Up and Down

Monday, March 26, 2018

Thanks to my brother for the news that a French waiter is claiming that rudeness is part of his culture.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/26/french-waiter-says-firing-for-rudeness-is-discrimination-against-my-culture

It made me think of Rick Santorum's reaction to the countless kids around the world who marched against gun violence this weekend.  Better they should learn CPR, he opined, this failed politician for whom stupidity is part of his culture.  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-santorum-students-should-learn-cpr-not-seek-gun-laws/
. . .

While North American professional ice hockey will continue for a couple of months, my season ends tonight.  My brother and I are going to a New York Rangers game for the last time until late Autumn as they are out of playoff contention.  However, next week, even as I figuratively trek through the Sinai Desert, I will attend my first New York Mets baseball game, beginning another journey that may produce either a championship or merely bleached bones.

. . .

There are many reasons to read Professor David Webber's important new book, "The Rise of the Working Class Share-Holder." It is well researched, tightly reasoned, insightful and particularly relevant to the current struggle for economic justice.  If that's not enough, the author generously credits "the aid and counsel" of America's Favorite Epidemiologist and her constant companion.  I believe that it will be possible to get a copy autographed by all three of us.

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Last week, I cited a study of British anti-Semitism (often rendered antisemitism) that was far from alarmist, identifying the far-right as the source of the strongest anti-Semitism.  However, it seems that many British Jews were unpersuaded by this report and demonstrated outside of Parliament yesterday against Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, whose response to British anti-Semitism has sometimes been too little or too late.  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-labour-antisemitism/british-jews-protest-against-labours-corbyn-over-anti-semitism-idUSKBN1H21H1

There is no serious claim that Corbyn personally is anti-Semitic, but his opposition to Israel and his deference to Islamic aspirations at home and abroad have placed him in a very narrow ideological space, with little room to maneuver.  There are enough intolerant national leaders around the world hostile to almost every minority flavor.  I believe that Corbyn can support his Muslim constituents without degrading his Jewish constituents, the obverse of what I urge upon Bibi Netanyahu. 
. . .

My affinity for food and lists is met by this collection of "The 101 Dishes That Changed America."  
https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/most-important-dishes-food-that-changed-america

I think that the title is overstated.  These dishes reached our stomachs, but had little influence on our hearts and minds.  The best example is the presence of African- Americans and their cuisine in home and restaurant kitchens far earlier than they were allowed into our schools and public accommodations.  Similarly, foreign food has had a better reception in much of the country than the foreign folks behind it.

Yet, there is a lot of fun in the creation stories (myths?).  Check out #34 Chicken Tikka Masala and #19 Chimichanga, for instance.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Last week, the New York Times provided an important analysis of the upward and downward mobility of black Americans.  "White boys who grow up rich are likely to remain that way, while black boys raised in similarly wealthy households are more likely to fall to the bottom than stay at the top in their own adult households."  Now, it has gone a big step further by examining how other minorities fare in modern American society.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/27/upshot/make-your-own-mobility-animation.html?emc=edit_nn_20180328&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=59975620180328&te=1

For instance, it shows the path of black and white girls raised in poor families.  Race seems to matter little to the progress of  both groups; they stay relatively close to their economic origins. The article contains some wonderful graphics and allows you to set up your own comparisons across racial, ethnic and gender lines, tracking progress up and down the socio-economic ladder. 

Thursday, March 29, 2018

With Pharaoh and his army behind us and the daunting Red Sea in front of us, there is little time to choose a path.  Fearlessly then, the Boyz Club headed to Chinatown and lunch at New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe, 50 Mott Street, a decent joint in spite of its unwieldy name.  However, once we arrived, we found that the sea might have parted and landed in the restaurant's basement.  Plumbers with wrenches rather than chefs with woks controlled the scene.  

