Sand In My Shoes

Monday, April 2, 2018

Mel Brooks reminded us that it's good to be the King.  A recent group of studies reported by the New York Times (referenced herein in the last two weeks) show that generally the way to the top in America is to start there.  The exceptions are black boys who have a difficult time maintaining an elevated socioeconomic position and Asian-Americans who doggedly move up the ladder even from woeful circumstances. 

A report by the Equality of Opportunity Project gives us some interesting collateral data.  "For people born over the five years from 1980 to 1984, the marriage rate for upper-income students who attended Ivy League institutions was 14 percentage points higher than the rate for lower-income students."    https://nyti.ms/2uyfC6q  

Another disparity in the measure of "success" emerged from a study of women who started college in the same dormitory at Indiana University in 2004.  ("Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality," by Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton.)  None of the working-class students had graduated five years later, while the affluent ones "all graduated.  Even the ones who chose easy majors, did very little studying, got mediocre grades and spent most of their time partying were able to find jobs after graduation."  https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/education/edlife/elizabeth-a-armstrong-on-her-book-paying-for-the-party.html
. . .

Digesting the weekend's seder meals is almost complete, so I can report on my ingestion.  First, Friday night from daughter-in-law Irit's kitchen:
Crudités (mirabile dictu, her children eat raw cucumbers)

Potato leek soup

Salmon with Savta Mila's sauce

Squash kugel

Matzah lasagna (yes, it works quite well)

Chocolate frogs (which melted quickly when rubbed over children's faces)

Chocolate chip biscotti (a/k/a mandelbrot)

Almond butter chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate cream cheese cake with blackberries and raspberries

Saturday night from Aunt Judi's kitchen:
Deep-fried gefilte fish balls (such a wonderful creation, it should be protected by copyright)
Sweet and sour meatballs
Corned beef (begging for rye bread)
Carmelized onion chicken
Dermaless derma (when Jews got embarrassed at the sound of the word kishka -- beef intestine stuffed with meat scraps, fat, and grain -- they started calling it derma, for skin, or stuffed derma; once a staple at any catered affair, it has been pushed into the compost heap of history.)  Aunt Judi serves a meatless version without a casing. 
Cauliflower soufflé
Broccoli kugel
Cous cous
Matzoh jam pudding
Apple strawberry relish
Cole slaw
Health salad
Trifle with chocolate mousse and whipped cream
Strawberry mousse
Chocolate chip mandelbrot
Almond cookies with chocolate chips
Brownies
Fruit (for the big eaters)

With this intake, it was hard to make a running start into the Sinai Desert.

Tuesday, April 2, 2018

In what has not been recognized as an international competition in principled decision making, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday reversed his position on settling and resettling African refugees in one hour and 53 minutes.  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/world/middleeast/israel-african-migrants-un-resettlement.html 

This easily beat President Trump's volte face on gun control after a meeting with the NRA, an interval of almost two weeks.  

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/12/politics/trump-guns-nra-analysis/index.html

Immigration and refugees are hot buttons almost throughout the world.  The administration has just funded a replacement plaque at the foot of the Statue of Liberty, reading, in part, "Give me your Norwegians, yearning to spend their trust funds . . ."

Israel has its own problem -- Eritreans and Sudanese escaping genocidal regimes, who entered Israel at the border between Egypt and Israel in the Negev Desert.  The border has since been sealed, but nearly 40,000 Christian and Muslim refugees remain from a total of 60,000 who arrived.  Israel has been trying to eject them with some success, although it recruits manual laborers and household help from far away, jobs that Jews refuse. 

It is particularly ironic to be discussing this during Passover.  The Haggadah, the Jewish text that vies with the food for centrality at the seder table, says, "All who are hungry -- let them come and eat.  All who are needy -- let them come and celebrate the Passover with us."  Then, get lost?

By coincidence, I saw "Levinsky Park" tonight, a documentary film about these African refugees who cluster in this South Tel Aviv park day and night.  Here is a trailer for the film.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auHbTliG2LA&feature=youtu.be
 

We visited the park on our recent trip, escorted by a director of Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, an organization trying to assist these African refugees, now labelled infiltrators by the government.  https://hotline.org.il/en/main/  They exist in a legal limbo, their applications for asylum endlessly deferred, while the government tries to get them to leave using carrot and stick.  According to Hotline, "Israel has recognized refugee status for one Sudanese and 10 Eritreans, out of thousands of applications for asylum." 

I drew two positives from the film.  Israel offers the semblance of due process to the refugees; maybe someday it will be full fledged.  The refugee detention camp in Holot, deep in the Negev Desert, was considered much better than a Sudanese jail, according to one young man who experienced both. 

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

I prefer things to be intuitive, so that I might handle them effectively without having to read the homework.  But, sometimes nature, Mother or human, throws us a curve.  So, I was surprised to learn that male fans of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team, under 55 years old,  are more likely to suffer a heart attack the day after a victory, not after a defeat.  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180329083305.htm

I imagined that these fans, fiercely devoted to a team that represents their beleagured Francophone heritage as well as ordinary sports loyalty, would be driven to physical as well as emotional despair by a loss, a feeling that I have frequently had as a Rangers fan this season.  Instead, it is the thrill of victory rather than the agony of defeat that leads them to the emergency room.  Go figure.
. . .

A further note on fors and againsts:  It seems that Israel may expect more support from Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman than British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
https://nyti.ms/2q3oziJ

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Republican Senator Ted Cruz is running for reelection with the slogan TOUGH AS TEXAS.  This is the guy who CNN describes as "suddenly Trump's biggest fan" after Trump insulted his wife and accused his father of being involved with the assassination of JFK.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/23/9-truly-awful-things-that-were-said-between-ted-cruz-and-the-man-hell-now-support-donald-trump/?utm_term=.a9ad54aba810

Hang tough, Ted.  By the way, donations to his Democratic opponent Beto O'Rourke can be made at https://betofortexas.com/

Friday, April 6, 2018
Today's headlines:
"Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s Ousted President, Gets 24 Years in Prison"
"Judge Orders Brazil’s Ex-President ‘Lula’ to Begin Prison Term on Friday"

Does it give you any ideas?