This week’s Sunday Stealing from WTIT; The Blog features The Last…
1. the last song you heard
The current song is Stop Dragging My Heart Around by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from the box set. This is the demo for the Petty/Stevie Nicks duet.
2. the last food you ate
Ritz crackers, which traveled three time zones, then three time zones back.
3. the last drink you had
Apple cider was served after yesterday’s funeral of Dwight Smith, a longtime church member and choir bass at my church. I was out of town for a few days in a warm locale and walked quite a bit. When I was in the choir singing, the back of my calves cramped up; it must be dehydration.
4. the last line in a book/newspaper or magazine you read
“We’re also making it so that it maybe not possible to to do everything in one day.” This was a direct quote from the Times Union from 10 days ago about a Pizza garden opening at Indian Ladder Farms.
5. the last movie you saw
The Good Mother, filmed in Albany, NY
6. the last TV show you watched
The previous week’s CBS Saturday Morning, specifically an Anthony Mason interview with musician Nick Cave, who “speaks candidly about how his art helped him through grief.”
Chicha
7. the last news you read about your hometown
I’m stealing this from John Hightower‘s Facebook page. John, who’s about a decade older than I, also attended the church of my youth, Trinity AME Zion. He wrote: “Yesterday (8/14/2023), I did a post here on Facebook ’bout my activist participation in my hometown of Binghamton NY, that included bein’ Treasurer of the Binghamton Chapter of C.O.R.E. (Congress of Racial Equality) …
“Of the many wonderful men & women (all of us volunteers) who gave of their time and risked their physical safety, there was … BERTA ‘CHICHA’ BERMAN … also known as … MRS. JACK BERMAN … wife of the prominent owner of Berman Trucking Express …
Her background included the horrible experience of being, along with her two sisters, a survivor of a German Death Camp … An article published in 1946 included this photo of our CHICHA; she’s in the middle, along with her sisters … The details of their near-death experience are beyond any horror movie or TV fiction, my Friends … “
I’ve read that article. It WAS a horrifying tale. “On the bright side, she met Jack, who was in the Army, the start of a happy life going forward … She passed in 2000, he in 2001 … Both outstanding Citizens of Binghamton were involved both in their individual participation & financial contribution in the areas of promoting peace, racial equality, and overall culture.”
I knew Jack and Chicha somewhat. Jack was a brother of Charlotte Yates, who was my mother’s aunt by marriage. They were lovely people. But I didn’t know they were involved with CORE, even though my father was also in the same time frame.
End of the show
8. the last photo you took with your phone , with a little explanation
I had a FABulous time.
9. the last video you watched on YouTube
John goes…to the UNITED NATIONS?
10. the last thing you brought in the supermarket
It wasn’t one thing. It was deli turkey, cheese, rye bread, 2% milk, raisin bran, orange juice, and other things. I take it back: it was one thing. After I bought the rest of those things, I returned and purchased a bottle of Mexican soda, which cost $1.19, to get some one-dollar bills.
11. the last time you were on an airplane
Very early on Friday morning.
12. the last long drive in a car
Yesterday, from Hancock, MA to Albany, NY
13. the last telephone conversation you had
Probably with my wife
14. the last letter you wrote
What is a “letter”? I can’t even remember. E-mails, texts, Facebook messages, yes, but letters?
15. the last concert you attended
Maria Muldaur. Despite someone’s belief to the contrary, the 81-year-old is not dead.