Accordingly, we went across the street to Deluxe Green Bo Restaurant, 66 Bayard Street, by chance Tom Terrific's daughter's favorite Chinese restaurant.  We did well in this choice.  We had pork and crab soup buns ($6.95 for 8 pieces), scallion pancake ($2.95), cold noodles in sesame sauce ($4.95), chicken with cashews ($11.95), crispy duck ($14.95 for half), beef with orange flavor ($15.95) and Shanghai fried rice ($7.95).  It amounted to a lot of very good food.  When we left, as a sign of paternal devotion, Tom had us take a photograph in front of the joint.

Friday, March 30, 2018
I don't like David Brooks, a right-leaning columnist for the New York Times, not for his politics per se, but for his attempts to pretend that contemporary conservativism retains any rational basis.  However, I found a provocative reference in his column today dealing with black/white integration.  "A study from the Public Religion Research Institute found that if you looked at the average white person's 100 closest friends, you would find that 91 would be white."  

100 closest friends?  A politician may claim to have 100 close friends, but the rest of us?  Really?  I like a lot of you dear readers, but I think that many of you would be frightened to learn that I considered you one of my closest friends.  
. . .

Some good coincidences.  I am taking a bus today to Massachusetts to attend the first night's seder in the presence of the second and third generations at the home of Professor Webber.  America's Favorite Epidemiologist preceded me to assist in the cooking and organization of the evening.  We will stay over to celebrate the professor's birthday, no doubt marked by chocolate-covered matzoh with a candle on top.  Then, we will return home in time to visit Aunt Judi and Uncle Stu for one of their world-famous seders, for an evening  that seems to last for the first several years of the exile from Egypt.  However, Aunt Judi's fabulous cooking makes the years fly by.

Tally-ho

Monday, March 19, 2018

Saturday crossword
40 Down -- Mideast diet

. . .

Way to go Vladimir.  The people have spoken.
. . .

The New York Times offers us a test of our copy editing skills.  Try it; it's a bit humbling.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/16/insider/copy-edit-this-quiz-11.html
. . .

Bourbon praline pecan ice cream is a new flavor for Häagen-Dazs and it is really good.  Note that it contains bourbon whisky, which you will immediately notice.  

A natural followup to that Häagen-Dazs news is a study of the fattest cities in the US.  Americans are apparently the fattest people in the world.  "In fact, as of 2017, almost 40% of the U.S. population aged 15 and older is obese."
https://wallethub.com/edu/fattest-cities-in-america/10532/

For whatever it's worth, the Old South seems to be the home of the wide beam, taking the first 16 spots.  The New York metropolitan area is buried at 64th place.  Drilling down, you will see that physical activity and consumption of fruits and vegetables comport with obesity (or the lack thereof).  Ice cream, Chinese food, obesity.  No collusion!  Just a  witch hunt.

Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Every day's news contains material that ranges from the maddening to the disgusting, by way of the unbelievable.  A feature article today, however, brings additional understanding and some confusion to America's near intractable racial divide. 
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-class-white-and-black-men.html

"Black boys raised in America, even in the wealthiest families and living in some of the most well-to-do neighborhoods, still earn less in adulthood than white boys with similar backgrounds . . . .  White boys who grow up rich are likely to remain that way.  Black boys raised at the top, however, are more likely to become poor than to stay wealthy in their own adult households."  This dashes the hopes and expectations of those who fought so long to remove the legal and social barriers to an open, integrated society. 

What's remarkable is the gender divide which seems to defy the racial divide.  On the whole, black women proceed up the socioeconomic ladder, or maintain their position, very similarly to white women.  Of course, incarceration and the legacy of a criminal record will frustrate efforts to acquire or remain in a financially sound position.  Studies show that Black men are significantly more likely to be stopped while driving or walking on a city street.  https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4779  They are more likely to be arrested for using marijuana.  https://www.aclu.org/issues/mass-incarceration/smart-justice/war-marijuana-black-and-white 

"[C]riminal courts sentence black defendants more harshly than whites. . . . [and] African-American defendants get more time behind bars — sometimes twice the prison terms of whites with identical criminal histories — when they commit the same crimes under identical circumstances."  http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Black-Disparities-in-Youth-Incarceration.pdf

 

Are the racial disparities in our criminal justice system also potent enough to pull down so many black men from the comfortable and stable home lives of their youth, even while their sisters remain unaffected?  Have the clichés about black crime (listen to Rudy Giuliani on the subject) become self-fulfilling prophecies?  I find this the most challenging question raised by the New York Times study. 

