Category: Interrogating Memory

Questions of identity

Since my previous post (March 31), I have been singularly focused (perhaps even obsessed) with on-line detective work: constructing family trees for my genetic family. As I explained last July, I was adopted in utero; my “legal” parents, David Louis and Elaine Berger, brought me home to Havertown, PA when I was four days old. … Continue reading Questions of identity →

Interrogating memories of the LAST Eagles-Patriots Super Bowl

Sometimes, when my psychotherapist and I are interrogating (my) memories, she brings up the Freudian concept of “screen memories,” in which we essentially replace a traumatic childhood memory with a more innocuous memory.  In her telling, a screen memory could be any set of memories which have become jumbled together, with the affect from an … Continue reading Interrogating memories of the LAST Eagles-Patriots Super Bowl →

Querying the impossible once again….

As readers of this blog know (and I am grateful to each of you, especially as the one-year anniversary of this blog arrives tomorrow), I am writing a book tentatively titled Interrogating Memory: Film Noir Spurs a Deep Dive Into My Family History...and My Own. The impetus for the book came from a career-related conversation … Continue reading Querying the impossible once again…. →

Wait, when were you born??

I notice with some chagrin that I have only posted once (a paean to the late, great Walter Becker of Steely Dan) since August 26, 2017, which I regret, despite my assertion when I launched this blog that I would only post when I had something to say. There are two reasons (but not, as … Continue reading Wait, when were you born?? →

Interrogating memories of childhood fires

I have settled upon a term (and possibly a book title) for what I describe doing here, here and here. The term is “interrogating memory.” As I write this book (tentative title: Interrogating Memory: Film Noir Spurs a Deep Dive Into My Family History...and My Own), I have spent a great deal of time trying … Continue reading Interrogating memories of childhood fires →

Querying the impossible, just for fun

As I research and write this book, I am taking a deep dive into all manner of personal documents, family books and photographs. So many photographs… Here is a photograph I rediscovered that shows my father holding me in his right arm while cupping the chin of my older sister Mindy with his left hand. … Continue reading Querying the impossible, just for fun →

Making personal connections, 60 years later

When I launched this blog last December, I intended it to be a place to disseminate all of the quantitative data analyses I was conducting for my own amusement. Such a repository, I theorized, would force me to write up the results of these analyses into short articles. Short, at least, by peer-reviewed journal standards. … Continue reading Making personal connections, 60 years later →

Film Noir: A Personal Journey

[Eds. note: This essay was the inspiration for my 2022 book Interrogating Memory: Film Noir Spurs a Deep Dive Into My Family History...and My Own. If you like what you read below, I think you will love the book.] A few years ago, I turned 48. On a lark, I decided to celebrate (in part) … Continue reading Film Noir: A Personal Journey →

Welcome, and just bear with me…

The title of this blog is “Just Bear With Me…” When I tell a story, to me every detail and out-of-nowhere sidebar is part of an informational gestalt, but to a listener it can sound like a load of extraneous detail punctuated by annoying pauses to recall more extraneous details. The point is that, like most of us, I like to tell stories, and I have my own way to tell them. I particularly like telling stories resulting from the collection and analysis of data points. And I do get to the point…eventually.