Sara Kirschenbaum
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Blog :: Leonard Dankmar Weil

  1. Spiffed Up Sea Life and Loves

    Wednesday, Nov 11th, 2009 at 6:34pm

    In 1927 my grandparents, Leonard D. Weil and Grace Fisher Weil, bought a six-acre island in the Long Island Sound off of the coast of Stony Creek, Connecticut. The island was known as Two Tree Island, and Outer Island, as it was the furthest out in the sound. The purchase was a first anniversary present to each other – an extravagance that they knew would never be matched. They moved onto the island and lived out their lives on this beautiful isle. My grandfather had recently graduated from Yale Drama School and went on to be a life-long writer. My grandparents had four children; my mother, Susan, is the second eldest. My mother recently handed me a folder containing 215 pages of an island memoir her father had written, sporadically and in various formats, from 1927 – 1932. SEA LIFE AND LOVES is a free-standing piece that was tucked into the folder. I believe it was written in 1927 and 1928. One character that may need explaining is Addison. He was a lobsterman who had spent much of his boyhood helping the previous owner of the island, Professor Verrell of Yale University. Addison took my grandparents under his wing, showing them the workings of island living and becoming a dear friend for life.

  2. A Surprise Trip to Outer Island

    Tuesday, Aug 18th, 2009 at 10:57am

    For my recent fiftieth birthday my mom, Susan Weil, dreamed up a surprise trip to Outer Island - the island her father and mother bought in 1927. The island was sold in the early sixties (at the direction of my grandmother's will - she didn't want her kids following her dream - she wanted them to follow their own dreams)(although as far as I am concerned I don't see anything wrong with following your grandparent's dreams!). Since I have been working hard with my grandfather's island memoir, mom knew it would be extra special for me to go to the island. I hadn't been there since I was 3.

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  3. A Solution for World Peace

    Tuesday, Jun 09th, 2009 at 3:48pm

    Many of you know that I have discovered a draft of my grandfather's memoir about Outer Island - an island he bought his wife for their first anniversary. On the island he made a transformation from a well-to-do young man groomed to be a stock broker to an island man. Here is a section where he talks lovingly about his daily chores.

  4. Detritus

    Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 2:59pm

    My poet friend Beth Enson has told me that I am good at describing detritus. I took it as a compliment. Now I see where I get it from. Here is a section of text from my grandfather's memoir that I am working on. I try to type up 5 pages a day. I found this section today where he describes some of the unseen things he and my grandmother bought when they, on impulse, bought an island from the estate of a deceased professor at Yale:

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  5. Reflections on a Recession/Depression

    Thursday, Apr 23rd, 2009 at 4:26pm

    I have been working on editing my grandfather's several attempts at a writing a memoir about the island he bought in 1927. He gave up the life he was groomed for as a business man and lived with his wife and kids on an island, fishing and lobstering. I have about 215 pages - about 60 of which are handwritten. Everything is out of order and not one single essay is complete. There are at least five page ones and lots of strange pagination systems. I found this one-page fragment of reflections on the stock market crash of 1930. It seems relevant to our own age of excesses. Enjoy the wonderful work of my grandfather, Leonard Dankmar Weil! (I have left the text exactly as I found it - for now. I have not corrected spelling or punctuation. That will come later)

  6. The Book Coalesces

    Tuesday, Apr 07th, 2009 at 4:22pm

    I have finished reading through all 215 pages of notes and typing that I have from my grandfather. I see a book which doesn't try to present a seamless story - because there is not one. I think I am looking at pieces of 6 or 7 attempts to write about his island - Outer Island. None are complete. I see the book being a compendium of writing and photographs. There is definitely a cohesive narrative with a clear beginning, a hefty middle, and hints of a conclusion. The narrative clearly goes from 1927 through 1932. I believe that most of it was written in 1932. The fall of the stock market is a pivotal point in the narrative with their change in means shifting the look of their experiment but not their joy in the island. With the fall of the stock market they shift into a more focused attempt at self-sufficiency on their little island. I hope to get a small self-published edition of the book within a year. It seems relevant to our own days of over-indulgence and a stock market "correction."

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  7. Leonard Dankmar Weil Himself

    Wednesday, Apr 01st, 2009 at 2:18pm

    Here is a picture of my grandfather - the wonderful writer. I am looking forward to editing his nonfiction writing into a cohesive memoir.

  8. Buried Treasure - Part Two

    Monday, Mar 30th, 2009 at 1:43pm

    Here is the conclusion of (my grandfather) Leonard Dankmar Weil's piece called Sea Life and Loves. It takes place in 1927 and was written, I believe, a few years later. It is about their life on Outer Island in the Long Island Sound, off the coast of Connecticut. It is presented as written, completely unedited - that will come later.

  9. Buried Treasure

    Monday, Mar 16th, 2009 at 11:44am

    What follows is about half of a piece I found in my grandfather's - Leonard Dankmar Weil's - non-fiction writing about an island he bought for his new wife (or did they buy it together?) on their first anniversary. It is called Sea Life and Loves. Some background information: Grace and Leonard are newlyweds. The island is Outer Island in the Long Island Sound. Addison is a neighbor lobsterman.

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