Tracy Kornet's Blog

The first week of my first tv anchor job, my milk came in ten minutes before the start of the early morning newscast. My newborn daughter was just three months old. I recall standing in my nursing bra and skirt in the tiny station bathroom, frantically blow-drying the massive wet spots from my periwinkle Casual Corner blazer. That little girl turns 25 this Friday. One of my most vivid memories of Nicole Elizabeth’s childhood-- of which there are millions-- was her first day of 7th grade in a massive middle school outside of Dallas, Texas. We had moved mid-year from Phoenix, and her dad, little brother and I were walking Nicole to her new classroom. Her future classmates were sitting on the floor outside, lined up against the hallway, waiting to leave for P.E.. As we approached, one little blonde girl shouted, “New girl, sit here!” Another joined in, “No. Sit here!” And another, “What’s your name, new girl?” I was stunned--flab...

Anri's Circuit of Rainbow music video (That's me on the right!) It was what I'd always imagined life would be like as a big-time singer. The massive, metallic stage opens like Moses parting the Red Sea...the recognizable guitar riff blaring throughout Tokyo's legendary Budokan arena. Five of us dancers on pedestals of varying heights, box-step and bounce...summoning the tens of thousands of screaming Japanese fans to get louder. Anticipation builds with every "Come on!" Let's go! Get it up!" we declare. Finally, the beloved Anri dances on to the stage...and the crowd goes wild... The year was 1988. I had dropped out of college for two semesters after a fighter-pilot-older-brother-of-my-high-school-friend told me he "saw Americans working" at Tokyo Disneyland . "You should go do that, Tracy!" he said, standing in my family's Tampa, Florida kitchen during Christmas break of my sophomore year. I called nearby D...

I got a late-night text from a ghost-writer friend in Dallas last night. I haven't seen her in at least 4 years. She sent me a link to an old blog post of mine with the message, "Keep writing." I said I would. But I didn't. Instead, I went on a sugar binge in front of the tv and barely woke up to take my ailing dog in for his 7:10am surgery. I did make it to the vet. I put on clean clothes and a smile to drop off Copper. But then I came home, crawled into bed, and slept until noon. This is not normal. I've been feeling this way for awhile now. As I look outside my kitchen window, thick black clouds are crawling across the sky. A beautiful storm is brewing. A few raindrops dot my window. I so want to stay home today. I am here alone. Sometimes I enjoy this me time. It gives me a chance to read, study, go to yoga, have coffee with a friend. Clearly, I did none of that today. I asked my daughter this week if she has ever felt that peopl...

Can a person learn a foreign language in just 5 days? After one week in Spanish immersion school in Valencia, Spain, I can officially tell you the answer is yes, but not very well. I just completed my last 5-hour day with 4 incredible professors and 2 adorable classmates. I am wiped. I am thrilled it is Friday. And I am so darn happy I gave it my best shot. ------------- I feel a bit like I did at my high school graduation, knowing I will miss Jules and Louis now that school is over. I snap some cute photos and shoot some quick video of our crazy conversation instructor, Professora Goretti. I don't want to forget these faces and the laughs we had making up words and putting sentences together. Professora Goretti, Jules & Luis I struggle today with my recall ability. I keep using Italian words. I blame it on the fun conversation with the Italian family in the bike shop yesterday. However, I'm quite sure I hit a wall concentrating so hard for so many...

I turn the corner in downtown Valencia and run into two classmates. The city's clean, empty streets feel like a Hollywood movie lot...or maybe Disney World..when you run into the same people at dinner with whom you waited in line at Space Mountain. Yet people live and work here. With their families. And they have for generations. What an incredible day! Class whizzes by, as usual. I never check the time. 5 hours of fun, lively, practical instruction. Today the words seem to be soaking in. Everything sounds familiar. I realize I'm catching on to vocabulary and verbs with much less effort. I still struggle to form sentences, but I am not needing to write down every tiny detail. Here's a sentence to razzle dazzle you: Cerca de mi calle, hay parques, una fuente, y un salon de manicura. (Near my street there are parks, a foundation, and a nail salon.) Hold onto your hats. Here's another: A mis hijos les gusta ire a la Iglesia. (My kids like to go to churc...

Jet lag just hit me. It's almost midnight. I'm forcing myself to write this post before the day slips by. I had intended to spend a least an hour studying verb conjugations from this morning's class (mirar=to eat, hablar=to speak, soy & estar=to be, creer=to think, tener=to have, vivir=to live). But after class I decided to rent a bike and explore Valencia. I was clearly feeling overconfident in my navigation skills, because I took off for the sea and got lost for at least an hour out of town. I mean really, really lost. I seriously wondered if I would ever find the bike store and my poor friend Tricia who was sitting there waiting for me. I am now keenly aware of how much Spanish I don't know and that I must study how to ask for directions tomorrow. ------------ Class starts at 9am. It is clear 22-year-old Luis got some sleep. He is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and conjugating the verb "comer" (to eat) like a wild man. He and 19-year-old ...

Don Quijote School, Valencia, Spain My first day of school is already so much fun! I've been placed with two college boys on "gap years" from Britain and Switzerland, neither of whom speaks Spanish. So we're starting from scratch together. Hilarious! This school is stunning. Looks and feels like a 5-star hotel. Don Quijote has schools all over Spain and Mexico. And the whole week of instruction (5 days, 5 hours/day) costs 285 euro ($334 US). I think that's a deal, especially considering a semester of this in college would have cost at least $15K! Ooops, it's 9am. Off to class! --------------- Okay, this is so fun! First, let me remind you, I am starting with absolutely no basic knowledge of Spanish. Zip. Nada. Our 5-hour sessions are broken down into 3 segments, each with a different teacher. They are not to speak any English at all, but every now and then they slip in an English phrase to explain tricky concepts. We do a combination o...