The following is my June, 2010 column From Where I Sit for Voices of Central Pennsylvania: “Are you really my son?” my 84-year-old mother, who suffers from dementia, asks. Six weeks ago my mother, Dr. Miriam Pell Schmerler, stopped answering the telephone by herself. Our weekly calls were models of the bizarre, with my combining […]
Joel Solkoff
Exclusive Interview with Rep. GT Thompson on his Rehabilitation Background
The following link to Voices of Central Pennsylvania contains the entire interview between Rep. Glenn (“GT”) Thompson of the Fifth U.S. Congressional District. The Congressman was interviewed by Joel Solkoff, disability- and elderly-issues columnist for Voices. The interview took place on February 6, 2010. The Congressman called the columnist who is in State College from Tuscon […]
Background Whimsy for February 2010 Voices Column above
MY NEW POWER CHAIR Picture 1. It is nearly dawn here at my apartment in Addison Court. Lately, I have been getting up early, drinking 5 cups of Ethiopian coffee and so ending my caffeine for the day. Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Pictured here is the view from my kitchen/dining room/living room window. I look out East onto […]
Interview with The Duke Taught Me a Lesson from Voices of Central Pennsylvania, December 2009-January 2010
From Where I Sit John Wayne once granted me a telephoneinterview on his experiences with cancer.For those readers too young to remember [aconcept that defies imagination], JohnWayne (nicknamed The Duke) was anAcademy-Award winning actor whoappeared in 142 movies. His cowboy andother macho roles served as an icon for mygeneration on how a real man is […]
New column speaks to disabled, elderly issues–from Voices of Central Pennsylvania
July 2017. State College/University Park, PA. Years later, this reflection on the Sandusky scandal still rings true: ++++ “As a former graduate student at Penn State with a disability and as one who is part of the elderly community, the focus by powerful officials on football-above-all has also been used to cover up exploitation of […]