Author Archives: Suzanne Loebl

Three Family Bar Mitzvahs

To the memory of David Loebl (1956-1993) on his 63rd birthday and the 50th anniversary of his bar mitzvah. I was eight years old when my mother and I attended the bar mitzvah of my cousin Ernst Wertheimer (later Worth). … Continue reading

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Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh

This land is your land, this land is my land, From California to the New York island, From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters, This land was made for you and me —Woodie Guthrie On May 12, 1954, … Continue reading

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The Disastrous Consequences of Separating Parents and Children

More than fifty years ago, my three-year-old son David and I went grocery shopping in our smallish neighborhood supermarket. I concentrated on the week’s bargains while he immersed himself in the comics rack. Suddenly I felt a small hand tugging … Continue reading

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Public Parks, Private Gardens: The Met Celebrates Spring

Given the nor’easter that dumped snow all over Central Park and our constantly dreary politics, it is wonderful that the Met is putting on a show that overflows with sunshine and outdoor delights. The exhibit is on the ground floor … Continue reading

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Christmas 2017: A Walk Along Fifth Avenue

The world is a mess. Washington is concocting a disastrous tax plan, we’re confronting the reality of widespread horrible sexual behavior by men, North Korea is rattling long-range nuclear missiles, and Trump meddles in Middle Eastern politics. Nevertheless, New York’s … Continue reading

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At Home on Echo Lake

For the past half-century, my husband of 67 years and I have spent our summers on Echo Lake in Somesville, Maine. This year we wondered whether we would make it. My spouse is not well, and I too have medical … Continue reading

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We Need a Funded Planned Parenthood

In 1949, when my big romance was morphing from casual to committed I was desperately searching for a reliable method of birth control. To be precise, I wanted a diaphragm, i.e. a rubber cap that would prevent my lover’s sperm … Continue reading

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‘Kykuit: The Rockefeller Family Home’ at the French Institute Alliance Française (FI:AF)

On the cusp of summer, the French Institute Alliance Française—one of New York’s oldest institutions, bonding the United States and France—invited Mary Louise Pierson to talk about the lavishly illustrated book she and her mother, Ann Rockefeller Roberts, published about … Continue reading

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An Announcement

As many readers of this blog know, I have written two memoirs. One of them, At the Mercy of Strangers: Growing Up on the Edge of the Holocaust, is an account of my experience as a hidden Jewish teenager during World War … Continue reading

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On Ice Cream

All of us have foods that unleash floods of memories. For Marcel Proust it was Madeleine cakes. For me, one of those foods is ice cream. I simply love ice cream. In my birth town of Hanover, it was only … Continue reading

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