Len Berk
By Len Berk
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Culture A young man, an old man and the secrets of clamming
Sammy held the dark, odd-shaped, deep brown clump of stuff in his hand, showed it to me and said, ”Grandpa, is this doo-doo?” “NO-NO, no doo- doo, absolutely not,” I said. “It’s pure, clean, good mud. And that’s where the clams live.” “”Yuck, mud’s not clean; how can mud be clean?” Sammy and I had…
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Culture At Zabar’s, mastering the art of the schmooze
I looked up at the clock on the far rear wall in my section. It was 4 o’clock and he hadn’t shown up yet. I worried a little and continued waiting on customers. He completely left my mind for a while and then, suddenly he was there, in the front of the store, reaching up…
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Culture How do I love Orchard Beach? Let me count the ways!
A middle-aged man, dressed for summer, exits his parked car and approached a group of people, four of whom sit on folding chairs around a portable bridge table, playing dominos. On any given day, during the warmer, offseason months, groups of fun-seekers occupy the better part of the eastern section of the Orchard Beach parking…
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Culture Three Zabar’s dreams, one American nightmare, and other dispatches from more than nine decades on earth
Now that I’ve lived more than 90 years, at times I wonder what it would be like to be 100, or if I would want to live to be 100. I guess it would depend on what quality of life would accompany that age. Olivia De Havilland, the actress, lived to 104 and Kirk Douglas…
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Culture Goin’ back to Zabar’s Zabar’s Zabar’s!
When did it really start? Was it when I made the appointment for my first COVID shot? Was it after I received the shot and heard Dr Fauci say that the first shot provided 85 percent immunity? Or was it after the next shot, the second shot, at which point 85 percent to 92 percent…
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Culture After a second COVID shot, a taste of freedom
It’s 10 degrees in Kansas City, and snowing. It’s 17 degrees in Memphis, and snowing. Traffic is snarled all over the countries midsection and there are accidents because of icy roads and poor vision, but here in New York where we usually get the snow and ice, it is 45 degrees and partly sunny. This…
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Culture The indescribable pleasures of grandfatherhood
Her features were feminine to a fault and of perfect symmetry. Short, dark brown hair, with kind of a Mohawk frill atop, delicate fingers, straight as an arrow, and the cutest curly tongue I had ever seen. What amazed me most was that she was in the room at all when I arrived and that…
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Culture A hospital emergency in the time of COVID
My urologist and I have an arrangement. If symptoms of urinary infection arise I am to go to his office immediately, so that he can determine the cause, and prescribe an appropriate anti-bioic so as to nip the infection in its early stages, before any real harm is done. I dislike going to the urologist…
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