Puerto Rico, 1987 (Age 11)

A family classic! The "Steve" video, in two parts. From one of our Puerto Rico trips, Caribe Hilton. This dude Steve came up to us and offered to film us for ten bucks or something. The colors were a little off but hey it's a nice doccumentation of the family and the hotel grounds. Enjoy the totally not staged antics of me, Jene, mom, and dad.

Mom & More in '89

 

Here's a video from my mom's book signing (The Port of Missing Men by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith) at our hometown bookshop in 1989. This was her third published novel and many family members, neighbors, and friends turned out.

My dad filmed the action on our old giant video camera that you'd pop VHS tapes directly into. He is also the narrator/interviewer/agitator. What you see is unedited. I don't know why he stopped filming (or went back and started taping over) that one intro section.

While watching, I was wondering where I was, until my friend Mike's mom comes in and gives a baseball update! We played for Squash's in Pony League that summer, and it sounds like one of us was twirling a gem in the midst of this book extravaganza.

Books on the Common is still in business at the same location in Ridgefield in 2023! Sadly the longtime owner, Sally Ruggles, formerly Sally Silbernagel, died last summer; she is visible at the beginning and end of the video.

See the video description on the YouTube page for the full list of attendees!

Thanks to my sister, Jene, for holding onto this video all these years!