MAYBE IT'S ME

"Am I the crazy one, or is everyone else nuts?" is a question all women have asked themselves. But I hope my podcast will resonate with anyone who is engaged in the very human search for connection, love, acceptance, and self-respect. I will air a new podcast every other week, starting with the essays from my critically acclaimed collection Maybe It’s Me, then moving on to newer musings about how to keep learning and growing even as we age. Topics we will cover: growing up female; dating; searching for love; raising a child; uncovering family secrets; living a Jewish life; remembering the Borscht Belt; aging; facing death; laughing at life's absurdities.

GET A DOG, or REST IN PEACH 01/09/2026

GET A DOG, or REST IN PEACH I really, really want a dog. Why don't I get one? If I do, will you pay for all its vet bills? Does everyone need to be a doggie parent to a furbaby? Can't you just own a mutt? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/39395225

HOW NOT TO BE ELECTROCUTED BY YOUR TOILET 12/26/2025

HOW NOT TO BE ELECTROCUTED BY YOUR TOILET Have you ever had a hard time convincing someone that something is wrong with your car, your house, or your computer and they really do need to fix it? Of course you have. I can't help you fix whatever needs fixing, but I invite you to compare your frustrations with mine. /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/39096335

THE "C" WORD 12/12/2025

THE "C" WORD Believe it or not, I've been told I had cancer SIX TIMES. Luckily, five of those diagnoses were wrong. But why were so many doctors so eager to tell me that I had a fatal disease? Is that any better than the way it used to be, when everyone--including doctors--were afraid to so much as utter the word? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/38899150

BREATHING, TONGUING, FINGERING, or, MUSICALITY 11/28/2025

BREATHING, TONGUING, FINGERING, or, MUSICALITY Did you play a musical instrument in elementary school? Did you give it up? Why? Do you wish you had continued taking lessons? Is it ever too late to try again? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/38566885

SOUNDPROOF 11/14/2025

SOUNDPROOF Are you--or someone you love--in denial about how much you're missing because you can't hear most of what other people are saying? Why are you so reluctant to make a trip to Costco and buy a pair of hearing aids? Why was I? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/38484290

DATING LEONARD 10/31/2025

DATING LEONARD What's it like dating the star of a reality TV show like The Golden Bachelor? Is there any hope for a woman in her sixties or seventies who still wants to find love before she dies? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/38354400

PAJAMAS 10/17/2025

PAJAMAS Did you know that bridge was once the most popular game in America? EVERYBODY played. And now? Hardly anyone. So, why did I become obsessed with playing bridge? Why do any of us pursue the hobbies we pursue? Or do our hobbies pursue us? Why are we so afraid to admit we are who we really are? Why are some of us so afraid to admit we're average? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/38224520

WHO MISSES THE BORSCHT BELT? 08/21/2025

WHO MISSES THE BORSCHT BELT? Why on earth would anyone miss the funky Catskills hotels and bungalow colonies where Jews vacationed for most of the 20th century because they weren't allowed to check into most gentile-owned resorts and didn't have the money to travel anywhere else? What do movies and TV shows like Dirty Dancing and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel get wrong? As someone who grew up there, don't get me started! /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/37912525

STAYIN' ALIVE 09/19/2025

STAYIN' ALIVE Are you spending a ridiculous proportion of your time in doctors' offices, at the gym, or in various beauty and wellness establishments? If we devote sall our time and energy to trying to stay healthy and youthful-looking, what is the purpose of being alive? Is there an age when you should just give up? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/37687630

LIFE DRAWING 09/05/2025

LIFE DRAWING I signed up for what I assumed would be a very basic art class, strictly for beginners, but there on the stage stood a very handsome, entirely nude man I was expected to draw. What happens when we finally get up the courage to try to do something for which we've been told we have absolutely no talent? (Warning: this episode contains several instances of the anatomically correct word for what was hanging between that man's legs!) /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/37547505