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Consider the opening sentence of an article in today's business section.  "Perhaps at some point in the past few years you’ve told Facebook that you like, say, Kim Kardashian West."  While I don't know all of you (readers) personally, I would venture that you are more likely to choose to take a vacation in Kabul, Afghanistan than tell Facebook that you like, say, Kim Kardashian West.  This article discusses the belief that algorithms can predict the nuances of your political views, based on the usage of social media, Facebook specifically.  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/technology/facebook-cambridge-behavior-model.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fbusiness&action=click&contentCollection=business&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=11&pgtype=sectionfront

Crudely, it appears to be a two-step process: 1) develop a personality profile from the "likes" and "dislikes" expressed on Facebook; 2) connect that personality profile or portions thereof to a candidate or a cause.  The money is made by advising the candidate or cause on how to maximize his/her/its appeal by microtargeting.  Political campaigning and advertising generally have always sought to identify the voter's/consumer's hot button(s).  It seems that we have a lot more to worry about now that the game has moved beyond cynical Mad Men to cynical computer scientists.   

Thursday, March 22, 2018

I am connected to Great Britain only by some warm friendships.  I am pure Yid; I have no ancestral, genetic or historic link to the United Kingdom.  However, I admit to Anglophilia extending even beyond "Downton Abbey" and "Call the Midwife."  Way back in graduate school, I unsuccessfully proposed a study of the political behavior of British Jews.  Were they as liberal as their American brethren, in spite of the prevalence of economic and educational factors that usually breed conservatism in both societies?

I found a recent study on "Antisemitism in Contemporary Great Britain" particularly interesting.  It was done by a Jewish scholar, sponsored by a Jewish organization.  http://www.jpr.org.uk/documents/JPR.2017.Antisemitism_in_contemporary_Great_Britain.pdf 

Besides reporting the statistics, the author does a good job with some basic, but elusive, definitions.  He effectively delineates "antisemitism and anti-Israelism" and finds that a "majority of those who hold anti-Israel attitudes do not espouse any antisemitic attitudes."  He also distinguishes antisemitism emerging from the far-right, the far-left and Muslims in Britain.  He concludes that "the most antisemitic group on the political spectrum consists of those who identify as very right-wing."  The good news is that "the total level of the diffusion of antisemitism in Great Britain is, in fact, rather low."
. . .

Grain House, 929 Amsterdam Avenue, is the third location for this Long Island-based chain of Szechuan restaurants.  Stony Brook Steve and I had lunch there today.  It is a small space, about 8 tables, with a very large menu, about 120 distinct items.  The location is a bit odd.  About half a mile south of Columbia University and only slightly closer to Symphony Space.  The food itself, however, is a sufficient lure if you are anywhere close by.

We shared pork vegetable dumplings ($7.95 for 8 pieces) and each of us had a lunch special, cumin chicken for me ($7.95) and scallion beef ($8.95) for Steve.  What made the specials special was a mound of white rice served with approximately a main course size portion of the selected dish, a reasonable deal.  The cumin chicken was appropriately spicy; I left over a mound of red hot peppers after ingesting many slices of the cumin-coated white meat chicken.   

Friday, March 23, 2018

Netflix is showing a six-part documentary titled "Wild Wild Country" about the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.  After establishing a very popular ashram in India, he moved his operation to 64,000 empty acres in Oregon in 1981.  It is a fascinating story, partly because of the sight of hordes of enraptured Americans worshiping at Bhagwan's feet.  My immediate reaction was these people did not grow up in Brooklyn.  If they grew up in Brooklyn, they would have a functioning BS Detector®.
. . .

Answer: Knesset

Are They Related?

