Recently, I experienced the loss of my 18-year-old dog, Rosie. For nearly two decades, she was woven into the rhythm of my daily life — present through ordinary days, major milestones, moments of joy, and periods of hardship.
Carol Greitzer, a trailblazing City Council member who fought for women’s rights and played a key role in dismantling the entrenched Tammany Hall political machine in New York, died on April 3. She was 101.
Let’s talk about the man that maybe you didn’t know. He hung around these Village and Manhattan streets.
Patsy Fang Chen, a longtime leader in the New York Taiwanese community and artistic director of the New York Young Lions Youth Orchestra, passed away on January 4 at the age of 78.
Robert Heide, playwright and friend, passed away on December 17 in New York City. He spent the last year and a half of his life at Isabella Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Care under the care of a nurturing and attentive staff.
On December 7, at 11:02 p.m., my mom, Dr. Roselind Shirley Schwartz passed. She was 103 years, 7 months and 14 days old. She spent 15 of those years as a Villager, living on West 11th Street, working at her second career as a travel agent, arriving at age 70 and leaving at 85, still going strong.
I think what’s key to freedom is the belief—or more accurately, the illusion—of personal agency. I’ve often joked about what a great boon it would be to my mental health and happiness if I could start every day by losing—and then finding—a piece of my costume jewelry. Distressing as it is to lose something, finding it brings a sense of confidence, well-being, and an “all’s right with the world” conviction completely out of proportion to the loss.
Some people are good talkers while others are doers, and there are a few who manage to do both. Longtime Morton Street resident, Barbara J. Steinberg, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 91, was an example of the latter. Barbara could talk and talk, but she was also a doer.
I think what’s key to freedom is the belief—or more accurately, the illusion—of personal agency. I’ve often joked about what a great boon it would be to my mental health and happiness if I could start every day by losing—and then finding—a piece of my costume jewelry. Distressing as it is to lose something, finding it brings a sense of confidence, well-being, and an “all’s right with the world” conviction completely out of proportion to the loss.
George Capsis passed away on July 24 at age 97. He was a Village institution, whose career and life were interwoven into our community. And he deserves to be honored as a visionary.
