Summer's gone. Fall's looming. Time to find some moving, thought-provoking books for the months ahead. Allow me to humbly suggest that you do this for FREE:

TAKE A WALK ON A BROOKLYN FIRE ESCAPE...SEE WHERE IT LEADS!

With more than 100 5-star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads combined, the three books in THE FIRE ESCAPE SERIES will make you laugh, cry, and remember. You can purchase just one book or two or all three: For a limited time, the entire package costs less than $10, including the Indie Award for Excellence Finalist, The Fire Escape Belongs in Brooklyn. To help you decide, here are links to FREE previews of all three books in the series:

>The Fire Escape Stories, Volume I: http://a.co/84dhMFd

>The Fire Escape Stories, Volume II: http://a.co/53BnS1G

>The Fire Escape Belongs in Brooklyn ( A novel based on The Fire Escape Stories): http://a.co/5hV5Z0G

Two cousins. One fire escape. Can it save them both? 

      “Unprecedented” was once considered exceptional word usage. Now, it is part of our daily vernacular thanks to the strange, tragic year 2020. More than 340,000 Americans are dead of the corona virus. Most schools are closed. Happy gathering spots such as restaurants, theaters, and bars are desperately trying survive. Work places have shuttered or transitioned to acceptable “social distancing” accommodations. 

     Still, it is always good to search for hope, so I did one of the things I enjoy doing most when pondering life’s direction: I sought out my one niece and all six of my grandkids (including just-turned four-year old Catherine) and asked them to send me some brief thoughts on what they will remember most about this unprecedented year. On the surface, perhaps not a lot of what they have to say will surprise you. But look a little closer, and their thoughts might be quite revealing.

     So, going from oldest to youngest, here is what the kids in my family had to say:

>>>Caroline (college sophomore): The first thing I learned about myself during 2020 was how much the community of orchestra/chamber groups, and my friendships mean to me. I have seen myself grow a lot as a violinist through my practice challenge, the Curtis Institute Summer Program, and as the American University Symphonic Orchestra’s concertmaster. I also loved how our family started doing weekly Zoom calls to catch up and to check on each other throughout these hard times. I think this was a great time for reflection and growth for our family, and I hope we keep doing our calls after the pandemic is over! 

>>>Maddie (high school senior): Things I will remember most about 2020 are how close I have gotten with my family because of corona and how many things used to be taken for granted. I was also applying to colleges and having to attend school virtually. Covid forced me to find new hobbies and happiness in small things that before 2020 were normal activities, such as calls with friends and family or getting to eat at a restaurant!

>>>Jack (high school sophomore):Covid was important to me because it pushed back all of my sports and canceled my lacrosse season last yar. The election was important because we got a new president who will do great things. And the death of Kobe Bryant was important to me because he was such an inspiring athlete. 

>>>Ryan (high school sophomore): The coronavirus was so important for me because it changed the way we do everything. For starters, it just feels uncomfortable now to watch videos or movies from the past where people are in groups without masks. It also affected my school and sports life because I have to do classes from home, and sports were postponed for many months. Overall, it just has affected almost every aspect of everyone’s life.

>>>Zoey (high school freshman):  One thing that I will remember about 2020 is the change of lifestyle that we all had to transition into. It was like a flash—one day we were able to walk around with no mask and were able to stand close to people, and the next day we had all new rules! Another thing I will remember is the way this virus was handled. Our president chose his own luxurious life over the millions of lives in the country he runs. He continued to say this deadly virus was a “hoax” even after he went to the hospital for covid. Lastly, I will remember school—school has been one of the largest learning curves for me and other people. 

>>>Wyatt (sixth grader): I remember when Joe Biden won the 2020 election against Trump. It was important because now we will have a better president for the economy and for the people. I also remember when covid started in the United States—I thought that it would not impact us, but I was terribly wrong, with the U.S. being the most impacted country in the world by this terrible disease. And I will also remember that the Washington Football Team changed its name, which showed that (owner) Dan Snyder at least gives a crap about other people.

>>>Catherine (preschool): I don’t like masks! They make me itchy. But my favorite masks are the rainbow one and the unicorn one. I want to go back to school because I am bored, but I would miss (big sister) Zoey. But I do miss Eloise (her friend) and want to see her.

     Back to Me: I talk to the kids. I read their words. I think of what Pablo Picasso is credited as saying: “Youth has no age.” I hope he is correct.

Here’s to a happy, healthy 2021!!!

If you would like to send me your thoughts, and if you would like to share what kids in your family have to say about 2020, please email me at chuckwrites@yahoo.com.While I can’t promise that I will print all comments, I will definitely read them and respond to as many as possible.

Copyright: Chuck Cascio; all rights reserved.

As a former high school and college educator over the course of 27 years, I was curious to know how students today feel about most academic institutions being closed for the remainder of the school year. So I asked my niece, Caroline, and five of my grandchildren (Maddie, Jack, Ryan, Zoey, and Wyatt) to write a few sentences about how the coronavirus and school closings are affecting them. Here, in their own words, are their comments (from youngest to oldest):

Wyatt (age 10; fifth grader)--The  coronavirus pandemic is a little bit scary to me because I have no school for the rest of the year. Coronavirus is a weird thing to handle for me because I cannot walk to any friends' houses or speak to any friends in person. I have no idea what to do now. I can't be near anyone or make any contact with anyone. I do go outside a lot and am bored when I can't go outside.

