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Alex Levy was born in Berlin, Germany in 1936. He escaped in his mother's arms on Kristallnacht and spent the War years in hiding under an assumed identity in a Catholic orphanage. This blog chronicles that experience and what happened next.-
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Monthly Archives: June 2011
Chess in Manhattan
“Chess, like love, has the power to make men happy,” wrote the great Siegbert Tarrasch. To most people, his name means nothing today, but among chess players he is recognized as one of the great ones who, however, was never … Continue reading
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Becoming an American Citizen
When I volunteered for the draft in the United States, in April 1954, I was still a “stateless person”, a non-citizen of the world, made so by the laws of the Third Reich. I was not yet a citizen of … Continue reading
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Computers and Me
In 1974 one of the requirements at Pace University, where I was working on my MS in educational administration, was that we take an introductory course in computer science, and so I did. The computer at the time was an … Continue reading
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Teaching English as a Career Choice
Teaching English in a New York City high school is not a happy lot. Each day you see about 150+ students, and from that number alone you can derive the fact that doing the job cannot be done, or if … Continue reading
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About Teaching and Learning
Part of the problem with teaching is that you almost never see results. Yes, there are tests and all that sort of thing, but you do not “see” things as you do when you shovel snow or mow the lawn, … Continue reading
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All Politics Are Local, Especially Departmental Politics
The negative reaction of the faculty to the renaming of the school after Bayard Rustin, a black the civil rights leader and union activist, might have been a reaction to other things going on in the city. The Board of … Continue reading
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The Move to the High School for the Humanities
My move to the High School for the Humanities (as it was called before the name of Bayard Rustin was attached to it) was a somewhat anxious one after so many years at GW. I’d be leaving behind colleagues I … Continue reading
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Goodbye, George Washington High
George Washington High got a new principal when Sam Kostman was promoted to superintendent of Queens high schools. Actually, there were several new principals in succession. Because they weren’t around all that long, my recollection of them is somewhat blurred. … Continue reading
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“Good Morning, Teacher!”
Each year, George Washington High School, whose total enrolment was about 4,000 students, admitted nearly a thousand students “over the counter,” which meant that they were most often kids straight from Santo Domingo and parts thereabouts. They spoke only Spanish, … Continue reading
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Back at Mount Desert Island
After we left Italy, we returned home and decided to spend a week at our regular campground in Maine. We drove all night, and arrived in front of the ranger station at about 5:00 AM, and went to sleep, second … Continue reading
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