Monday, March 12, 2018

I thought that this past weekend would focus exclusively on merriment, as 10-year old Boaz was visiting his grandparents.  However, when we had lunch at &pizza, 740 Broadway, I knew that I had a duty to report my findings.  This long, narrow room operates what might first be viewed as a gimmick, but turns out excellent pizza.  It offers only an oblong 14" x 4" pizza for $10.10 with unlimited toppings.  Shrimp comes at an extra charge; all the dozens of other alternatives are free.  

They must use a nuclear oven, because the pizza is baked in about two minutes.  I had mushrooms, sausage, meatballs, pepperoni and peppers on mine.  It could have been twice the price and I would still highly recommend this joint.
. . .

Escorting a ten-year old around Manhattan gives you an excuse to see some pretty cool things.  I recommend that you borrow a child not yet at the age of sullenness and proceed to the National Museum of Mathematics, 11 East 26th Street, open 10 AM - 5 PM daily, admission $17 for adults under 60, $11 all others.  It is well worth it, although the focus is primarily on physics -- angles, optics, forces -- rather than mathematics.  You can ride a square-wheeled tricycle or spin around on a pointy-based chair.  The gift shop has a strong assortment of games, puzzles and books as well.  It gave me the opportunity to get started on my Hanukkah gift shopping. 

. . .

Today, I had to be in Midtown, so I headed to Num Pang, 140 East 41st Street, a Cambodian sandwich shop, one of a half dozen locations in this chain.  This spot is set on one of the dreariest blocks in Manhattan, dark and high-walled.  Airport shuttle buses are the only sign of life or color. 

Num Pang is a little box, very busy with take-out orders.  A ledge and six stools provide the only in-house dining option, enough space for me.  I really can't tell the difference between a Cambodian sandwich and a Vietnamese sandwich (the more familiar banh mi).  Both take a baguette, add some meat, shredded pickled carrots, cucumber slices, cilantro and a chili-based sauce.  The contents offered by Num Pang include peppercorn catfish, grilled skirt steak, roasted cauliflower and ginger BBQ brisket, at prices ranging from $8.95 to $11.95.  I had coconut tiger shrimp ($11.25), tasty, but not particularly coconutty. 

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

I got a bit of a shock last night reading East West Street by Philippe Sands, a French human rights lawyer, who explores his family's Holocaust history and the coincident development of the legal concepts of genocide and crimes against humanity.  Sands writes that, as WWII was ending, his mother's father, who had fled Poland for France, "was working with the Comité Juif in the center of Paris at the Hôtel de Lutèce, which had been a Gestapo  headquarters."  Whoa, wow.  That gave me chills, since on two of my five trips to Paris, I stayed at this charming little hotel, in a row of 17th century townhouses on the Île Saint-Louis, which sits in the middle of the Seine. 

I just couldn't see it full of Nazis, so I went trolling through the Internet where I found that the Hôtel Lutetia, built as a large hotel in 1910 on the Right Bank, "was requisitioned by the Abwehr (counter-espionage), and used to house, feed, and entertain the officers in command of the occupation," according to Wikipedia.  Some less detailed accounts substitute the Gestapo for the Abwehr.  Similarly, Lutèce may be confused with Lutetia, although a biography of Pauline Avery Crawford, an American writer who remained in Paris through the war, says that "[s]he wrote about the French police across the street that guarded the Hotel Lutèce, where the Gestapo personnel were housed."  One final pedantic note -- Paris police headquarters then and now is on rue de Lutèce, across a short footbridge from the hotel.  I'm not afraid of ghosts, but where will I sleep the next time in Paris? 

Wednesday, March 15, 2018

It's something like 30 years since former students of CCNY Professor Stanley Feingold started meeting him for lunch every several months.  Even after he moved to Seattle, he would return for these sessions and several of us cleared our calendars to not miss the opportunity to hear his well thought out analyses of American politics.  Stanley died last year, but, without any formality, we decided to continue our lunches, including today, maybe hoping to occasionally hear an idea worthy of him. 

