in itself, is an editorial comment." If we follow all these rules to "do this" and "don't do that" my fear is that we end up living... Continue Reading →

Here’s My Advice …

[True confessions ... I read these things. It doesn't matter who writes them, or what the questions are ... off I go, like a largemouth bass following a shiny spoon. "I love my boyfriend, but everyone tells me he's bad for me. Sure, he beats me occasionally, but isn't that really a sign of love?... Continue Reading →

Extra-Ordinary

["Extra-Ordinary" is the title of my never-finished, never-published memoir, or is it an autobiography? The title is a play on the word extraordinary, which denotes something anything but ordinary. By putting in the hyphen my intent is to communicate that the only thing exceptional about my life is that it has been ordinary to the... Continue Reading →

Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