Born on the 4Th of July: A Memoir

By Beatrice Michaels Shapiro

Beatrice Michaels Shapiros book is a memoir of an extraordinary woman who despite decades of hardship and tragedy, including her unremitting devotion to her two developmentally disabled sons, managed to become an accomplished writer of numerous moving and poignant newspaper and magazine articles and books.

In a collection of short articles and a few poems, she depicts with a very observing eye, milestones in her life as well as her thoughts and feelings about society. She describes her life in the Winfield Sanitarium at the age of six, of growing up in a lower income family in an Eastern European Jewish neighborhood on Chicagos West Side, of her mothers hilarious Yiddish sayings and proverbs, of her great fondness for her immigrant parents and of their Passover Seders.

As a teenager she and a few school friends were very bold and successful autograph seekers. Later she recalls her 40th high school class reunion and the nostalgia it evoked. But the decades included a long and difficult struggle nurturing her two handicapped sons and teaching the younger one to read.

Shapiros excellent style of writing and her crisp storytelling leads to a most touching account of the life of a most dedicated and talented woman.



Dr. Irving Cutler
Author of The Jews of Chicago
Professor Emeritus, Chicago State University

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491823330

Beatrice Michaels Shapiro

Beatrice Michaels Shapiro is the author of Memories of Lawndale, The Chicago Neighborhood where she was born and grew-up, and Breaking Ground Careers of 20 Chicago Jewish Women. She freelanced through the 1980’s for the Chicago Tribune and the JUF News and has published articles in other newspapers and magazines. Ms. Shapiro earned a Master’s degree in Reading from Northeastern Illinois University. A widow, she lives with her two sons in Chicago.

Book preview

© 2014 BEATRICE MICHAELS SHAPIRO. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 1/10/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4918-2332-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-2333-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013917628

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

On the 4th of July

PART ONE – THE EARLY YEARS

A Child of Winfield

On The Street Where I Lived

Thinking of Pa at the Old 5&10

Chicago Story

At the Ball

The Trunk

PART TWO – MA AND PA

My Dear Daddy

DAD, DEAR DAD

My Mother’s Yiddish

One December

Passover: Then and Now

I Remember Mama

Pa and his Botele

PART THREE – MY CHILDREN IRA AND GARY

Now There Are Two

My Little Boy

A Bit of Candy

I Taught my Son to Read

IRA

A Letter to my Son on his Bar Mitzvah

Trials and Rewards of Raising a Challenged Child

Holiday with Special Meaning

On The Water’s Edge

PART FOUR – THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS

Youth

Angel of Death

An Ode to the Apollo Astronauts

In Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King

The Unknown Soldier

Summer

The World Outside

The Flower

Vietnam

Vietnam Documentary

Once I was a child

Seventeen Years Tonight

On Biafra

The Squirrel

On Memories of JFK… and Hope

Urban Flight

EPILOGUE

O Lord

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Dedicated to the memory of my dear parents

and

for my many devoted friends everywhere

Introduction

U pon graduation from grammar school, the graduates were asked to write what they would like to be, for the school paper. And I wrote: A foreign correspondent! I do not really know why, because I was not interested in writing or felt I had the ability.

It was 1944, a time when television was not present in the home. News, especially about the war, was related by newsmen in newsreels of movie houses and by foreign correspondents in newspapers. To a young girl, abound with patriotism, being a foreign correspondent seemed an exciting and important job. Needless to say, my teen-age dream never became a reality. But little did I imagine that some forty years later my writing would be published in a major Chicago newspaper.

That didn’t happen overnight. In 1970, at age forty, with just six college credits earned back in 1949, I began taking courses on TV via the Chicago City Colleges, from which I eventually earned an Associate’s degree. I then entered an accelerated adult program at Northeastern Illinois University earning a Bachelor’s degree, later followed by a Master’s—acquired over a span of ten years. During this period, I wrote many class papers and gained confidence from the encouraging remarks by my teachers.

