My brother Jo was circumcised at home when he was nine. I was thirteen. It was not unusual for three- to five-year-old boys to be circumcised at home in the 60’s in Malaysia. But to wait till your child was nine was almost irresponsible, and maybe even dangerous....
Thoughts from Under the Tree Sitting beneath the craggy live oak Its dappled shade falling on my own limbs So peacefully, So quietly. It’s a time to let my mind wander. So, why does it lead me to Wounds, both fresh and old Angers and affronts, both real and imagined?...
One of my earliest memories is running naked through the house after my evening bath to find my father, my Papa, for the nightly ritual of his taking me into his arms, and calling me his little “Naktfrosch” (naked frog). But it was not the frog label that stuck as a...
Those times were BP, Before Penicillin, and there were a number of serious childhood illnesses, which were expected for most children, like rites of passage. I only know from being told that my first severe illness, which had to have included some pain, was a kidney infection when I was just a baby. I don’t know how this was treated, but the after-effects would follow me into my teens due to my mother’s lifelong concern for my plumbing […]
The Rock That Swallows Mothers(Illustration courtesy of esplanade.com) When I was a […]
Constantly by Cliff Richard or How I Learned English
Bucktooth(image courtesy of Vintage Everyday) When my mother […]
Chapter 4. Challenges and CelebrationsThose times were BP, Before Penicillin, and there were a number of serious childhood illnesses, which were expected for most children, like rites of passage. I only know from being told that my first severe illness, which had to have included some pain, was a kidney infection when I was just a baby. I don’t know how this was treated, but the after-effects would follow me into my teens due to my mother’s lifelong concern for my plumbing […]
Chapter 3. Coping With Change1943 – The shelves in German stores may have […]