“Intersecting Lives”—A Mort Laitner Game
One of the games I like to play is called “Intersecting Lives.”
Note to readers: This game is not as popular as Jewish geography but it is catching up.
It’s a simple game which requires only one participant. (This may be the reason for its lack of popularity.)
Here are the rules for “Intersecting Lives”:
- You pick a person—living or dead.
- You look for times, persons, things and places where you and this selected person’s lives intersected.
- You get one point for every intersection. Try to get to 10 points.
- Wild comparisons are allowed. (See below)
To teach you this game, I am going to run you through the person I picked.
Nobel Prize in Literature winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer’s.
- I met I.B. Singer at Books and Books in Coral Gables. I looked him in the eyes and told him he was my favorite author. He said, “Thank you.” and autographed one of his books for me.
- Almost on a daily bases, my father read the Yiddish newspaper called, “The Forward.” Singer was a frequent literary contributor to that paper.
- I threw old copies of the “The Forward” into the trash or under pickerel that I had caught and filleted.
- Singer was a professor at the University of Miami. I received my undergraduate degree for UM.
- Singer lectured at the Concord Hotel. I snuck into the Concord to see shows.
- For many summers in the Thirties and Forties, Singer went to a bungalow colony near my home town, Woodridge, New York. It was called Grine Felder (Green Fields). My school’s librarian, Gussie Kasofsky owned Grine Felder.
- I read “Lost in America” where Singer writes about life in the Mountains. At times in my life I have been lost in America.
- I have read most of Singers short stories and novels and have seen the ones adapted for film.
- I write short stories and I am a literary contributor to the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel Jewish Journal.(I told you wild comparisons were acceptable.)
- Singer’s summer doctor while he lived in the bungalow colony was Dr. William Fernhoff. My father took over Dr. Fernhoff’s practice after he past away.
- Singer and I were both born in Europe, emigrated to the US and settled in New York City.
- Singer was fluent in Polish. I understood Polish.
You end the game by saying the following words: “Wow, I did not think there were as many intersections between me and fill in name you selected.”
Have fun!
Readers now that you know how to play “Intersecting Lives,” give it a shot and comment on your experience.