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Toys Ain't Us

. . .

In response to the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy and his daughter in Salisbury, England, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced yesterday that no member of the British royal family will attend the soccer World Cup in Moscow, to be held from June 14 to July 15.  The timing turns out to be ideal to make amends for a long-standing diplomatic oversight.  As I noted recently, Queen Elizabeth II, reigning since February 6, 1952, has somehow skipped visiting Israel, even as she traipsed off to 129 other countries.  Now, with this opening on the royal calendar coming at a time when there are no major or minor Jewish holidays to interfere (a cause to celebrate in itself), Israel should prepare to roll out the blue and white carpet for Her Majesty.

Friday, March 16, 2018

Last night, we went to see a preview of the first part of the revival of Angels in America; tonight, we plan to see the second part.  This will total more than 7 hours sitting in very narrow, very shallow seats and/or experiencing a major theatrical event.  As impressed as I was by the work itself, I have its author on my mind.  

Tony Kushner won a Pulitzer Prize for Angels in America and had Oscar nominations for his screenplays of Lincoln and Munich.  He also lives in our building, is very pleasant in the elevator and has a toy poodle with which he seems to share hair style and color.  But, I want to tighten my focus.  Kushner has to be a contender for the surname of the decade.  There's Jared, of course, everyone's favorite son-in-law. 

If Tony and Jared weren't enough, please regard Harold Kushner, Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Israel, Natick, Massachusetts, the very successful author of When Bad Things Happen To Good People.  I've met him on a few occasions, but not in settings where any pets would have been on display.  While we had some pleasant conversations, I failed to convince him that he should publish When Good Things Happen To Bad People, which resonates with my Brooklyn-bred resentments.  Jared would get his own chapter in that book. 

Decaf Wonton Soup?

Monday, March 5, 2018
I was delighted to read an article in the Sunday travel section about Shanghai, emphasizing food, the wonderful variety of dumplings offered in establishments large and small.  It's been almost 10 years since I was there and this article made me want to return.  However, it contained one phrase (actually a complete sentence presented as a parenthetical element) that was as irrational as anything that has come out of the White House recently: "a cold brew and pizza slice at the world's largest Starbucks will set you back $20."
https://nyti.ms/2CMW5OA

You're in Shanghai!  That's China!  Maybe a cup of coffee, but you don't really go to Starbucks for food anywhere in the world.  Okay, maybe a brownie, but not pizza.  Pizza in China?  Pizza from Starbucks?  That's crazy. 
. . .

Here is another travel-related item that I would like to pass on.  "Her Majesty the Queen has made over 250 official overseas visits to 129 different countries during her reign, neither she nor one single member of the British royal family has ever yet been to Israel on an official visit."   http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/andrew-roberts-israel-visit/

As an admitted Anglophile, allow me to point out in defense that the young queen has only reigned since February 6, 1952, allowing 24,134 days until the present to get settled.  Come on, bubbeleh, the Jews won't bite. 

. . .

Even here, I don't go to Starbucks for solid food.  Instead, I went to Tim Ho Wan, 84 Fourth Avenue (January 31, 2017, June 7, 2017) for first-rate dim sum at lunchtime.  I skipped a 30-minute wait and ate standing up at the serving counter right inside the entrance.  I had baked bun with BBQ pork (3 pieces, $5.25), the signature dish for this Hong Kong-based chain; deep-fried eggplant filled with shrimp (3 pieces, $5); curried meatballs in a thin, fried shell (4 pieces, $5.75).  The quality of the food seems to justify the large crowd, but I was still surprised that a Monday in March drew so many people in the joint's second full year of operation.  Don't stay away, but use the waiting time, which could extend to one hour, constructively at the Strand Bookstore, 828 Broadway, two blocks away.

. . .

David Webber's important analysis of the politics of pension funds appeared on-line this morning on the New York Times web site.   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/05/opinion/investor-class-pensions.html  Krugman, Reich, Webber -- insights into the economic chicanery of the very few vs. the rest of us. 

