Connie, Anna and the late real Mr. Moose at the Museum of Natural History (above); The Nige (right)
______________________________
By Marlena De Lacroix
Happy New Year 2010, everyone! Hope you had as joyous a holiday season with your family and friends as Moose and I (a.k.a. Connie and Ed) did. My beloved step-daughter Laura and step-granddaughter Anna visited us here in Manhattan for a few days around Christmas from their home in Michigan. They loved our seven month old beagle Nigel. Our Nige has become quite a character, as we used to say very affectionately in the Queens of my youth.
As I served my Italian grandmother Concetta’s manicotti to Laura and Anna for Christmas dinner, I said, ”Mange figlias, mangia figlia” (“eat daughter, eat.”). That is
Only stories that are about love — and tell logical emotional truth about the characters we have long known and loved – can save daytime soap opera now.
what was my late grandma and father Cosmo always said to me as a girl. Having the love and continuity of family around me really did a lot to soothe a difficult year and renew my spirit and hope. (Originally, soaps taught me that!)
I want to wish you, my beloved readers, a renewed spirit and much joy as we enter 2010. Although I haven’t been posting a lot lately, I want [Read more...]
My friend Ed Martin weighs in, too, on the loss of As the World Turns in a new post immediately following this one.
I learned so much from it over the years about universal values of love and family. Since its 1956 premiere, it has so reflected the true heart of all Americans. 
By Ed Martin
week, under the pen name Marlena De Lacroix, I wrote Critical Condition, the magazine’s ultra popular, original critical/humor column — 543 of them! 