WHY MY MOTHER WAS DEBBIE DOWNER 08/22/2025

WHY MY MOTHER WAS DEBBIE DOWNER My mother saw disaster lurking everywhere. Why did I take so many decades to believe she--and so many women like her--had a lot of reasons to be afraid, not only for herself but for all of us? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/37385360

ERECTOR SET 08/08/2025

ERECTOR SET What happens when you finally get the toy of your dreams ... when you're in your sixties? Will an Erector set help your little girl become a physicist? What do we really want from our parents? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/37168530

ELDERLY 07/25/2025

ELDERLY We're forgetting just how horrifying it was to live through the covid pandemic, especially if you were elderly, disabled, or otherwise at risk. We're forgetting how many loved ones we lost, how many survivors were left with lifetime damage, both physical and emotional. Given that the current administration has decimated our defenses against any future pandemics, I felt the need to offer a reminder. /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/36940810

THE TRUE GAME OF TENNIS 07/11/2025

THE TRUE GAME OF TENNIS Why have I battled dybbuks, injuries, sexism, and the infirmities of age to continue playing competitive tennis? What has Title IX meant to women of my generation? And, if you'll excuse me for being corny, what can tennis teach us about how to live our lives? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/36799520

SKYDYING 06/27/2025

SKYDYING I've been terrified of dying all my life. Now that I'm in my sixties, I'm even more frightened. So why on earth would I decide to jump out of an airplane? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/36679960

HOW SWEET THE SOUND 06/13/2025

HOW SWEET THE SOUND Since my earliest years, I've been told I couldn't catch a tune in a gallon bucket. Nothing scared me more than singing in front of another human being, let alone an audience. So, what prompted me to take a class in which I would be required to do just that? Why do so many of us take other people's judgments about our abilities as fact when we could, if provided with a kind and generous teacher, learn to do nearly anything? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/36536820

ONE A DAY 05/30/2025

ONE A DAY My father was a dentist, so I was restricted to one sweet a day. But our house was stuffed with candies, cookies, cakes, ice cream, and other treats. That's the world we're all living in today ... filled with temptations that constantly assault us, even as we're advised to indulge only in moderation. Which is a good way to drive a person nuts. (Deliciously rich and perfectly salted nuts, coated in the richest, darkest chocolate ...) /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/36326765

HOJO'S 05/16/2025

HOJO'S Why would anyone give up a cushy summer job in an air-conditioned office for a sweaty marathon waiting tables at a busy Howard Johnson's ruled by a hard-hearted jerk of a manager? Why do so many of us, when we're figuring out who we are, envy the lives of our classmates, which seem so much more desirable than our own? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/36084895

HALLUCINATIONS 05/02/2025

HALLUCINATIONS Why do we take so long to appreciate our parents for who they really are instead of scorning them for not being who we wish they were? Here's my version of a Father's Day tribute, a few weeks early ... /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/35841940

MAYBE IT'S ME: THE ONE-WOMAN SHOW I'LL NEVER PERFORM IN PUBLIC 04/18/2025

MAYBE IT'S ME: THE ONE-WOMAN SHOW I'LL NEVER PERFORM IN PUBLIC Dating is hell for everyone. But if you're a feminist in your sixties dating men in their seventies who mostly still view women the way they were taught to view them in the 1950s, you might find yourself wondering if you should spend New Year's Eve with a guy who claims to value you for your intelligence and independence, only to discover what he actually wants to do is tie you to the bed and punish you for being "naughty." /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/35715300

DIDN'T ANYONE TELL YOU 04/04/2025

DIDN'T ANYONE TELL YOU When I was young, my parents warned me against going anywhere alone. But how was I to accomplish anything I wanted to accomplish in this world if I stayed home ... or waited for some guy to accompany and protect me? Just as my parents feared, some pretty bad things happened. Today, we tell our daughters they can do anything a man can do. Yet the #MeToo movement has filled them with the same fears of sexual assault my parents instilled in me. What are young women supposed to do with all these contradictions? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/35461450

