We live in the land of opportunity.
My parents grew up with tremendous obstacles; My father was born in Lithuania. His father Paul Damski became a very famous boxing manager in Berlin while most of his siblings were murdered by people they grew up with who were inspired by Adolph Hitler.
My mother’s parents are from Poland and her father Sam Rosenfeld became a very successful furrier in Berlin. Because they had relatives already in New York, they knew what was happening with Adolph Hitler and managed to get back to Poland and then joined two brothers already in New York City.
Mel Damski with his father’s last, half-finished New York Times crossword puzzle, done in ink.
Photo courtesy Mel Damski
Because of Hitler, my parents did not get much education. My father was so smart that he did The New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle in ink like he was filling out a form and I have his last one which was almost finished. My mother’s brother, Harry Rosenfeld became
Woodward and Bernstein’s editor at The Washington Post and inspired me to become a journalist.
I was sports editor of my high school and college newspapers and became a sports writer for the Suffolk Sun in Long Island and got to interview the likes of Lou Alcindor in basketball and Wayne Gretzky in hockey.
I became a a reporter for Newsday but decided to get out of New York because my college buddies were all doing drugs. I went to grad school in Denver, Colorado and decided I wanted to become a movie director.
When I produced and directed “Psych” in Vancouver, BC, I settled into the Northwest and became a columnist for the local newspaper and I love where I live! I am very excited to be part of a new newspaper being started up by very nice people.