Tuesday, March 6, 2018
There are frequent lists of best local Chinese restaurants, not all deserving equal consideration.  Watch out for those lists that prize expensive, beautifully-decorated joints in fine neighborhoods, near ritzy hotels.  They are intended for those people who don't really like Chinese food.  Grub Street, a service of New York magazine, does a better job than that.  http://www.grubstreet.com/bestofnewyork/best-chinese-food-nyc.html

I was familiar with most of the Manhattan-based joints on Grub Street's list, but I blanked on the #1 choice, the lengthily-named Hao Noodle and Tea by Madame Zhu's Kitchen, 401 Sixth Avenue.  Stony Brook Steve and Jon Silverberg agreed to join me for lunch there and, as soon as we entered, Steve said that we've been here before.  Looking around, I found the surroundings to be familiar and had to credit Steve's eagle eye, just improved by cataract surgery.  Indeed, we had been here on January 11, 2017 and I hadn't remembered in spite of the rather clumsy name. 

Today, we unevenly shared seafood pancake ($8), spicy beef with dried orange peel ($16), wood ear mushrooms ($8), "Sweetly Smoked Sole" ($12), sticky rice siu mai (3 pieces, $6), and Le Shan chicken ($15).  The beef was extremely spicy; the mushrooms and the chicken slightly less so, but only slightly.  Be prepared and note that Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream is only 2 blocks away at 152 West 10th Street, to soothe your flaming gullet. 

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Jew and gentile alike should examine this list of 100 Jewish foods.  https://100jewishfoods.tabletmag.com/

I found the list very useful and entertaining, even if not entirely Jewish and certainly not flawless.  Because it is alphabetic, bacon appears near the top.  Bacon, you say?  To quote: "Bacon is the final frontier, the last temptation of the kosher-keeper, the quintessential forbidden food that appeals precisely because it is so darn delicious."

Warm thoughts of my long gone father came rushing back when I read, "One of the most common features of the Jewish kitchen isn’t found in a pantry, or a cupboard or a refrigerator.  It’s a tea bag—specifically, a used tea bag, air-drying on the counter or creating a tiny puddle on a saucer."  I was amused by the author's recollection that his parents "share[d] a single tea bag between the two of them and then leave it on the counter for the next night.  I didn’t keep track of how long they’d make it last.  It’s entirely possible that they had only the one tea bag."  I know for a fact that we had more than one tea bag in our household, but often acted as if we didn't.

Thursday, March 8, 2108
I graduated Stuyvesant High School in 1958.  In 1969, it admitted female students for the first time.  In 1992, it relocated from its almost 90-year old building.  For the many decades that I have been paying attention, one sad truth has remained constant, attendance by African-American students has been woeful.  The New York City Department of Education just announced that only 10 black students were admitted this year, a decline from last year's 13.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/nyregion/admissions-specialized-high-schools-new-york.html 

When I reported on December 26, 2011 that Stuyvesant's incoming class of 2015 had 12 blacks, I went back to my yearbook and found that my graduating class of 725 had 13 blacks.  Is there anything else in life that has been that consistent?

Surely, some black kids are now siphoned off to the top private and prep schools in their quest for diversity, but the absolute number remains shockingly low.  Some suggest innate ethnic inferiority, but that means that we Jews have to acknowledge Chinese intellectual superiority and possibly reverse positions in the kitchen and the dining room as the 3 Chinese students in my class have now been succeeded by about 500 in current classes, replacing about an equal number of Jews.  Others point to the economic hardships faced by urban minorities, but approximately half of the overwhelmingly Chinese Stuyvesant student population live below the poverty line. Cf.  http://www.newsweek.com/high-schools/americas-top-high-schools-2016 

Further, many of the Chinese students probably live in households where the adults face substantial language and cultural barriers.  Yet, in many instances, admission to a specialized high school, notably Stuyvesant, is a family priority.  https://voicesofny.org/2014/12/asian-students-get-specialized-high-schools/  This article is by a Chinese-American filmmaker, who examined  the subject.  She maintains that culture, generally exalting education and specifically targeting success in the secondary admission process, is the critical factor. 

