Gary Rubinstein may be one of your favorite bloggers. He is certainly one of mine! He is also an administrator of my blog. I literally don’t know how to put PDF files into a post or how to add graphics; I reach out to Gary and he helps me. I first met Gary about a decade ago when I started researching “miracle” schools. I discovered that Gary uses his powerful analytical skills to debunk miracle claims. Since then, we have become good friends, and I admire him about as much as anyone I know. He is a truth-teller, a man of impeccable integrity.
I just learned that Gary has written and published a book of his essays, not his blog posts. They are available on amazon for only 99 cents. I don’t think there is a better bargain anywhere on the Internet. I also learned by reading this post that Gary has done stand-up comedy!
If there were a category on my blog for “Integrity,” that’s where I would place Gary.
He wrote in this post:
About 8 years ago I published a Kindle e-book of essays I had collected over the years. This included essays about my family and about my neuroses and also some older writings from when I wrote a humor column in college. I even included my college application essay. So I put it out there and after a few weeks it had been downloaded a bunch of times. Unfortunately some of those downloads were by my family. And some of those family members are more sensitive than I had anticipated. So I had to un-publish the book. It was sad for me to do this since this was the net result, even though it was only about 150 pages, of a lifetime of the thing that I think I was born to do.
The past four years with Trump in office has been rough for many people. For me, it caused me a lot of stress and I spent hours every day watching MSNBC as a way, I felt, to keep my sanity. So when Biden won I felt a great cloud lifted and decided I was going to enjoy my life and my hobbies more without needing to spend so much time obsessing about Trump. And I took another look at my e-book. And I decided it wasn’t so bad. I changed a few sentences to hopefully make some of my family members less embarrassed and I put it out there again. I’m 51 years old now and I’m really proud of my essays so I’m re-publishing. I’ll deal with the fall out if there is any.
Excellent writer (I’ve been reading his books since well before knowing about this blog). Phenomenal advocate for public education. Teaches math at Stuyvesant, one of the best public high schools in the U.S. (but extremely difficult to test into). Thanks for the heads up, Diane.
Oh my Lord. His standup is soooooo funny!!! ❤
Wow, Diane! Reading these. Best 99 cents I ever spent, for sure!
“She seemed to know the ingredients of a fun time but didn’t have a stove to cook them on.”
This guy can write. And observe. And think. And he is very funny. And self-deprecating, which is so charming.
HI Bob, Thanks! Did you make it through all the essays? Let me know what you think and if you are up for it, put something up on Amazon. Thanks, Gary