Phyllis Eisenstein

As long as I could remember, I had looked forward to a handful of wonderful events - a total eclipse of the sun, the return of Halley's Comet, and the first trip to the Moon. I've still never seen that eclipse, and Halley's comet was a disappointment, but my sense of wonder was diamond-bright on that July 20, 1969.

I consider myself almost a Californian at this point, because I've been here long enough. Obviously, when I first came to the land of blond-haired, blue-eyed surfer types, I was the sardonic, sarcastic, liquor-swilling, chain-smoking, dark-haired, dark-eyed guy from New York.