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Allan Gould

Profile Updated: March 17, 2013
Allan Gould
Residence:
Toronto, ON Canada
Spouse/Partner:
Merle Benjamin Gould
Homepage:
Occupation:
Author/Journalist
Children:
My wife of 42 years and I have two children: Judah Jonathan Gould, 37, recently married, who has an More…Honours B.A. from the University of Toronto in English, and a Masters of Science (!)--really an M.A.--from the Columbia School of Journalism in New York. He presently designs websites as an Information Architect in Toronto, and lives in a condo with his new bride.

Our daughter, Elisheva Sarit, is a teacher in a private Reform Jewish Day School, Rodeph Sholom, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She lives in Brooklyn, is 31, and has a B.A. from the University of Toronto and an M.A. in Adult Education from the Davidson School of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. She is single but has a serious boyfriend, so leave her alone.
Allan Gould

Yearbook

Elementary School:

Bagley, Hampton

Work History:

I have taught Theatre and Humanities at several universities (York University; the University of Guelph; The Ontario College of Art; University of Toronto (School of Architecture), and more.

Since 1980, I have written over a thousand major articles for national magazines, several of them award-winning, and over 40 books, ranging from travel to true crime, original humor and political satire to major, scholarly anthologies, cultural history, ghosted "autobiographies" and corporate histories. I also write speeches for major business leaders.

I have lectured on numerous topics across North America, Europe, and Israel, which I love, but I see myself primarily as a freelance author and journalist

Grandchildren:

None, alas. What a joy to be 66 and have no grandchildren. I cry all the time, but my wife and I have to cope with each other.

Comments:

I have very few memories from before the age of 20. Whether this is a precursor of Alzheimer's, I have no idea. But most of my very few memories are of Mumford High, where I met many people I liked very much, and several who have remained close friends for the past--well, the past half-century and more.

After I graduated from Mumford, I lacked the money to go to Ann Arbor, so I earned a B.A. at Wayne State. The highlight of those years, beside some marvelous professors, was going to Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964, surely the most meaningful experience of my still-young life. I treasure that summer, and the dozens of talks which I gave at black churches and synagogues over the next year, until I went to NYU Graduate School, earning my M.A. in Theatre in 1967. In 1968, having won a Conscientious Objector status regarding my refusal to serve in Viet Nam, I married a Canadian-born-and-raised teacher, Merle Benjamin, and moved to Toronto (anyway!) that summer, where I taught high school for five years, then earned my Ph.D. in Theatre Criticism and Drama from York University in my chosen city. Then, after several years of teaching university both full and part time, I moved into radio and TV writing and performing, and finally magazine writing and book writing, which has sustained me (fairly well!) until this day. So there.

School Story:

I'll have to work on my school stories. Not too many.
I only know that I was dreadfully immature, and that the young women I met and grew to admire over my four years at Mumford filled me with a deep passion and involvement with feminism which I have maintained to this day. When I met and interviewed Betty Friedan several years ago, I wept when she wrote into my copy of SECOND STAGE, "to A.G., a second stage man." No greater compliment in one's life than that.