© 2006 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine We once attended a “Tricky Tray” fundraiser. It offered some excellent economics lessons. If you haven’t experienced one of these is, I’ll explain. “Tricky” means what you expect and “Tray” comes from both the French word “très”, which means “very”, and the SpanishContinue reading “Tricky Economics”
Author Archives: Brooke Allen
Shortness of Breath – Shortness of Time
© 2006 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine In November of 1995, my father, Thomas J. Allen, Jr. was admitted to Kings Hospital in London, England complaining of shortness of breath. I flew over to see him and he seemed in good spirits though he was having problem breathing. It couldContinue reading “Shortness of Breath – Shortness of Time”
Everyone Knows Father Moran
© 2006 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine As a young amateur radio operator (ham call sign: N2BA), one of the more interesting people I spoke with on short-wave was Father Moran (ham call sign: 9N1MM). He was born in Chicago in 1906. In 1929 he moved to India. In 1949Continue reading “Everyone Knows Father Moran”
How to Complain to the Government
OPD 08/01/2006 © 2006 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine I once had a run-in with a shopkeeper in New York City so I wrote down his license number and began calling the consumer affairs hotline. The line was busy. I put the number on speed-dial. The number was busy forContinue reading “How to Complain to the Government”
How to Respond to a Citizen
OPD 08/01/2006 brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine After sending the mayor the letter, I felt so much better. The consumer affairs hotline still didn’t pick up their phone but that no longer mattered. I had so much fun thinking up the letter and I was proud of myself. A few months afterContinue reading “How to Respond to a Citizen”
How I Learned to Wiggle My Ears
OPD 07/01/2006 © 2006 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.net http://www.BrookeAllen.net Originally published in International Family Magazine You might be amazed to know that you have muscles that don’t get wired up to your brain unless you work at it. When I was nine we moved to a new house that had a large field that had beenContinue reading “How I Learned to Wiggle My Ears”
Time to Get Married
OPD 06/01/2006 Time to Get Married © 2008 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com We had been dating for a year when I began to wonder to myself, “Is this the woman I should marry?” I started asking everyone I came across, “How does one tell if someone is ‘the right one?’” A young female squealed, “WhenContinue reading “Time to Get Married”
How Grandmother Won Granddad in a Beauty Contest
by: Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com OPD 05/01/2006 My Grandma Anne was a southern belle born and raised in Dallas. Granddad Tom was raised in Chicago and sent from home at 14 to earn has way as a man. They met in New York City. Anne had entered a beauty contest. In those days (before theContinue reading “How Grandmother Won Granddad in a Beauty Contest”
The Right Woman
OPD 05/01/2006 © 2006 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine I began trading in May of 1988. By the summer of 1990 I felt like I was ready for a change. My days were spent in the most exciting, least interesting work imaginable. At least we had some money in theContinue reading “The Right Woman”
Choose Adventure
OPD 05/01/2006 © 2006 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published May 2006 in International Family Magazine In 1966 my sister, Ruth, and I spent eight summer weeks in St. Mawes, Cornwall, a sleepy fishing village with a population of perhaps 200 souls. My grandmother had fallen in love with a two bedroom thatched cottage thatContinue reading “Choose Adventure”
Brooke Allen 