FIGMO's Follies

Continuing the catch-up ...

1. What's your favorite charitable cause and why? The charity I give the most money to is the MIT Alumni Association, much of it earmarked for my class’s scholarship fund. MIT opened a lot of doors for me and funding scholarships allows it to do so for other people.

2. What is the most important aspect of your life and why? Storytelling is something I devote a lot of my time to. Aside from getting a lot of pleasure out of performing (and, specifically, hearing positive reactions to my stories), I enjoy the variety of other people’s stories I get to hear.

3. When did you first realize you would someday be old or someday die? I’m not sure, largely because my ideas of what being old is have changed so much over the years. I am roughly the same age now that my grandmother was when she died, for example. And I thought of her as much older than I think of myself now.

4. When was the last time you lied and why? I don’t lie very often, but I do sometimes say that I have something I have to do when I just don’t feel like talking to somebody.

5. Which would you choose: immense wealth in obscurity or poverty and fame (think "starving artist”)? This reminds me of the board game, Careers, which was very popular in my family. You chose a goal that involved assigning how many Fame, Happiness, and Money points you needed to earn. Most people divided things up evenly, with maybe a slight imbalance. I think I usually went with 30 points each for Fame and Money and 40 for Happiness, which is what is missing from this question and what I would still choose. But I do know one person who says she always went for Fame, thinking that it would bring both money and happiness.

6. How would handle life in an arctic climate? I’ve spent some time in the Arctic (e.g. Churchill, Manitoba and Svalbard) and I could handle it if I had to, but the winter darkness would probably trigger depression after a while. So I would want to leave after a couple of weeks.

7. If you found a suitcase full of money in the middle of the street, what would you do? Bring it to the police station.

8. What is an unusual form of transportation you have used? Probably the most unusual (and uncomfortable) form of transportation I’ve used was the zebu cart I rode in on a tour in Madagascar. When I booked the tour from Ifaty to Reniala Nature Reserve, I had expected that I’d get there by car. For the benefit of anybody who thinks this would be a great cultural experience, zebu carts don’t have shock absorbers.

9. Which decade of clothing fashion was your favorite and least favorite? I really liked the padded shoulders of the mid to late 1980’s since they helped to make my waist look smaller. One particular item I am grateful has never made a comeback is the elephant bell bottoms of the early 1970’s, particularly worn with platform heels. That look flatters absolutely nobody.

10. Who is one of the most courageous people you have ever met? Why? My first thought was someone who didn’t let severe disability due to a car accident in her late teens stop her from having a successful law career and traveling extensively. But I could also go with my father, who survived the Kaunas Ghetto and Dachau and made it to the U.S. after a few years in Displaced Persons’ Camps.

11. Tell about a time when you shocked someone. I think I shocked people at work on the rare occasions that I cussed. And bear in mind that I worked among some people who had no sense of restraining their language, e.g. a guy I once heard use the f-word 8 times in a 12 word sentence.

12. Who is the best laundry folder in the family? I’ve always been good at folding laundry.

13. When was the last time you extended kindness to someone else? I try to be kind to others whenever possible.

14. What hobby or interest would you like to try, but haven’t? I've done wet felting but I haven’t done needle felting.

15. What is your birth order? Do you think it affected your childhood? Why or why not? I am the younger of two. It had mixed effects on my childhood. I generally got to do things just a few months after my brother did, even though he is a year and a half older than me. But it’s also hard to say whether the differences in our privileges were more related to age or to the idea that girls mature faster than boys do.

16. Do you feel like your outside appearance is a fair representation of the “real” you? I think my outward appearance is often more conservative than I actually am. But that wasn’t always the case and there were years when I dressed quite flamboyantly, despite being more introverted than people would expect.

17. If you could be any other being (other than human) what would you be and why? I’d want to be an alpha predator. So, probably, a bear.

18. What occupation do you think would be fascinating? I had a pretty fascinating career, actually. But I do think I’d have enjoyed being in the diplomatic corps.

19. What is the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? I’m not entirely sure what was the first. It was either Fantasia (those dancing hippos! And Mickey Mouse as the Sorceror’s Apprentice!) or Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.

20. Who taught you how to drive? I took driver’s ed in high school.

21. What seemed unusual on your morning commute today? I don't have a morning commute. For one thing, it’s the weekend. And, for another, I’ve been retired for almost five years.

22. If you could take home any animal from the zoo, which would it be, and what would you do with it? I wouldn’t take a zoo animal home. I don’t really have the room to keep anything interesting and it’s not fair to keep animals locked up in cages.

23. What do you think about as you are falling asleep? Mostly about the things I need to get done the next day.

24. Where would you most like to watch the sun come up? Why? I like watching both sunrises and sunsets from deserted beaches. I suspect that Mozambique would be an excellent place to watch a sunrise.

25. Which photo of yourself do you hate the most, and why? I went through a period in my 20’s of cutting my own hair. I think I’ve destroyed most of the evidence of that, but I know that a few friends may still have pictures.

26. What is the earliest memory you have of a sibling? Since my brother is older than me, he was always there. I have a vague memory of him helping me escape from my crib.

27. What is the best thing and the worst thing that happened to you this week? Well, I got a lot of birthday wishes, which is nice. None of them were from either my brother or the gentleman with whom I’m conducting the world’s longest running brief meaningless fling.

28. What is a convenience you wouldn't want to do without? When I was traveling overland in Africa, I sometimes went without hot running water, which is no fun. I also went without freshly ground and freshly brewed coffee for a few months, which I never want to do again.

29. At what age did you learn to ride a bicycle? I don’t really remember. Maybe 6 or 7 ish? I know our next door neighbor taught me since neither of my parents knew how to ride a bike.

30. Tell a memory that you have with one of your grandfathers. I have a vague memory of my paternal grandfather reading to me from the Forward (the Yiddish newspaper.) As for my maternal grandfather, I have several memories. I loved going to his jewelry store. He’d close up the store early sometimes and we’d ride the subway to the Bronx Zoo.

31. How have you adjusted your eating habits to be healthier? Sadly, I think my eating habits were actually healthier 30-40 years ago. I do try to avoid junk food, but I cook less and don’t eat as wide a variety of vegetables as I used to.