Rebirth of a Piano »

My mother walked into the Steinway showroom on 57th street in New York City on a bright June day in 1943 and bought a piano. It was a black lacquered 5-foot 1-inch baby grand, tropically treated and destined for South America, but the order had been cancelled. The man gave her a deal: She could have the piano for $1,340.48. “I bought a Steinway,” she announced broadly to my father later that day.

Story by
Diane Melton
Photo by
Michael Kodas

Special Dedication »

When the French novelist and winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize in literature Anatole France said, “nine tenths of education is encouragement,” he was not dismissing the value of a formal education. Better, he was promoting the worth of a kindly word, of earned praise, of a nod and a smile for a job well done.

Story by
Jane Gordon
Photo by
Julie Bidwell

The New Frugality »

"Clean your plate. People are starving in Bangladesh."

I’m not quite sure why my mother chose Bangladesh as the place to illustrate the guilt I should have felt in 1974 because I hated fish sticks and beets, but the image was shattered years later in college, when a math professor started the semester by telling the class he was from Bangladesh, yet he was downright pudgy.

Story by
Teresa Pelham
Photo by
Chris Kaeser