Anita Weinberg

It begins over 60 years ago when my father, a trade journalist and struggling writer, dreamed of making a difference in the world through his writing. The story goes that the leader of one of the industries he covered, enamored by his passion, hired a jeweler to interview my father and design a piece of jewelry for him.  Odd he went along with this plan; he never knew for certain who hired the jeweler, and my father wore no jewelry, not even a wedding band.

What the jeweler created has become a family heirloom. A flat, circular piece of silver, grounded by a globe in the middle, held in place by four axles, and surrounded by a plume pen and a gavel:  his world, anchored by my mother and his three daughters, and embraced by his devotion to writing, free speech, and justice.

It was made for my father as a tie pin.  I never saw him wear a tie without it.  When he died, my sister made it into a pendant for our mother.  She wore the necklace every day and, as she slept, for the next 21 years.  And when she died, my sisters and I agreed I could inherit it because it captures my world: my husband - a writer; our three children; and my quest for social justice.