Zoey (age 13; eighth grader)--The corona quarantine and the virus in general will never be forgotten and will be a future history lesson. The quarantine has left a lot of different feelings to a lot of different people. To some, it might be an extended summer. To others, it is a serious pandemic. I believe that this is a serious time which should not be treated as a time to hang out with friends all day and go out to the mall or play games of any sort. Even though school was closed for the rest of the year, it is important to spend some of the day studying what you already learned during the year. Overall, I believe that this time should not be taken lightly because the virus is killing and infecting millions a day all over the world. 

School grounds midday and midweek in the time of corona. photo by chuck cascio

Ryan (age 14; high school freshman)— My time during the coronavirus has been a mixture of feelings. At first, this time off was the best thing ever--school was out, I could hang with my friends all day and nothing was better than this! Then my feelings started to change--my parents started saying no to hangouts, and I couldn’t hang with my friends as much. All in all, this “coronacation” has been a mixture of having fun with my friends, boredom, and overall getting more sleep!

Jack (age14; high school freshman)—This coronavirus quarantine has left me extremely bored and often wondering what I should do with my time. i have been able to practice sports in my backyard and lift weights in my garage. I wish this could all be over and everything would go back to normal. 

Maddie (age16; high school junior)—While I will admit I was one hoping for a few days off of school to make up for the missed snow days, this was not what I expected. I miss not having things to go to and do. I miss spring sports and school friends, and I miss a normal routine. Lately, at home, I have been spending a lot of time trying to do things outdoors. I refuse to sit inside all day and not do anything...it was making me go crazy! I am hoping to make the best of this and hope this all comes to an end soon so we can all get back to normalcy. 

Caroline (age 19; college freshman)--Although being quarantined in our houses is not fun, I think that it is the right thing to do to flatten the curve. I have taken all of this extra time to start a 400-hour violin practice challenge where I post videos of me playing each day. In addition to focusing on violin, I have also been cooking and baking a lot more, which I was unable to do during my time on campus each week. Finally, I think this has been a great time for everyone to reflect on their lifestyles and daily choices. Fewer people are going places, which isn’t fun, but it’s making the planet greener and reducing carbon emissions; people are eating healthier because they are forced to cook more or learn to cook; more people are contacting each other because they aren’t caught up in their own lives and activities; and people are forgiving themselves for not being busy and giving them “me time” where they learn or practice a skill that they’ve always wanted to do. Even though a lot of people’s new year resolutions might be messed up by this virus, we will be able to take this time to start new goals and find fun workouts to do at home by yourself or with your family! 

Have a comment or a story to add to the "Life in the Times of Corona" series? Write to me at chuckwrites@yahoo.com.

copyright chuck cascio; all rights reserved.

Excerpt from THE FIRE ESCAPE BELONGS IN BROOKLYN by Chuck Cascio

      March howled through the Ides, each day bringing grisly new horrors. We plucked pistachios from a huge bowl in front of Bingham's color TV, sucking the sweet salted green nuts from their red shells, spitting the hulls into a wastebasket, fingers and lips stained blood-red with dye, we judged…and we theorized about the slaughter we were seeing:

      Bingham: "Soldiers do what they have to do."

      Bobby: "Overdo it just a little, maybe, bro? This war gonna kill us all; everyone in this fucking room."

     Bingham: "Who's to say we overdo it?"

     Moon: "What the hell, man, we are to say…I mean, someone gotta say somethin!"

     Fish: "Stuff happens. It’s war."

     Me:  "Does that mean it has to happen again and again?"

     Bobby: "All them people bein mowed down every day, like the cows in that movie Hud.”

     Moon: "Yeah, but those cows had a disease, man; all that these people have is slanty eyes."

     Bobby: "Sometimes that's all it takes to build the wall, right, brother?"

     Moon: “Say, you got that right—slanty eyes, different religion, different language, diff…er…ent skin. Just about any goddam thing’ll do if people want to hate bad enough. And one thing you can count—people sure enough want to hate.”

     We watched and thought and surmised and wondered and assured and speculated; to me, the world seemed increasingly littered with garish obscenities, human slaughter, human suffering, personal loss, vanishing youth:

     The Erica I met that night with Bingham was gone; the night of winning pool was an innocent piece of history; my Bob Dylan story seemed juvenile; Sally-Boy was a lingering dream becoming less real than our fire escape; the Fish I knew was morphing into something unrecognizable before my eyes, his wild mass of hair suddenly neatly trimmed; ancient Vietnamese watched their culture explode; young servicemen returned limbless…or not at all…and we sat in the now-vulnerable room of a college campus and watched life change while we ate pistachio nuts and, eventually, washed their red stain from our fingers.

Copyright: Chuck Cascio, all rights reserved