One of the ironies of author E. M. Kahn’s life is that while growing up in Brooklyn, he wanted nothing more than to escape, and by 17 felt more at home in Greenwich Village, than in East Flatbush. Now he lives back in Brooklyn, in what had long been an old Irish Catholic area, and couldn’t imagine living amid the noise, dirt and traffic of Manhattan.
Sailing became a major part of his life starting quite unexpectedly with lessons up on City Island, in the Bronx, in the mid 1970’s. During the next 3 decades he owned six boats and cruised extensively all the length of Long Island Sound, New York Harbor, the Hudson River, Cape Cod and the Caribbean. Along the way he did some small boat racing, which he still considers the best training for learning to control a boat in any weather.
Though he graduated from Bard College with a major in literature and political science, he went into custom woodworking and while he no longer runs a business, he is now doing free lance work. He jokes that being a carpenter was a cover identity so no one would think he was queer. With the publication of DEEP WATER: A SAILOR’S PASSAGE, Mr. Kahn says he no longer worries about that.
Currently without a boat, and very happy about that, he lives with a companion in the house in Brooklyn that is mentioned in his memoir. He also shares his life with two dogs, Dachshunds, and admits that he has become a total pushover when they want to sleep next to him. He and his mini Dachshund, Frieda (shown here), are enrolled as a team with the Good Dog Foundation of Brooklyn, and make weekly visits to the sick and elderly to provide solace and emotional support. For more info see:
http://www.thegooddogfoundation.org/overview.html
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