This story is part of the CelebrEighty Series written by Judy Katz… Yesterday a beloved friend, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, was on his way to meet me for lunch. We were going to Felice Columbus for the fourth time. Why keep returning when there are so many fine restaurants all over Manhattan? If you order the Crostone Ricotta on brochette, topped with fresh ricotta, Italian linden, spicy honey, figs, and sliced almonds, not to mention my favorite cocktail ever, their one-of-a-kind multi-liquor/liqueur “monteregina,” you too would be culinarily attracted to the same fine dining experience.
But this is not a cooking column: I want to tell you why this lunch never happened—and may never happen again—because my friend fell on the sidewalk and injured himself. That fall was unnecessary. He is a proud man. And as we know, sometimes “pride goeth before a fall—in his case literally! He wouldn’t use a walker to steady himself or make sure someone was there to walk beside him the few blocks from his townhouse to the restaurant. One of his devoted assistants said, “He wants to think he’s still 25.” Read more
https://katzcreativebooksandmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ghostwriter.jpg397400adminhttps://katzcreativebooksandmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/katz-logo-1.pngadmin2023-03-05 22:34:122023-03-05 22:34:12A Return to Online Dating at 81 Precipitated by an Accident
This story is part of the CelebrEighty Series written by Judy Katz…Some people never live large. Ruth did: right smack up to and past her 100th birthday. Wait till you hear her story! Every word is true. I know because of who told me. Recently, I was contacted out of the blue by a woman named Bonnie, who goes by the handle “akaRadioRed.” This moniker makes sense: she produces and hosts a popular weekly radio show and is a redhead. Her show, Read My Lips Radio on voiceamerica.com, features “Cool Conversations with Creatives.” https://www.voiceamerica.com/show/3958/read-my-lips-cool-conversations-with-creatives. Good to know I’m one of those she considers creative, as she has interviewed some famous people.
I gratefully accepted and, in due course, was a panelist on her roundtable-style radio show. After I talked about my reasons for writing my weekly blog, CelebrEighty, explaining that I wanted to help change the external and internal conversations about aging, Red interjected a story about her mother, Ruth. Read more
https://katzcreativebooksandmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ghostwriter.jpg397400adminhttps://katzcreativebooksandmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/katz-logo-1.pngadmin2023-03-05 22:28:552023-03-05 22:28:55Radio Red’s Mom Ruth: Outrageous Centenarian Leaves a Big Imprint
This story is part of the CelebrEighty Series written by Judy Katz… People told me that I looked like Ava Gardner, Raquel Welsh, or Gene Tierney in my heyday. At age 14, I was sure I would become an actress. I was the only one from my Crown Heights, Brooklyn public school, P.S. 161, to be accepted into the High School of Performing Arts—the “Fame” school—on W. 46th Street in Manhattan: Jessica Walter—who we just lost, way too soon—and Susan Strasberg were among my classmates.
After two years there, I switched to James Madison H.S., where I got 99% on my English Regent and won the English Medal. I chose writing over acting. But I met many young women—and not so young women—over the years for whom their appearance—their beauty—was a major aspect of their profession. Looking back has gotten me thinking about appearance: How it applies to those in the public eye—and to those of us who lead more private lives. Read more
https://katzcreativebooksandmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ghostwriter.jpg397400adminhttps://katzcreativebooksandmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/katz-logo-1.pngadmin2023-03-05 22:24:412023-03-05 22:24:41Beauty’s Not ‘In the Eye of the Beholder’ But In Our Hearts
This article is part of the CelebrEighty Series by Judy Katz … My co-op on 70th Street in New York is filled with dog lovers like myself. Our four-legged friends help humanize what can sometimes be a hard city. So when a new shareholder moved down the hall in February 2020, I was thrilled to learn she too had a dog. My rescue pups, Sophie and Bindy, would not be the only dogs on the floor.
