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/
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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.

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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. 
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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.  
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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.