This summer has been unlike any other. Rather than scrambling to find camps to send all my kids to, I’ve kept my bigger two home and plan to have my third home for August as well. (Bill is campin’ it as long as I can arrange it.) As my kids have been growing older, I [...]
Archive for July, 2011
A fond farewell
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged blogging on July 17, 2011 | 4 Comments »
The Shabbos goy
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged feel-good Friday, holiday, humor, Judaism on July 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
While technology (warming trays, thermostats, timers, X10, Shabbat settings on refrigerators and ovens) have largely made the Shabbos goy an anachronism, it was once a necessity. Illustrious personages such as Martin Scorcese, Mario Cuomo, Colin Powell, and a teenaged Elvis Presley once assisted Shabbat-observant neighbors in the US. My paternal grandmother (whose parents in America [...]
I’m Black and I’m proud
Posted in Uncategorized on July 12, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Sometimes movie lines stick with me decades after I hear them, and I don’t always know why. I have half of “Tootsie” in my head, bits of “Thelma and Louise” (“Darryl does it, how hard can it be?”), “Steel Magnolias” (“I haven’t left home without Lycra on these thighs since I was twelve”), “The Corn [...]
We’re sinking, we’re sinking
Posted in Uncategorized on July 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A month or so ago, I took the train to Tel Aviv to look into the possibility of teaching online for Berlitz. It requires more time than I can give right now, but my dad sent me this very amusing advertisement they’ve put out. Enjoy.
Interview with Prof. Ruth Wisse
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Israel, Judaism on July 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve become increasingly irritated of late listening to President Obama, former American ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurzer, and various Israeli politicians proclaiming that the road to peace now requires Bibi Netanyahu to make a concrete offer. Had Israel been dragging its heels to come to the negotiating table, placing absurd roadblocks to the talks (like [...]
Paraprosdokians
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged English, humor on July 5, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Contrary to my first impression, a paraprosdokian is not an Armenian. It is, in fact, a “figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently used in a humorous situation.” “Where there’s a will, I want to be in it,” is a type of paraprosdokian. Here [...]
The Muslims are not happy
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged society, terrorism on July 3, 2011 | 6 Comments »
They are not happy in Gaza. They are not happy in the West Bank. They are not happy in Jerusalem. They are not happy in Israel. They are not happy in Egypt. They are not happy in Libya. They are not happy in Algeria. They are not happy in Tunis. They are not happy in [...]
Nonsensical stories
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged children, feel-good Friday, humor, parenting on July 1, 2011 | 2 Comments »
When I was growing up, my parents had a number of remarkable strengths and talents. One was a seeming encyclopedic knowledge of card games, which they taught and played with us. Another was a love of unusual food preservation techniques, like drying food (either with the food dryer my father built himself or on the [...]
