Return to Nijubashi Bridge Nijubashi Bridge, Tokyo Japan February 1954. Mom, sister Dawn and I boarded the General E.D. Patrick troop ship in San Francisco and headed to Yokohama, Japan where we rendezvoused with my father, Sgt. E.F. Curtis. I was only three years old and these are the earliest [...]
The Blind Mule Every year, dozens of young, attractive, naïve girls are given a free trip by a ‘friend’ or ‘customer.’ They are unknowingly hired to transport goods from a foreign country, being told that the sender can’t get a visa so he needs help to import a small amount of products. These girls [...]
One Last Dance Senior year of high school 1968--69. Finally, I was reaching the end of school. I hated school, so many dull, uninteresting subjects. As my books slid into my locker on the first day, I noticed someone next to me doing the same. My heart skipped a beat when I [...]
photo credit EllisIsland.org Crossing the Atlantic - A Semi-Fictional Story They left all they had, all they knew, to come to America for a better life. The stories of immigrants are as varied as the 51-plus-million who crossed the Atlantic in crowded, unsanitary conditions. For them, the American dream was their only hope, so they [...]
Don't Eat the Spicy Sichuan Fish! Photo Credit: NPR.org Delicious? I would call it aphrodisiac quality cuisine. What could possibly be wrong with that? Glad you asked. These powerful little peppercorns can numb your mouth by placing just one or two kernels on your tongue. It’s a wonderful effect. I even drop one [...]
As a television news cameraman, I chased guys like Steve to various crime scenes, and never once did they answer a question any other way than “I can’t comment on that.” Secret Agent Man is the story of Steve Moore
Martine always woke up at 4:00 am. Important work was to be done in the kitchen. She was the Queen of the Tuscany Kitchen.
FIFTY FLOORS OF FEAR photo credit: Four Seasons New York One step up a ladder makes my palms sweat. Imagine my near-heart-attack when I stepped onto a scaffolding on the side of the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City: Fifty Floors off the ground. I was filming the [...]
KDFM Walnut Creek, California As a teenager, I had a transistor radio glued to my ear. I passionately wanted to be an announcer on a radio station. It wasn’t easy to break into the broadcasting business in 1968, but when you want something bad enough, you find a way. My friend Bill Weil knew [...]
The frantic clown streamed out of the Ringling Brothers - Barnum and Bailey big top at Baraboo, Wisconsin. His over-sized shoes flip-flopped across the pavement as he ran toward us screaming “Dr. Bob! Dr. Bob!!” We thought something had happened inside the tent and a doctor was urgently needed.