In the years before attending school—and during—I had felt the need to express my feelings on paper. This process became a therapeutic means of dealing with a difficult period in my life when I had limited access to the world outside and was subjected to abusive behaviors at home. Along the way, I had many helpers, two of which I call my mentors. Janet Stern was then conducting a college level book group at the Bernard Horwich Jewish Community Center, which I attended. It was after reading one of my poems that she encouraged me to write in prose instead of verse; she kindly edited much of my writings thereafter. Her suggestions, comments and encouragement helped me gain confidence and taught me to be a better writer. My other mentor, unknowingly, was Cynthia Linton, then editor of a Lerner Newspaper. She gave me my first opportunity to be published in 1980 by allowing me to share nostalgia articles in the paper’s weekly Guest Comment column.

My writing career evolved over a period of time. Fast forward to 1984: I connected with the editor of the Chicago Tribune Magazine through a referral: I was interested in freelancing for the First Person feature. I contacted the editor by phone (you could reach them live then) and was told to send in some ideas, which I did. He rejected all of them! Before hanging up the phone, I suddenly remembered a friend who had recently taken her dog to the dog groomer. And just as suddenly, I blurted out: How about a dog groomer? Yes, he said. But not a fancy dog. He’s a mutt, I replied. And so began over a ten-year career freelancing for the Sunday Magazine as well as other features in the paper. I continued to write in other publications until 2010.

It has been an unexpected privilege to have had this wonderful learning experience: meeting and interviewing interesting people for the Magazine (and other features) about their work in the Lyric Opera, in museums, in artisan shops and hardware stores. I’ve met with authors, philanthropists and just folks talking about their old neighborhoods.

So why have I chosen to write a memoir? Perhaps for selfish reasons. I had the itch to do something productive, something meaningful, and I wanted to leave a legacy to my many friends. This is not a typical memoir: within I share a slice of my life based on my personal published and some unpublished articles that contain my memories, thoughts and experiences. The first time I ever put my thoughts down on paper was in 1948 when my father passed away. During the time of mourning, I sat down at my kitchen table and composed My Dear Daddy in verse form. Though the verses of the poem were not written in the most polished rhythmic form, I have chosen to leave them as they were first written. Not so for the other articles in this book; they have all undergone revisions from their original versions.

My book is divided chronologically into four parts. The articles in the first three parts could easily be interchanged because of their personal content.

Born on the 4th of July is a human-interest story, but also touches on Chicago’s history and culture. I hope that sharing the stories of my sons will give inspiration to those parents who are just at the beginning of their journey with children of special needs.

To the readers of this book, I thank you for allowing me to share my life and thoughts with you.

Editor’s note:

Most of the Yiddish words used here are in current, standard YIVO transliteration, except for those that have been so ingrained in English that using the YIVO transliteration is distracting. Words such as chutzpah rather than the YIVO transliteration khutspa.

On the ⁴th of July

I ’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy—born on the 4th of July. I have reached a certain plateau in my life where birthdays evoke the question: Is this the big one?

Once, in my childish naiveté, I imagined that I was the only one born on the 4th of July. That was until one day, in my seventh-grade classroom, I tapped the shoulder of Herbert, the classmate sitting at the desk in front of me, and whispered in his ear, You know, I was born on the 4th of July. He tilted his head and remarked, So was I. Wow! What an awakening!

I grew up in a low-income neighborhood and family. Nevertheless, my father always made sure that I had a cake for my birthdays, and I would invite the kids on the block to party with me. One of the boys on the block always teased me that he would throw a firecracker in my cake. Not to worry. No money. No fireworks. Not on the street where I lived.

I’ve always had special feelings and pride about being born on this special day. Perhaps people have made me feel this way voicing oohs and ahs upon hearing the date of my birth.

I’m a flag-waving American who wears patriotism on her sleeve. The stirring sounds of the Stars and Strips Forever send shivers through my body. Oh yes, once I was asked of which I was