THE YOUNG FRIENDS PLEASURE AND BENEFIT SOCIETY 03/21/2025

THE YOUNG FRIENDS PLEASURE AND BENEFIT SOCIETY Come with me as I hunt for my grandparents' graves in the wilds of Queens, NY ... and discover how close my grandmother might have come to being one of those young seamstresses who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Let's hear it for Jewish socialists like my grandfather, labor unions, and cemeteries! My grandparents' engagement photos, Joshua on the left and Pauline on the right /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/35119675

RIGHTEOUS GENTILE 03/07/2025

RIGHTEOUS GENTILE What happens when you fall in love with someone whose countrymen your family views as enemies? What if that person wants you to visit his homeland, which your ancestors fled to get away from his ancestors? Bad enough an American Jew should travel with her Polish Catholic boyfriend to Poland; even worse if she gets deathly ill there. /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/34886035

I TRIED TO RAISE A JEW AND HE TURNED OUT A COMMUNIST 02/21/2025

I TRIED TO RAISE A JEW AND HE TURNED OUT A COMMUNIST What do you do if your kid doesn't want to follow the religion that means so much to you? What determines what kind of person your kid grows up to be--who they are at birth or how you try to raise them? /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/34740425

HOUSE OF THE WORLD 02/07/2025

HOUSE OF THE WORLD How did a Jewish cemetery end up inside a General Motors Cadillac plant? Why did the city seize the Detroit neighborhood that once surrounded that cemetery, demolish the houses, businesses, and churches in which the Polish Catholic, Jewish, and African American residents once lived and worked and prayed, and give the land to GM? And why were my parents so upset that I was in a relationship with one of the Polish Catholic guys who grew up in that neighborhood (not his parents were any too happy that he was dating ME)? If you're interested, here's a link to the that is mentioned in this episode, as well as its . /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/34536545

A FRIENDLY BOOK OF FACTS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 01/24/2025

A FRIENDLY BOOK OF FACTS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS This one is about a truly horrifying sex-ed book that has been chasing me around and trying to bite me for decades. Back in the 1950s and '60s, parents sure did a lousy job of teaching their kids about sex and love. The books are better now ... but our kids probably learn most of what they know from watching porn, which is even more upsetting than if they were given the book my mother gave me. /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/34417790

RANCH HOUSE 01/10/2025

RANCH HOUSE My parents were obsessive about keeping our 1950s ranch house spotlessly clean, well repaired, and orderly. They seemed to be afraid of everything. But why? Sadly, we often don't figure out the reasons for our parents' craziness until they're no longer with us. I've included a photo of the house in 1954, the year my parents' built it. Here's a picture of me giving my dad a shave and haircut (without a blade in the razor or a pair of scissors, of course). /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/34305405

THE JEWISH SHAH Part II 12/27/2024

THE JEWISH SHAH Part II Could the Shah of Iran have been Jewish? Maybe. What interests me even more is how family legends get started, what they mean to us, the amazing ways in which our family stories intersect with larger social movements and historical events, and how much we ever really know about our fathers. I've included a photo of Sidney Polivy with Episode 3. Here's a photo of Sidney (on the left) and my father (on the right) in India during WWII. /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/34284205

THE JEWISH SHAH 12/14/2024

THE JEWISH SHAH Could the Shah of Iran been a hidden Jew? According to my father's old army buddy, Sidney Polivy, he was Sidney's cousin. I'm including a photo of Sidney so you can compare it to portraits of Reza Khan and his son Mohammed-Reza that you can find online. The resemblance is striking. Listen to part I of this episode and see what you think .... /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/34151020

Thin Air 11/29/2024

Thin Air In "Thin Air," I look back at someone who worked for my family when I was a kid--someone who was murdered--and try to figure out what was really going on in her life, what everyone turned a blind eye to, what they just couldn't imagine being true. Sometimes we need decades to make certain connections--in this case, the ties that connect a parakeet named Ish Kabibble to our family's cleaning lady, Helen, and my discovery of what it really means to become a writer, whose stories we are called upon to tell, and why. I mention two stories you might want to look up, and /episode/index/show/47ee2211-dbfa-494d-9870-dba4b32f78dc/id/33984452

MAYBE IT'S ME

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