Field Report 302.5

I grew up broke in upstate New York. {Thank God}

[Ed. Note: I’m calling these posts my “302s,” a nod to FBI field notes of the same name. I picked up the term in the nineties, back when I was a journalist. A 302 is a crucial document for recording evidence in real time - in the field. It’s the agent’s written account — unedited, uncorroborated, a distillation of what a witness recalls. Official, but slippery. Because memory is like that: precise in the moment, distorted in the retelling. Here, I’m both witness and agent. These are my unedited notes, my recollections, my truth. Enjoy.]

FR-302.5: For those of you who read my Sunday Story and were surprised by the photos and story of my Grandma Millie....this one is for you plus more personal pictures.

You see, before there was globe-trotting journalism, princess titles, Kennedy connections, or a reality show, there were the DiFalco’s of upstate New York. Suffern to be exact, a small town thirty eight miles north of the city.