Monday, October 26, 2020
Stony Brook Steve and I set out to vote this morning at a voting station just across from Lincoln Center. This weekend, when early voting began in New York State, the news broadcasts showed very long lines, so we decided to wait for a dull Monday when the doors opened at 7 A.M. Well, fate was not initially kind to us. Arriving just after 10 A.M., the line of people waiting to vote was five blocks long.Steve wisely brought his absentee ballot with him and they sent him directly through the front door, skipping the line. I had the mailing from the Board of Elections with me as well and, never having opened it, I thought erroneously that it also contained an absentee ballot. Geh arein, the punchline of the joke about Isadore approaching the entrance of the bullfight ring directly behind Picador, Matador and Toreador. I was in and out in about four minutes.
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Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Football Players. "We, the football players of the Big Ten, together with the fans and supporters of college football, request that the Big Ten Conference immediately reinstate the 2020 football season." https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/wewanttoplay?source=twitter-share-button&utm_source=twitter&share=6d96ceb1-45f7-4796-9fe8-2f08b5f39d25
A dubious benefit of this approach is ruining young athletes' health even before they can begin to suffer from the brain damage associated with organized football.
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Other college sports have a different problem, not necessarily physical. This article from The Daily Princetonian illustrates the inevitable role of wealth on admissions to elite institutions via athletics. https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2019/10/ivy-league-athletics-are-the-new-money-ball
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An obituary of a British publisher described him as "a tainted genius with the gift of being a stranger to self-doubt."
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Professor David Webber spoke brilliantly on “Mixing Politics and Investment: Kosher or Treyf?” Sunday morning to a virtual, but limited audience. He dealt with corporate management's attention to issues of race, gender, the environment and workers' health and safety. I've asked him to repeat this and will give you ample advance notice before then.
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We interrupt this blog with a special bulletin. At 2:06 P.M. today, I received the same robocall simultaneously on my landline and my mobile telephone. A first.
. . . Only about 9% of the global Jewish population now lives in Europe, compared with nearly 90% in the late 19th century." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/25/europes-jewish-population-has-dropped-60-in-last-50-years
And, if you like guessing, the Jewish population of which European country "had the smallest proportion (4%) of converts to Judaism, and [which] the largest (25%)"?
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American Jews, meanwhile, are properly aroused by the domestic increase in anti-Semitism. It's never far from our minds. "United States of Anxiety: The new fears of American Jews." https://m.jpost.com/diaspora/united-states-of-anxiety-the-new-fears-of-american-jews-647180
Some reports begin with anecdotes of Black-on-Jewish violence (often not explicit, but inherent to the circumstances of the vile act). Our country's long history of white supremacy ironically includes the image of the dangerous Black man and too many Jews have internalized it. This obscures the real threat to Jewish lives and liberty, and not just ours. "Far-Right Groups Are Behind Most U.S. Terrorist Attacks, Report Finds." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/us/domestic-terrorist-groups.html
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
This evening, I Zoomed into "Post-Election Emergency Preparedness," conducted by an amorphous group still searching for a pithy name. It may be amorphous, but nearly 800 people/devices connected to the program. We heard about the legal, political, logistical and practical issues surrounding this election and their consequences. Much of the focus was on Pennsylvania, considered the critical state in achieving an electoral victory for either side, with its executive branch in the hands of Democrats and its legislature in the hands of Republicans. Expect trouble.
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Being stuck at home isn't all bad. This morning I was challenged by "Biblical Conundrums: From the Exodus to the Ten Lost Tribes," a lecture by Eric Cline, professor of ancient history and archaeology at George Washington University. His overarching teaching was that the Bible is not a history book.
He looked at the Exodus and found major difficulties in the biblical narrative. For instance, Exodus 12:37-38 says that 600,000 men left Egypt, with their families "and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle." Length and breadth of that migration would have been enormous and bound to have been tumultuous, attracting much attention. Yet, other than the Bible, there is no record of Israelites in Egypt, no less leaving it, and no physical evidence of any concomitant movement. He concluded that the Exodus was, if anything, a process over 200 years or so, not an event.
