Why Does My Social Life Pick Up When I Leave The Country? And Other (Mostly) Whimsical Essays

INTRODUCTION: When I was growing up, I wanted to be a journalist. I got my first typewriter at 8 and began "publishing" newspapers for my classmates using the school's ditto machine (My fingers were always blue, but my spirits weren't!). When I reached Junior High, I joined the newspaper staff and continued on in High School where I was the Sports and Features Editor. My friends called me, "Scoop," for two reasons: I wrote for the school paper and I worked at our local Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor. I was all set on making journalism my career, until I volunteered to help out in Fran Lawrence's 6th grade class at Glen Head School and discovered how much I enjoyed working with children. During my Senior year in high school, I received the Long Island Press' John Greene Award for "excellence in journalism" and this further complicated my plans!What to do? Despite my love of writing, I majored in education and American History in college, while writing for the school paper. I received an internship to Newsday, loved the experience there, but as graduation loomed, I had to make a decision: Journalism or teaching? I loved writing, but I loved teaching more. I decided to become a teacher and subbed for a year in the North Shore School district, my alma mater, and was subsequently hired to teach 3rd and 4th graders at Friends Academy on Long Island. The following year, I moved on to 6th graders at North Merrick, New York, until I found my dream job: Returning to North Shore to teach Social Studies---where I remained for 33 happy years. But, I never gave up my love of writing.I decided to become a freelance writer. I wrote my first story about returning to North Shore to sub and sent it out to newspapers and magazines. Twelve rejection letters later, I decided to try The New York Times. Why not? I thought. If they turned me down, I could frame a rejection letter from the world's greatest newspaper. But, they threw me off-balance by accepting it! My first published essay---in The New York Times! From there, I went on to write other essays for the Times, plus the Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Miami Herald, Newsday, The Denver Post, The New York Post, The New York Daily News, The Christian Science Monitor, The Toronto Globe & Mail, Family Circle, and Newsweek. In 1980, the Washington Post began a travel section and I began submitting manuscripts. Instead of writing about the canals of Venice or the fjords of Norway, mine were humor essays such as, "The Joys of Jet Lag" (the chores I happily do at 4 a.m. when I can't sleep) and the title piece, "Why Does My Social Life Pick Up When I Leave the Country?" I retired from teaching in 2014, but I am still writing, mostly for Newsday where I have had 60 published essays. Overall, 138 pieces have appeared in newspapers and magazines and occasionally I've appeared in a new outlet: on-line. And, now, I've gathered these essays for this book. Not all of them are appearing here, but my favorites are. I hope you enjoy them!

Author: Saul Schachter

Publisher: Tender Fire Books

Publication Date: May 28, 2019

Number of Pages: 325 pages

Language: English

Binding: Paperback

ISBN-10: 1732692734

ISBN-13: 9781732692732