It’s been a while since I posted on my blog, but now that spring is officially near, I decided to introduce myself to new readers and re-introduce myself to my longtime followers.
The impetus for this resumption of activity may simply be the turn of the season, from the endless New England winter to the freshness of spring, with its light, color, scents, and moderate temps, making outdoor life more inviting and cheerful moods more possible.
Recently, the moderator of my new haiku study group asked everyone to introduce themselves with a short bio. An allotment of three minutes or 100 words is never enough, but it will have to be to give everyone a fair amount of air time. This is my submission in fulfillment of that assignment:
Life Story in a Nutshell
by Barrie Levine
I grew up in northern New Jersey in close proximity to extended family. Recreational pursuits consisted not of organized activities (except for piano lessons and Hebrew School), but of afternoons at the neighborhood playground, roller skating up and down the block, adventures (without adult supervision) in the undeveloped woodlot across the street, visiting my grandparents in the next town, and summers with my other grandparents on Long Island Sound.
Traveling twice in my grandparents’ Buick to Miami Beach was a highlight of my childhood, for which my cousins express their good-natured envy to this day.
After a tumultuous teen/college romance, I escaped New Jersey to stay with my aunt and uncle in Brookline, Massachusetts. But I wanted to establish my own young adult roots in Boston and soon found a roommate, Kris, with a Beacon Hill apartment to share. It was there I met Paul, a hairdresser at an upscale Newbury Street salon with two little boys. During our four year courtship, I earned my law degree and passed the bar in New Jersey and Massachusetts.
After our wedding, we moved to the North Shore to begin family life in earnest. Paul opened his own beauty salon salon in the town center and I opened my law practice in our house. My creative life was on hold all those years balancing family and career. But one of my proudest accomplishments was founding a Montessori School with a group of parents and serving as Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees.
Sadly, Paul passed away in 2013 and it was then that I began to write: grief and healing pieces, my blog, a monthly column for the town newsletter, and my memoir which is on hold for now, mostly because my writing energies are directed at my haiku practice. I published a collection of my poetry entitled Cotton Moon in 2022, fulfilling my dream of authoring a book in print.
I currently live with my life partner David, a retired psychotherapist and published author working on a coming of age novel taking place in the turmoil of the late 60s and early 70s. I like to think of us as a literary couple, in the tradition of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre, but that is just my imagination running wild!
And remember that roommate Kris on Beacon Hill? It turns out that she is a prominent artist and haiku poet in Japan, having left Boston shortly after our lease was up.
Recently, we discovered each other through a random connection on facebook. I had given up all hopes of finding her because her last name is generic. She goes by her professional name so it was highly unlikely – but apparently not impossible – that we would run into each other somewhere between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
Haiku brought us together again after losing track of each other since 1972. Yes, that’s over 50 years ago, and now we see each other weekly on Zoom.
That is my story up to now. Stay tuned!
This was a great summary of your life as I know it, having been near you or observing it for most of the time. It was fun to see how you summarized the different eras and I think you did a great job.
Sounds like a good challenge I might like to take up as well.
Thank you Donna for your compliments on my piece, I wasn’t sure it would go over. Let me know if you try to do it too!
Everyone should write a short bio of their life and set it aside. Grandchildren don’t care too much about our early life but one day……I loved yours even if I already knew it. Unbelievable to find your long lost roommate….. technology for good!
Cousin Carol
Thank you dear Carol for your loyal readership! So nice to hear that you liked my post. And yes, technology can work for good in unexpected ways. Kris had actually introduced me to Paul, so now I had a chance to thank her.
Wonderful the way the circle has been reconnected with Kris, who I remember well.
And she remembers Columbus!
Love reading your many haikus. Looking forward to reading more in the near future.
Stay well
Thank you Kathy for your interest and encouragement. Be well!
It’s wonderful to hear that you are still going strong with your always interesting pieces and your haikus. In the distance I can faintly sense a return to spring and summer, and the opportunity to see you and David again.
Davida
Thank you dear friend for faithfully reading my posts. We very much want to see you when the weather improves, but still hibernating as winter wears on. We are thinking of you and Chuck and fervently hope he has progressed for the better.
Barrie, I very much enjoyed your short bio & my growing up was very similar to your first paragraph. Since I lived in Philadelphia, we went to the southern shore, Atlantic City, of New Jersey. Our Spring is here with trees, bushes & plants in bloom. You have given me the inspiration to write my own short bio.
Thank you Remas for faithfully reading my blog. I am absolutely delighted that my post had an inspirational effect. You go girl!
Hello, my name is Noga and here is my short bio,, here goes.
I want to live a more normal life. So much chaos has happened during this extremely chaotic year which definitely was the most aggravating year of my many years of life.
I love writing, art, singing, playing piano or ukulele and just being my true self. My favorite subject in school was Math, my favorite color is purple, black and white, my favorite flower is the Wisteria or the Ranuculus, I’m the biggest introvert, my favorite movie is either The Sound of Music, The Greatest Showman, or La La Land, my favorite Ghibli movie is Howl’s Moving Castle and I love Jazz singers such as Diana Krall and Laura Fygi. I love to write poems and musicals, I love K-Pop groups such as BTS(Jin) and Blackpink (Jennie) as well as Nino from the band Arashi, which is a Japanese band. My favorite animals are whales, dolphins and birds. I saw some beautiful birds which I believe are from somewhere as beautiful as they are migrate to somewhere warm and the swoosh of the wind in the evening made me think that those tiny special moments were the best moments in life and that they should be cherished.
I often use ” big words” and I often feel like an outsider regarding social interactions based on assumptions that no one should ever have. I have spinal scoliosis as well as balance issues . I love the art of beauty and music in general.
Everyone tells me that they are sorry for what happened to my father, but in reality I just want to spend a normal day with my friends.
I am openly gay and I have a girlfriend who is also a writer.
If I could live anywhere in the world, I would live in Bruges, Sydney or Cape Town. My biggest fears are knives, needles, heights and the thought of losing my mother.
If I could change anything about myself, I would like to lose weight and grow a few inches, and learn to like History and Japanese Literature more.
In the meantime I would like a Vodka Martini, Very Dry with 2 olives on the side🍸
Hi Barrie. It has been many years since I came to Boston, but I have come back this week for my 50th Class Reunion at Gordon College. I thought of you and looked for you on Google. I plan to drive by the old place in Manchester where you lived when I had the ‘live-in’ with you and Paul in 1973-74. I hope you are well.
Wanda, I just picked up your message on my blog. I live near Gordon College now and my partner and I frequently walk their trails. I hope your reunion was great, and I am sorry I missed you. I will send you an email so we can catch up a bit more. I remember you well! Thanks so much for writing!