Cline sought the 10 lost tribes of Israel. Where did they go? There is ample recorded and physical evidence that the northern Kingdom of Israel, home to 10 of the 12 tribes, was destroyed c. 722 BCE by the Assyrians. He maintained that the tribes were not lost, but many of their members were deported to Assyria, eventually absorbed into Persia; many fled to the southern Kingdom of Israel, home to the other 2 tribes; and many remained in place, in Samaria, integrating with the local Samaritan population. It was the northern Kingdom of Israel that was lost, he argued, not its people. All this before lunch.
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Quiz: Can You Tell a “Trump” Fridge from a “Biden” Fridge? https://nyti.ms/3mwBiFY. . .
Many of us, of a certain age, remember fondly Professor Irwin Corey, the World's Foremost Authority. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwin_Corey He lived a very long time and, it turns out, he lives on in the White House. Its temporary occupant has asserted his mastery of:
- Campaign finance
- TV ratings
- ISIS
- Social media
- Courts
- Lawsuits
- Politicians
- Visas
- Trade
- The U.S. government
- Renewable energy
- Taxes
- Debt
- Money
- Infrastructure
- Cory Booker
- Borders
- Democrats
- Construction
- The economy
- Technology
- Drones
An update to this list must, of course, include medicine. Vote!
Friday, October 30, 2020
Is it fair to publish a list of the best pizza, when we can barely leave the house? https://www.timeout.com/newyork/restaurants/best-new-york-pizza?cid=email--NEWSLETTER--NA_US_NYC_EN_NEWSLETTER_20201029--266347--10/29/2020&subsid=35284--403--73811817. . .
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development consists of 37 member states, with more-or-less modern economic and political systems. A survey of voting behavior shows that we have to thank Slovakia, Ireland and Estonia for keeping the United States from having the worst record of civic participation.
While a few of the highest performing countries, such as Belgium and Australia, nominally have compulsory voting, it is generally lightly enforced. Instead, we are left to explain why even our best year, 2008 at 63.7%, lags 10-15% behind so many others. USA! USA!
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BONUS
Paul Hecht, Thespian Emeritus, provides this delightful show biz tale.
In the Spring of 1973 I found myself co starring with Rex Harrison in Pirandello's Emperor Henry IV at the Barrymore. Rex and I had become friendly. We had been in Caesar and Cleopatra a few years earlier and I had started the habit of taking him out (he always paid) after the Thursday evening performance. One matinee down, the next one not until Saturday.
I had noticed that Dizzy Gillespie was appearing in a club on West 52nd street. I tried to prepare him for ‘modern jazz’. He was only familiar with ‘traditional’, and after the set we got into the limo to go back to his hotel. I asked him how he’d enjoyed the music. (Dizzy was fabulous as usual with a very young trumpet player on the stand.) ‘Yes', said Rex ‘I enjoyed the first bits but then the twiddly bits in between, I didn’t really understand them.’
I tried to explain about improvisation and likened it to our craft of knowing the lines but not always ‘playing’ them the same way. I didn’t know if he understood but we had already arrived at the Hotel, so I bade him goodnight.
Henry IV by Pirandello is a complicated piece and revolves around the story of an Italian nobleman circa 1930’s who falls from his horse and sustains a concussion. Following the incident he seems to think he is a medieval emperor and has his mansion and all his possessions converted to the period. All his servants dress in the costume of the period. But is he really mad or only pretending? Very Pirandellian.
The first scene is a visit by his former lover, her current lover and a charlatan psychiatrist. It takes about 30 minutes before the Emperor/Rex appears. The challenge for the actor playing the Emperor is how/whether or not to appear ‘insane’. Even after a fairly long out of town tour Rex was still grappling with this challenge and we discussed it regularly.
That evening Rex came on and changed just about everything we had done up until this performance. He was all over the place. It was scary and dangerous and wonderful. The curtain fell for the intermission to great applause and I rushed up the stairs to compliment Rex. He was sitting at his dressing table mopping his brow.
‘That’s the way to do it you old bugger', I said.
‘Yes’ said Rex, ‘a little Dizzy Gillespie tonight’!
