• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About me
  • Contact

Joel Solkoff

High-tech housing for the poor, disabled and elderly

Chinese (Simplified)EnglishFrenchGermanHebrewItalianPolishPortugueseRussianSpanish
  • Disability and Elderly Issues
  • Food
  • Architects for Change
  • Joel Solkoff’s Resume
  • Joel’s Books
You are here: Home / Digressions / “In my little village, everybody looked like you.”

“In my little village, everybody looked like you.”

September 8, 2012 by joel 1 Comment

The Village of Stories

by Richard Kopley, Edgar Allan Poe scholar at Penn State

Many years ago, on a bus in New York City, a little old lady in a babushka stared at me. I looked away, and then back, and she was still staring. I rose to get off, and she stared as I approached. And she said, matter-of-factly, catching my eye as I passed, “In my little village, everybody looked like you.” I stepped off the bus, mystified, wondering where that village was and whether I would ever find it.

Well, I never found that village, but I’ve always known another one—a village of stories. Dr. Seuss and Robert McCloskey lived nearby, and Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe only a few blocks away. I eventually explored more distant streets and found Fyodor Dostoevsky and Franz Kakfa and then returned to my own neighborhood and stopped by Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville. None of them looked like me, it’s true, but they all thought in terms of stories. At first my connection was through their characters and plots and themes, but over time I became interested in language and allusion and form. Yet whatever my connection, it was the same village. And whatever I was doing, that village was there for me to visit.

I grew up in Watertown, Massachusetts; Bayside, Queens; and New Rochelle, New York. And I went to New Rochelle High School; Brandeis University; Teachers College, Columbia University; and SUNY Buffalo. I taught English at Walden School in New York City; Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois; and finally Penn State DuBois, where I’ve been for twenty-six years. And wherever I’ve lived and worked, I’ve lived also in that village of stories.

My wife Amy lives in a village of pictures—her mother was an artist; she is an art historian at Lycoming College. We visit on occasion—I look at her pictures; she reads my books. But mostly we meet in the middle and tell each other about our villages. My trip to DuBois and hers to Williamsport are not our only commutes.

We have two fabulous children who are finding their own villages. Emily, 24, a graduate student in English at Stanford, seems to have taken a cottage down the street from mine. And Gabe, 22, an undergraduate at Pitt, stayed in my village for a while (he has a BA in English), then moved, preparing to set up shop in my father’s old town and Amy’s father’s as well—a place of digital derring-do.

I visit with my mother in her apartment in New York City and we talk about our lives. She’s been a traveler, having been an accountant, a teacher, a guidance counselor, a business magazine editor, a computer exhibit organizer, and a financial advisor. Now, in retirement, she is visiting my village more frequently. She’s reading, writing, taking courses at Hunter College. I sent her one of my course syllabi recently, and she—who first read to me, “Tom! No answer. ‘Tom!’ No answer. ‘What’s wrong with that boy, I wonder? You TOM!'” –now reads what I teach—and what I write.

I still think about that little old lady in the babushka. I wonder if I’ll ever find her village. I suppose I might—I’ll be speaking on Poe in St. Petersburg, Russia, next fall. But even if I were lucky enough to find that place where everybody looks like me, I would have to leave eventually. The village of stories I will never leave.

–30–פה–פה–פה–פה–

Copyright © 2012 by Richard Kopley, All Rights Reserved

++++

Note: September 7, 2012, Congregation Brit Shalom, 620 East Hamilton Avenue, State College, former congregation President Cliff Cohen presented Richard Kopley with the Helping Hands Award, for among other things, bringing Rabbi  Ostrich to State College

Note 2: Following the award, the congregation celebrated the 2011 marriage of Emily Kopley and Raphaël Godefroy. The couple reside in Montreal. Emily is completing her dissertation on Virginia Woolf and is currently researching whether Virginia or her husband Leonard won the lottery which made their literary press possible.

Note 3: Richard Kopley and I are working to honor the memory of Philip Young, the scholar who made Penn State the center of Hemingway scholarship in the world. We have chosen February 26 (the date Young’s landmark book Ernest Hemingway, A Reconsideration was published) 2013 as a Borough of State College  Official Day of Hemingway Celebration, an effort our enthusiastic Mayor Elizabeth Goreham supports.