I'll add one controversial element.  White supremacy and black inferiority, its flip side, have been a major organizing principle for much of American life for centuries.  Today, while the overt distinctions inherent to slavery and Jim Crow are gone, a powerful legacy remains.  I suggest that, to a large degree, American whites and blacks tacitly believe in white superiority and black inferiority.  The rationales for supporting oppressive racial distinctions through our history have made many whites and blacks alike accepting of a racial hierarchy.  I believe that is a critical part of the culture that keeps black kids from taking the Stuyvesant admissions test in the first place, not experiencing the parental pressure that Jewish and Chinese kids are familiar with. 

It's not an easy fix, yet when individual black students break through, they often excel, such as Eric Holder, Stuyvesant '69, former US Attorney General and Gene Jarrett, Stuyvesant '93, recently appointed dean of the NYU College of Arts and Sciences.  They didn't do it backwards in high heels, as Ginger Rogers had to, but they did it with an enormous historic weight on their shoulders in an atmosphere full of skepticism.

Friday, March 9, 2018
The region has had two storms in five days, but today we had our personal nor'easter, grandson Boaz arrive for a weekend stay and just in time for lunch.  I was surprised that he recognized pan-Asian Wagamama, which we know as one of the few decent low-priced joints in London.  It turns out that Boaz has been to a Boston branch.  We went to the spot at 210 Fifth Avenue, one of two around here.  At 1 PM, the rather large premises were packed with people, but the service and food quality did not suffer.

I started with a Hirota steamed bun, filled with Korean barbecue beef and red onion ($7).  Filled is a generous description.  I would say that the beef visited the bun, briefly.  What little there was was delicious.  Fortunately, I did not stop there, adding grilled duck donburi, "Tender shredded duck in a spicy teriyaki sauce.  Served with carrots, snow peas, sweet potato and red onion on a bed of sticky white rice.  Finished with a crispy fried egg, shredded cucumber, scallions and a side of kimchi."  It was good enough to merit the long description.  

This meal offers some insight into Boaz's advanced standing as a ten-year old.  He did not insist upon a hamburger, pizza or chicken fingers, instead digging into a bowl of chicken ramen, "Sliced grilled chicken on top of noodles in a rich chicken broth with dashi and miso.  Topped with seasonal greens, menma, scallions and half a tea-stained egg."  Okay, we also didn't know what menma was until we turned to Wikipedia: "Menma is a Japanese condiment made from lactate-fermented bamboo shoots."  
. . .

As if Ginger Rogers did not have it hard enough, "Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls’ school in Stamford Hill [London], which serves the strictly [Jewish] Orthodox Haredi community, covered text and images including Fred Astaire dancing with Ginger Rogers [found in state-supplied textbooks]."   https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/mar/09/yesodey-hatorah-jewish-girls-school-north-london-homosexual-references-textbook

Punishment?

Monday, February 26, 2018

I had lunch with Mossad Moshe and, as a compromise between his Middle Eastern background and my Eastern European background, we went to Patsy's Pizzeria, 61 West 74th Street.  Their thin, crispy pies are baked in coal-fired ovens.  We shared a $21 large pie, adding sausage $3.95, mushrooms $2.75, and mixed fresh roasted peppers $2.75.  A little pricey, but just about worth it.  However, the menu contains a very unfriendly and unwarranted entry -- Diet Coke (or other sodas) $2.75 "No Refills."  And it's not like you get a liter or a quart or whichever comes first for that price, rather a 12 ounce glass, half filled with ice, hardly a rarity in the winter.  It makes you feel like a tourist.
. . .
   

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has stopped describing America as "a nation of immigrants."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/22/us/uscis-nation-of-immigrants.html

I'll venture to guess that this would meet the approval of my ancestors Running Bear and Hiawatha Goldenberg and Red Wolf and Pocahontas Gotthelf.

