Author Archives: Linda

Happy 50th Birthday to a Brother Who Died Long Ago

By | | Jewish muse
11 Comments

Fb-Button

August 7, 2012

Today my brother Kevin would have turned 50. Killed in a car accident at age 23, Kevin has been dead longer than he lived.

In 23 years, he did a lot of living. Since he would have been 50, here are 50 things I remember about my brother. They are a random set of remembrances, most from me, some passed along over the years from relatives and friends. Together, they may give others a sense of the young man, teenager, and boy he was.

30th High School Reunion: Why Return to a Once-Dreaded Place?

By | | Jewish muse
3 Comments

How many of us have skipped one high school reunion after another? Veteran journalist Linda K. Wertheimer skipped her 10th, 15th, 20th, and 25th, but something about her 30th is pulling her back to rural Ohio for her reunion. Why? So many reasons tug at her. Continue reading →

Letter to New Yahoo CEO: Please Take More Maternity Leave

By | | Jewish muse
Leave a comment

Writer and mother Linda K. Wertheimer writes a letter to new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer who has taken the Mommy Wars to a new level with her insistence that she’ll work through just a few weeks of maternity leave than return to work. Linda writes in favor of a longer maternity leave and the chance to really experience some of the moments of new motherhood. Not to mention, new mothers need time off to heal physically and bond with their babies. Continue reading →

Parental Vow: Don’t Overschedule Summer, Let Fun Happen.

By | | Jewish muse
2 Comments

To me, chauffeuring my son to one class or another is the very kind of hurry-up culture I want to avoid. I am a fan of the philosophy of Dr. David Elkind, author of The Hurried Child: Growing Up Too Fast Too Soon. We don’t need to plan every minute of our children’s day, whether it’s January or June. Continue reading →

Welcome to the June Jewish Book Carnival, A Feast of Literary Links

By | | Jewish muse
6 Comments

Check out the wide variety of offerings in this month’s Jewish Book Carnival, a collection of links to blog posts and articles about the Jewish literary world. As hostess, I’ll include a few extras, pointing you to posts I loved by Jewish authors and a few tributes to the late Maurice Sendak. Continue reading →

10 Thank Yous to a Terrific Dad – My Son’s Father

By | | Jewish muse
Leave a comment

It’s time to remember dads a little more as we continue this never-ending national discussion about how to raise our children. My husband is not a perfect dad just like I’m not a perfect mother. But he deserves more thank yous than I could possibly list.. Happy Father’s Day.
Continue reading →

Make Father’s Day Gifts from Kids, Not Mom

By | | Jewish muse
1 Comment

I don’t ignore Father’s Day, but follow this philosophy: a gift for Father’s Day should in spirit, at least, come from the child.
Together, a Mom and even a very young child can produce something meaningful for a Dad. Call us boring, but my son and I have been giving my husband the same gift for Father’s Day since 2009. Each year, we make a stepping stone using cement mix and primarily my son’s feet. Continue reading →

Hit That Record Button, Preserve Loved Ones’ Voices

By | | Jewish muse
2 Comments

The voices of our loved ones hold incredible power of us. I realized just how much when a friend of late brother said he had found a tape with my brother’s voice. Then the friend couldn’t find the tape. I wrote an essay about this for a magazine, and readers wrote back their own stories. Everyone, I suspect, has a story to tell about voice and its hold on them. Continue reading →

Yearning to Hear My Brother’s Voice

By | | Memoir, Writings
Leave a comment

Fb-Button

Summary: The Boston Globe Magazine on May 27, 2012, published my essay about how it was so hard to remember my brother’s voice, though I could remember so much more. musings about whether to keep or toss my Mel Gibson DVDS, given the actor’s continued anti-Semitic rants. It ran as a Connections column.

Reaction: The story prompted several letters to the editor, and many readers responded by writing about their own experiences with loss and memory.

Read the article.