Listen to your mother...

My mother has imparted many lessons to me over the years, but there are certain rules, certain life parameters she has given extra weight to, in an effort to ensure they truly sink in. To name just a few: "Family is everything," "Never be ashamed of putting ice in your white wine," "Everyone drinks, you can always call a cab," and "Always add in the shipping and handling on any QVC purchase, cause that's how they get ya'!"

I recently broke one of her cardinal rules: "Never talk to local newspeople. You'll only come off crazy."

Recently at work, we were discussing the ordering of new letterhead. Our new Marketing Director questioned the use of the apostrophe in our address (80 St. Mark's Place). He said he noticed that the street signs do not have an apostrophe and therefore the possessive "Mark's" must be incorrect. This was a shocking, though perfectly reasonable argument to me. It was like finding out that Santa doesn't exist or that you don't actually need to wait a half-hour after eating before swimming - blind faith evaporates with the use of some simple logic that's been staring you in the face all along. It leaves you with questions about everything else you take for granted.

I never noticed the absence of the apostrophe on the street signs or on any of the other businesses that agreed with said signs. Could I have been wrong all these years? So I did a little research, calling 311, the Manhattan Borough President's Office, and the Department of Transportation. The street signs were right. The city of New York did not use the apostrophe. So we adjusted our letterhead.

A few weeks later a reporter for The Villager came to our box office and asked us why we used the apostrophe when others did not? She was writing an article on the very debate I had just lost! While our box office manager could care less (she was busy and this was just one more in a long line of crazy people walking in to bother us about something stupid), I jumped up and starting talking to her about our recent dilemma. You can read the article here, but as for my quote?

Joining the ranks of the apostrophe conflicted is the Pearl Theater Company, between First and Second Aves., housed at, according to a big overhead sign, "Theater 80 St. Marks." In contrast, the delivery notice taped to the door of the theater gives the address as 80 St. Mark’s (with apostrophe). As it turns out, the delivery sign is the last vestige of the Old Order. Matthew Coleman, associate marketing director, explained that for the 10 years since the repertory company has resided here, they had always used an apostrophe on all their letterhead and material. Then just three months ago, Matt Schicker, the new marketing director, decided it was incorrect. "It destroyed my world, knowing that I've been wrong for the five years I've been here," Coleman said. "We're in the process of great reform. I still have to stop, proofread and change everything to without an apostrophe. It was a passionate debate for a while."

I come off like a complete drama queen! And to top it all off, the article concludes that street signs never have punctuation (not even periods after St.) and therefore you should use the apostrophe when writing your own address. I was right but it's too late to change back. The terrible thing is I know that it is a completely accurate quote, and it sounds just like me, but I don't think my faux-dramatic flipness comes across in this article at all. Do I sound like a crazy person everyday? Am I the only one who recognizes that while I exaggerate, I am a relatively grounded individual... most times?

Mommy was right.