Note that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services used to be known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, familiarly INS.  Today, it is more appropriately OUTS.

. . .

I am trying to not be chauvinistic when looking at a recent survey of urban commuting.  https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/the-metros-with-the-best-and-most-miserable-commutes/

The analysis supposedly took into consideration:

• Average commute time for drivers, carpoolers, and public transportation riders
• Average number of hours spent in traffic congestion
• Percentage of roads in “good” or “fair” condition
• Percentage of bridges that are “structurally deficient”

The Holy Land came in worst with an average commute time of 35.9 minutes.  This trailed even automobile-saturated Los Angeles, and cities with minor league public transportation systems, such as Seattle whose single tram line has 16 stops.  I can't see how a meaningful comparison can be made between cities dependent on private automobiles and here, where 5,655,755 people go through a subway turnstile every day (2016 figures).  How about the time wasted looking for a parking space?  And the expense? 

http://web.mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/

There is also the mental health consideration.  Would you feel safe around someone who drives his car into Manhattan on weekdays?

By the way, a particularly colorful view of New York commuting patterns may be found at  https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2016/09/manhattan-commutes-port-authority-bus-terminal-capacity-study/501515/ 

Tuesday, February 26, 2018

I think that the president was misunderstood when he said that he would have rushed into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School even unarmed.  Only if, only if he was wearing his orthopedic shoes.

. . .

The Year of the Dog keeps barking along and I was joined by Dean Alfange and Tom Terrific in celebrating at Wo Hop, 17 Mott Street, the cathedral of classic Chinatown Chinese cuisine.  We shared duck chow fun (a steal at $7.75), beef with scallions ($14.25) and shrimp with lobster sauce over shrimp fried rice ($14.25, not on the menu, but served on request).  

These two gentile men not only enjoyed the food, as I was confident they would, but each other's company, as I also expected.  

. . .

With the death of Billy Graham, the devil worship of his son Franklin Graham is gaining some attention.  According to the New York Times, Franklin Graham "said the media has lied about Mr. Trump, but when asked whether Mr. Trump has told any lies, he said, 'I don’t know of any.'”  He was immediately approached by several cognitive scientists.  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/us/billy-graham-franklin-graham-trump.html

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

In my quest for the near-perfect confection, I have found a new version of the chocolate-covered pretzel -- Asher's Dark Chocolate Pretzel Bites, 6.25 ozs. for $4.99 ($12.77 per pound), sold at Fairway Market.  These are short, straight pretzel sticks, slightly over one inch long, enrobed in real dark chocolate.  The amount of salt per pretzel was somewhat inconsistent (I lean towards more), otherwise a good treat.

Another good treat is hamantaschen, the triangular, fruit-filled cookie symbolic of Purim, the holiday beginning tonight. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/the-nosher/what-are-hamantaschen/

Note that while some pedants will remind us that hamantaschen are more than one hamantasch, cool guys will simply ask for hamantaschen, which I do all year round.  However, as devoted as I am to chocolate in general, I resist the use of chocolate as a filling for hamantaschen.  In the beginning, there was mohn (poppy seeds) and lekvar (prune butter).  The Age of Enlightenment brought apricot and raspberry preserve fillings.  And there it should properly rest. 

Friday, March 2, 2018

We were preparing for Hurricane Boaz (our 10-year old grandson) visiting us this weekend, but a genuine nor'easter disrupted most modes of transportation and kept him at home.  We have rescheduled for next weekend.  Until then, enjoy this brilliant piece contributed by Paul Hecht:

A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.

A bar was walked into by the passive voice.

An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.

Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”

A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.

Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.

A question mark walks into a bar?

A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.

Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."

A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.

A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.

Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.

A synonym strolls into a tavern.

At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.

A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.

Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.

A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.

An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.

The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.

A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned a man with a glass eye named Ralph.

The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.

A dyslexic walks into a bra.

A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.

An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television getting drunk and smoking cigars.

A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.

A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.

A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.