Yesterday was the two-year anniversary of Harv's passing. I thought about him a lot, and I thought about how he would like to be remembered aside from my sharing his wisdom with strangers and friends (which he might have only secretly enjoyed). Though this is a heavy week, no doubt my dad would have wanted me to enjoy myself and think of the good times. And so, in that spirit, I'm posting a sweet, pretty light-hearted little number; also in that spirit I …
Cromagnum man, moving to Sweden, and “do a nice nice” (letters from my father, part 2)
My dad disliked "Hallmark holidays" — his relationship with them fell somewhere on the spectrum between apathy and antipathy. But as I've built this series (started last week) around Father's Day — today — and his yahrtzeit, it seems wise to post a particularly meaty missive from Young Harv. This one lacks an envelope and, as my father was unlikely to put years on his letters and even less so months (he was more into days of the week in his …
“Try Not to Be So Introspective About Everything” (letters from my father, part 1)
In honor of Father's Day coming up this Sunday, June 18; the second anniversary of my father's passing two days after that; and his yahrtzeit on June 27, I am doing something I've meaning to do for many years now — finding a way to share my father's letters with a wider audience. My dad, Harvey Jerome Kalem, a.k.a. Chaim Yehuda Ben Shlomo Hakohen, a.k.a. Chaim Yehuda Strong as Bull, a.k.a. Mr. Kalem, a.k.a. Papa Harv never got the hang of email. Or the …