Note 4. David Ostrich is a wonderful rabbi who president over the memorial service for my mother Miriam P. Schmerler at Addison Court’s bingo parlor where Lady Gaga has a standing invitation to appear.

Note 5. I came across Dr. Kopley’s “The Village of Stories” article while cleaning up my apartment. The article originally appeared as Richard’s profile in an old yellowing copy of the synagogue publication The Scroll where the article appears here not updated or edited. The intention was to tell readers something about members of the synagogue Board of Directors. This article is the account Richard gave of himself. Most articles in this genre discuss what the new director will do for the congregation, the importance of a Hebrew education, and the support for the Jewish community including the State of Israel. I will let you judge for yourself how well Dr. Kopley adapted his subject matter to the task at hand. At the regular Friday morning meeting of the “Bagel Boys”  group founded by Bruce Pincus, Dr. Kopley gave his permission to publish this article on my site, where it certainly belongs.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Digressions Tagged With: Amy Golahny, BA, Bagel Boys, Brandeis University, Bruce Pincus, Cliff Cohen, Columbia University, David Thoreau, Dr. Seuss, Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Gabe Kopley, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Hunter College, Illinois, Joel Solkoff, Lycoming College, Mark Twain, Mayor Elizabeth Gioreham, Mayor Elizabeth Goreham, Miriam Pell Schmerler, Nathaniel Hawthorne, New York City, Penn State, Philip Young, Raphaël Godefroy, Richard Kopley, Robert McCloskey, State College, Tom No, Virginia Woolf

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Joann says

    September 9, 2012 at 10:36 am

    A very enjoyable step into the story of a delightful family, the Copley’s, whom I have had the pleasure to meet a few times. Treasure do emerge when one cleans up around the house!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Current

Disability bathroom design

September 3, 2020 By joel

Covid 19 has accelerated the need for a new utilitarian architecture: Architecture for the vulnerable ( like me)

August 19, 2020 By joel

Covid-19 Architects: “We Who Are About to Die Salute You”

August 6, 2020 By joel

Covid 19 impasse: Why architects need to know how a member of the US Congress must be expelled by the end of the month and how that relates to building emergency housing at a time when its absence is deadly and dangerous

July 23, 2020 By joel

John Wayne don't run away

Rain: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

July 5, 2020 By joel

Theo van Gogh’s The Interview

June 27, 2020 By joel

Recent

  • Ani Ma’Amin: This is what I believe
  • March March from The Chicks: My Personal Anthem
  • 建筑师注意:美国新冠状病毒死亡人数将会激增;你们必须为穷人建造住房
  • I am now a card carrying member of the National Organization for Women
  • God is not on President Trump’s Side; God is on my side
  • The late great James Baldwin on racism in America
  • COVID-19 Updated Information
  • Sensuous Françoise Hardy, Sixties icon, is now 76 years old
  • Mandarin Chinese numbers 1 to 10
  • FOOD: When leading means following the crowd
  • US Representative in Congress Val Demings, Democrat, Florida must be our next Vice President. Must be.
  • Alizée
  • Zimbabwe Last Month: People are dying
  • Make sure the Calgery Stampede is up and running on July first, 2020
  • My Hebrew teacher Mama was born in Louisville Kentucky with the name on her birth certificate:”Muriel Magdalena Pellicia”
  • Cher extremely alive
  • French rock goddess is a protégée of Isadora Duncan
  • Attention Architects: US COVID-19 Deaths Will Skyrocket; You Must Build Housing for the Poor
  • Passover Message to my Fellow Congregants Ohev Sholom, Williamsport PA
  • Perhaps the World Ends Here by The Poet Laureate of the United States
  • My drop dead enthusiastic review of The Meritocracy Trap

Links

Blogroll
  • 1. PHOENIX REHAB1. PHOENIX REHAB With the help of the gifted Alicia Spence, I begin to walk.

  • 2. SMART SPACES FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING2. SMART SPACES FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING "The demographics of baby boomer aging over the next decade foreshadow great economic, political and cultural changes that could overwhelm many developed countries," said Richard Behr, founding director of the Center.

