Barbara Heymann Goldberg

Profile Updated: April 18, 2023
Residing In: Chevy Chase, MD USA
Homepage: BarbaraGoldberg8@gmail.com
Occupation: Series Editor, International Editions; The Word Works (non-profit literary press). Former visiting writer, American University MFA program; former senior speechwriter, AARP; former radio script writer, Harry Reasoner, CBS News.
Children: Benjamin, born 1973; Jesse, born 1975. Benjamin works for the State Department, Bureau of Intelligence More…and Research (Japan/far eastern desk). Jesse is a neuroscientist, with a lab at Cornell University.
Comments:

went on for an MA, MEd and an MFA in poetry. Taught in el barrio in NYC, at George Washington, U. of Maryland and American universities; wrote Harry Reasoner's radio scripts; started writing poetry when i was 30 (though had written fiction/plays before). Now have 4 poetry books; books of translation, received 2 fellowships from National Endowment for the Arts and published widely. For my daily bread I have run a magazine and been senior speechwriter for AARP. Since retired, have fed my hunger for knowledge about terrorism, mideast, pakistan etc. to what purpose, i have no idea! love to give readings and have in States, Canada and Israel.

School Story:

Anyone remember the Music Room? You had to have a key and you could lock it from the inside and make out in privacy. It was a jealously guarded secret! Also, i was in Junior Show and remember singing, with an exaggerated New York accent, "You were wrong, Katie Glib, you were wrong." Or the time in baby philosophy (later to become my major) when professor (shall remain unnamed) was expounding on Descartes' I-think-therefore-i-am, which is what made us humans, and i said we didn't know yet whether animals could think, but maybe dolphins? bees? and the coup de grace: what really sets humans apart is that we are the only animal where the female of the species can have an orgasm." This was on hearsay, only! Did not make a friend that day...Since graduation there have been articles on the sex lives of dolphins....

What did you do right out of college?

Got married, moved to Paris and lived there for a year, then Brussels, returning to US after 2 years, then Followed husband (#1) to Boston where he completed a Business Degree at Harvard.

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Apr 26, 2023 at 3:40 PM

Posted on: Apr 26, 2023 at 4:33 AM

Apr
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Apr 20, 2023 at 4:42 PM

Well, well, well! Answer of course is "hope is that thing with feathers..." and that seminary is you know where!

Apr
18
Apr 18, 2023 at 2:45 PM
Barbara Heymann Goldberg has a birthday today. New comment added.
Apr 26, 2022 at 4:43 PM

Posted on: Apr 26, 2022 at 4:33 AM

Apr 26, 2021 at 4:33 AM
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Oct 05, 2020 at 8:27 PM

Posted on: Oct 03, 2020 at 5:32 PM

Ocean Vuong is really a poet - a fabulous writer. I've read the book you mention, many find it disorienting because it doesn't proceed in a rational way, rather associatively. Apparently some really well-known writer took him under his wing. Otherwise that skinny, gay Vietnamese kid couldn't have risen so fast to the upper echelons of contemporary American letters. He has a spectacular book of poems: Night Sky With Exit Wounds.
A MacArthur genius. I have nothing but admiration for him, though i don't know him personally.

Apr 26, 2020 at 4:36 AM
Barbara Heymann Goldberg has left an In Memory comment for her Profile.
Feb 18, 2020 at 4:33 PM

Karen had a warm and generous heart.  All who knew her have emphasized that.  It's ironic her heart was, at the end,  the very organ that failed.  Throughout her life she had a contagious joie de vivre, and kept herself fit and vigorous.  The last memories of Karen were, indeed, of the 50 reunion.  That, and junior show, where some genius (maybe Karen?) paired me with Sally Donner to sing "You Were Wrong, Kaatie Glibbs You Were Wrong!"  That was the short and tall of it, one of my favorite college events.

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Jan 14, 2020 at 5:30 PM
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Aug 17, 2017 at 1:25 PM

Posted on: Aug 17, 2017 at 1:25 PM

Apr 26, 2017 at 4:33 AM
Jan 25, 2017 at 6:31 PM

Wonderful letter to that unbelievably misguided Bannon. Thanks.

Apr 26, 2016 at 4:33 AM
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Jul 28, 2015 at 12:26 AM

Posted on: Jul 18, 2015 at 5:26 PM

Cover of my new poetry book - have no fear! only 29 pages: Kingdom of Speculation. Got a knockout review from Kirkus Review!

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Jun 22, 2015 at 7:07 PM
Apr 26, 2015 at 4:34 AM
May 11, 2014 at 11:28 AM

Didn't we sing "you were wrong" all those years ago? Happy birthday.

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Posted: Dec 17, 2013 at 1:30 AM