(1/4) “He’d knock in the rain. He’d knock in the snow. He’d come home late on these dreadful winter nights, and my mother would have his slippers under the radiator and his bathrobe on top. In the 1960’s Fuller Brush was the dominant name in door-to-door sales..."
(2/4) “It was an article announcing a new gallery show by the painter Alice Neel. Only one of her paintings was shown in the article. It was titled: ‘Fuller Brush Man.’ And it was Dad. Physically there were some exaggerations—because that was Neel’s style. The hands were..."
(3/4) “Alice Neel was known as ‘the collector of souls.’ She painted all kinds of people. But if you look at her other work, the subject of every painting has a name: Olivia, Linda, Kenneth. Everyone except my father. He was just called Fuller Brush Man. It bothered me..."
(4/4) “He’d been a successful salesman in Germany, before Hitler tightened the vice. I have a picture of him with a 1935 Mercedes Benz, and a chauffeur. I have pictures of him partying at upscale resorts. But he got caught in the first wave of deportations..."
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(1/11) “I wasn’t going to do a half-ass ceremony. You know: drive-by, no hugging, ten feet apart kinda thing. Not for my sister. Even if that meant waiting until this COVID bullshit was solid. I chose the anniversary of her death: August 29th. There had been so much love..."
(2/11) “I still have the stub for the first Knicks game I ever went to. I was ten years old. We blew out the Miami Heat that night, and I was hooked. I decided then that I was going to be the biggest Knicks fan in the entire world. Not the second biggest. The biggest..."
(3/11) “Gianna was born August 16th, 1999. My mom sobered up and moved into an apartment down the street. Oh My God, it was incredible. She’s coming to my basketball games and cross country meets. My friends thought she was so cool..."
(1/12) “We were summoned to the house of my girlfriend to discuss the situation. The atmosphere was very tense. Her family on one side of the living room. Mine on the other. Her grandfather was the first to speak: ‘You should be ashamed,’ he told me. ‘For what you’ve done..."
(2/12) “My daughter was born three weeks early. I wasn’t there for the birth; I was working in another town. And that still hurts me today. When I arrived at the hospital I was almost too scared to hold her. She looked so fragile. And all I could think was..."
(3/12) “I sold all my possessions. I even let go of my apartment. But still it was not enough for a camera. So I turned to my mother for help. She sold second-hand clothes for a living. She knew nothing about photography. But when I told her a camera would help me be a father..."
(1/7) “For my eighth birthday I received a Barbie dollhouse that I’d been dreaming about for months. Gene wanted to play with it too—because he loved all things make-believe. But after a few hours he sat down on the dollhouse and crushed it..."
(2/7) “When Gene was in fifth grade, his teacher stood him up in the front of the class. I forget what he did. Maybe he’d forgotten his homework or something. But she stood him up in front of all the other kids, and said..."
(3/7) “I’m old now. I’m fifty. But I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. Gene and I were sitting on the living room couch. Both of us are convinced we’re getting in trouble—so we’re starting to pre-bond. We’re huddled together, we’re holding hands..."
(1/12) “We arrived here with $10,000. By the time we paid for the paperwork, and the lease, there was no money left to open a restaurant. But right away we were given hope—a potential investor. He was a friend of a friend..."
(2/12) “My earliest memories are watching her cook. Our family owned a small grocery—and my mother was the baker. All the time she was in the kitchen, so it was my only way to be near her. I would sit by her feet..."
(3/12) “At the discotheque we struck up a conversation with two guys. They claimed to be brothers, but I thought they were playing a prank. Because one of them had black hair and the other had red..."
(1/11) “There is a moment I’ll never forget. My mother was teaching a class at our home, and my father hit her in front of the students. It was humiliating..."
(2/11) “Suddenly the science and literature books disappeared from our home. They were replaced by Islamic books, all of which were written by men. The rules were tightened..."
(3/11) “After high school I enrolled at a local boy’s college. I was one of fifteen girls at the entire school. And even though my grades were nothing special, I was very involved in student organizations..."
(1/7) “Sometimes I’ll visit mediums. And almost always, the first thing they say is: ‘There’s a man here with long, gray hair.’ And I’ll smile. Because his hair was the first thing I noticed about him..."
(2/7) “That night my parents drove up from Baton Rouge to bring me home, but Mickey talked them out of it. He knew that my parents were one of the reasons for my depression..."
(3/7) “Michael was the love of Mickey’s life. And it could sometimes feel like he was still living in that little apartment with us, even though he’d been gone for two years..."