The new resident and I met in the freight elevator. In my building, dogs are only allowed in the service elevator. That is where my two Chihuahuas and I first met Tamar, a lovely young woman, and her 15-year-old rescue, a ShiTzu terrier named Gary. Though there was a good forty-year age gap between us—her age was around 40, I was 80 when we met—we bonded over our mutual love for our dogs. Read more
https://katzcreativebooksandmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ghostwriter.jpg397400adminhttps://katzcreativebooksandmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/katz-logo-1.pngadmin2023-03-05 22:14:222023-03-05 23:36:11My Pandemic-Inspired Down the Hall Friendship with Tamar and Mr. Gary
Today is Judy Katz’ 82nd birthday. She’s a force of nature who is still as vital and vibrantly alive as the summer day we met when I was 24 and she was 44. We’ve been best of friends now for 38+ years. You may recognize her from the CelebrEighty columns that are on my website SilverDisobedience.Rocks and posted in full on Facebook @SilverDisobedience. Not only does she write those columns — she’s also a ghostwriter of books who is in high demand and has completed over 50 books to date with no signs of stopping because her story-telling skills are as remarkable as she is!
A Return to Online Dating at 81 Precipitated by an Accident
This story is part of the CelebrEighty Series written by Judy Katz… Yesterday a beloved friend, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday, was on his way to meet me for lunch. We were going to Felice Columbus for the fourth time. Why keep returning when there are so many fine restaurants all over Manhattan? If you order the Crostone Ricotta on brochette, topped with fresh ricotta, Italian linden, spicy honey, figs, and sliced almonds, not to mention my favorite cocktail ever, their one-of-a-kind multi-liquor/liqueur “monteregina,” you too would be culinarily attracted to the same fine dining experience.
But this is not a cooking column: I want to tell you why this lunch never happened—and may never happen again—because my friend fell on the sidewalk and injured himself. That fall was unnecessary. He is a proud man. And as we know, sometimes “pride goeth before a fall—in his case literally! He wouldn’t use a walker to steady himself or make sure someone was there to walk beside him the few blocks from his townhouse to the restaurant. One of his devoted assistants said, “He wants to think he’s still 25.” Read more
Radio Red’s Mom Ruth: Outrageous Centenarian Leaves a Big Imprint
This story is part of the CelebrEighty Series written by Judy Katz…Some people never live large. Ruth did: right smack up to and past her 100th birthday. Wait till you hear her story! Every word is true. I know because of who told me. Recently, I was contacted out of the blue by a woman named Bonnie, who goes by the handle “akaRadioRed.” This moniker makes sense: she produces and hosts a popular weekly radio show and is a redhead. Her show, Read My Lips Radio on voiceamerica.com, features “Cool Conversations with Creatives.” https://www.voiceamerica.com/show/3958/read-my-lips-cool-conversations-with-creatives. Good to know I’m one of those she considers creative, as she has interviewed some famous people.
I gratefully accepted and, in due course, was a panelist on her roundtable-style radio show. After I talked about my reasons for writing my weekly blog, CelebrEighty, explaining that I wanted to help change the external and internal conversations about aging, Red interjected a story about her mother, Ruth. Read more
Beauty’s Not ‘In the Eye of the Beholder’ But In Our Hearts
This story is part of the CelebrEighty Series written by Judy Katz… People told me that I looked like Ava Gardner, Raquel Welsh, or Gene Tierney in my heyday. At age 14, I was sure I would become an actress. I was the only one from my Crown Heights, Brooklyn public school, P.S. 161, to be accepted into the High School of Performing Arts—the “Fame” school—on W. 46th Street in Manhattan: Jessica Walter—who we just lost, way too soon—and Susan Strasberg were among my classmates.
After two years there, I switched to James Madison H.S., where I got 99% on my English Regent and won the English Medal. I chose writing over acting. But I met many young women—and not so young women—over the years for whom their appearance—their beauty—was a major aspect of their profession. Looking back has gotten me thinking about appearance: How it applies to those in the public eye—and to those of us who lead more private lives. Read more
My Pandemic-Inspired Down the Hall Friendship with Tamar and Mr. Gary
This article is part of the CelebrEighty Series by Judy Katz … My co-op on 70th Street in New York is filled with dog lovers like myself. Our four-legged friends help humanize what can sometimes be a hard city. So when a new shareholder moved down the hall in February 2020, I was thrilled to learn she too had a dog. My rescue pups, Sophie and Bindy, would not be the only dogs on the floor.
The new resident and I met in the freight elevator. In my building, dogs are only allowed in the service elevator. That is where my two Chihuahuas and I first met Tamar, a lovely young woman, and her 15-year-old rescue, a ShiTzu terrier named Gary. Though there was a good forty-year age gap between us—her age was around 40, I was 80 when we met—we bonded over our mutual love for our dogs. Read more
A CelebrEighty Birthday Celebration
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