  • 3. IMMERSIVE CONSTRUCTION (ICon) LAB3. IMMERSIVE CONSTRUCTION (ICon) LAB My home in virtual reality, the ICon lab shows 3D and 4D (the fourth dimension is Time) models on 3 eight-foot hight screens; when the lights go off, put on the 3-D glasses.

  • 4. AMIGO MOBILITY4. AMIGO MOBILITY CEO Al Thieme created the first Power Operated Vehicle (POV) scooter. Most manufacturers separate their battery chargers from the scooter. You can plug an Amigo right into an electric socket .

  • 5. T & B MEDICAL5. T & B MEDICAL "Travis and Barb Barr, the 'T' and 'B' behind T & B Medical, Inc. have one goal in mind...to attend to every client's individual" mobility and durable equipment needs. I am a continual customer and recommend T&B highly--HIGHLY.

  • 6. INVACARE6. INVACARE Invacare is the world's leading manufacturer of wheelchairs, bariatric equipment, disability scooters, respiratory products and other homecare products.

  • ACCESSIBILITY FROM APPLEACCESSIBILITY FROM APPLE For the disability community, computer technology creates the ability to engage in computer design of aging-in-place housing.

  • CAREGIVER VILLAGECAREGIVER VILLAGE Using a virtual reality world, Caregiver Village improve the lives of family caregivers. Second Life, eat your heart out.

  • EMAIL MEEMAIL ME I once had a boss who loved focus groups. One afternoon at a shopping mall, readers of my newsletter told me EXACTLY what they thought, not knowing I was behind the one-way mirror. Please do the same.

  • HME NEWSHME NEWS HME News is the monthly business newspaper for 17,000 home medical equipment providers.

  • McKEESPORTMcKEESPORT "The decrease in the population since the 1940s is attributable to the general economic malaise that descended upon the region when the steelmaking industry moved elsewhere. The major employer WAS the National Tube Works, a manufacturer of steel pipes.

  • MONONGAHELA RIVERMONONGAHELA RIVER George Washington crossed the Monongahela into McKeesport to bring rum to the his friend, Queen Alliquippa, a Seneca Indian ruler. This was during the French and Indian Wars, Remember them?

  • NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

  • PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF REHABILITATION FACILITIES (PARF)PENNSYLVANIA ASSOCIATION OF REHABILITATION FACILITIES (PARF) PARF represents the Commonwealth's premier facilities serving individuals with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities. Traditionally, the highlight of the disability community is the annual conference at the Nittany Lion Inn at the Penn State campus

  • YOUGHIOGHENY RIVERYOUGHIOGHENY RIVER McKeesport is where the Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers meet. Fresh fish like the Walleye are back at the Youghiogheny, now that factories that created jobs are no longer polluting the river.

Previous Posts

Tags

Addison Court Amelia Altalena Solkoff Amelia Solkoff Amigo Mobility Architectural Engineering assistive technology blind Blueroof Technologies cancer Central Pennsylvania Centre County design featured-grid Helen Keller HME News Isadore Solkoff Joanna Joanna Solkoff Joel Solkoff John Bertoty John Messner kidney cancer McKeesport Medicaid Medicare Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Miriam Pell Schmerler Miss Sullivan New York City North Carolina PA Penn State Pennsylvania power chairs President Obama Robert Walters Sarah Schmerler scooter Sonali Kumar Spain State College United States University Park Virtual reality Wikipedia

Footer

Recent

  • In the age of the coronavirus, remembering the New York City of my youth
  • 1971 birthday letter to my father
  • If by Rudyard Kipling
  • Grandfather (that’s me) relocating to NYC to save my life at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • Why I relate ending hunger in US America to writing about my cancer survival for The New York Times
  • My love hate relationship with The New York Times 2018
  • Radio hate monger of the 1930s Father Coughlin returns to Fox News
  • A fine romance with no kisses
  • The US Needs a New Capitol City: Covid Agenda Item
  • We who are about to die…or architecture

Subscribe

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 50 other subscribers

Cart

Copyright © 2021 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.