Author Archives: Suzanne Loebl

Wishing Upon A Star

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Suzanne Loebl

The eve before his birthday, my son David and I would imagine him flying to a magic star where every wish of a four, five, or six-year-old…would be granted. As appropriate the star would be stocked with favorite foods, limitless … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged aids, birthday, birthdays, compassionatefriends, david, family stories, pneumocystis pneumonia, prejudice, son, star, the mothers' group, wish, wishes, wishing | Leave a comment

The Scream: Or On Almost Owning A Munch

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Suzanne Loebl

Currently the Museum of Modern Art in New York is exhibiting a version of The Scream by Edvard Munch. Leon Black, a member of the Board of Trustees, who paid $119.9 million for it at a Sotheby’s. The price is … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged auction, edvard munch, family stories, Leon Black, Madonna, moma, Munch, Munch Museet, museum of modern art, Norway, Oslo, Pastel, sotheby's, Storm, the scream | 1 Comment

Inventing Abstraction: How a Radical Idea Changed Modern Art

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Suzanne Loebl

Fittingly, New York’s Museum of Modern Art opened the centennial exhibition of Inventing Abstraction before the end of 2012. It is a very handsome show, full of varied and vigorous pictures celebrating a new medium that since has swept the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged abstract art, art collecting, art collection, collection, das kreisen, family story, inventing abstraction, kestnergesellschaft, kurt schwitters, masked ball, merzbild, modern art, moma, museum of modern art, new york, pablo picasso, picasso, schwitters, sonia delaunay, sonia delaunay-terk, the cherry picture, the revolving | 1 Comment

Zabar’s and Food Memories

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Suzanne Loebl

The other day I stopped at Zabar’s. There was a time that I went there weekly though I lived seventy-five blocks further uptown. This was before the food revolution, and the store was the closest one to fill some of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged childhood stories, cold cuts, german food, honesty, landjaeger, liptauer, new york city, new york institutions, picky eaters, zabar's | Leave a comment

Gun Ownership by the Innocent or Unskilled

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Suzanne Loebl

In the wake of Newtown, Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s suggestion that we arm schoolteachers so as to prevent future massacres reminded me of the time my mother acquired a revolver. My mother was a bit paranoid. Our front door had … Continue reading →

Posted in family stories, politics | Tagged belgium, columbine, family stories, germany, gun control, gun control debate, gun control laws, gun laws, guns, hitler, mom, nazi germany, newtown, world war ii | 3 Comments

Kristallnacht

Posted on November 17, 2012 by Suzanne Loebl

Friday, November 9th, was the 74th anniversary of Kristallnacht (The Night of Broken Glass), when the Nazi hoodlums, aided by many ordinary Germans and Austrians, unleashed their fury on their Jewish fellow citizens. One thousand synagogues were burnt. Seven thousand … Continue reading →

Posted in history | Tagged at the mercy of strangers, cornelia street cafe, entertaining science, hidden children, holocaust, holocaust survivors, jfsa, kristallnacht, nazi germany, new york city college of technology, roald hoffmann, the question of forgiveness, world war ii | 1 Comment

Neatness: A Sign of Godliness or Compulsion?

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Suzanne Loebl

Occasionally, when I was a child, I’d come home from school and find my clothes, books, crayons, drawing pad, and a stuffed animal or two, all piled high in the hall. My mother had had enough of my mess and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged adhd, asja, childhood stories, cleanliness, clutter, messiness, musings, neatness, psychology of neatness | Leave a comment

The Rockefeller Women

Posted on September 16, 2012 by Suzanne Loebl

Since 1908, the year Nelson Rockefeller was born here on Mount Desert Island, part of the family has summered here ever since. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. was one of the three fathers of Acadia National Park. The Rockefeller women have … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acadia national park, america's medicis, ann rockefeller roberts, cettie rockefeller, college of the atlantic, environment, environmentalism, grief, grieving, laura spelman rockefeller, loss, maine, mary louise pierson, mary r. morgan, michael rockefeller, mission of mermaids, mount desert island, mr. rockefeller's roads, nelson rockefeller, rockefeller women, rockefellers, susan rockefeller, the mothers' group, twinless twins | 4 Comments

Trash!

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Suzanne Loebl

One of the rituals of my summer is to go to the local dump, more elegantly called the “recycling center.” Mount Desert, my township here in Maine, includes the residences of Martha Stewart, many Rockefellers, Zbigniew Brzezinski (security advisor to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cloth bags, ecology, environment, environmentalism, garbage, maine, mission of the mermaids, mount desert island, plastic, plastic bag ban, plastic bags, recycling, reuse and recycle, trash, waste | Leave a comment

Apologies to Methusaleh

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Suzanne Loebl

We had left at 7 AM and now my husband and I, both thirty-something, were resting up in the Indian Gardens, the oasis midway between the southern rim of the Grand Canyon and its bottom. Wistfully, we looked at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged age, grand canyon, hiking, maine, methusaleh, monhegan, pete seeger, summer | 2 Comments