Saturday, July 29, 2023

Field Trips

Saturday, July 22, 2023 
The Upper West Side’s Power Couple took off for a weekend in Massachusetts.  We are staying at the Trainmasters Inn, 1292 South Main Street, Palmer, a little B&B, set up as a tribute to railroading.  Sitting on the former site of a nursing home, there are rails, a ticket booth, paintings and photographs, memorabilia and 19th Century furniture evoking the age of steam.  Even if it were not the only rentable space in town, I would have enjoyed staying there.  While the digital clock in our room was inauthentic, it was set to the right time and those of you who travel know how rare that is. 

But, why were we in the otherwise sleepy setting of Palmer?  #1 grandson is in sleep-away camp nearby and tomorrow is the only visiting day of the summer.  Attendance is required; it's right there in the Grandparent's Guidebook.

We took advantage of the location to have dinner with Richard and Shelley Holzman, New Yorkers who long ago relocated to a hilltop in the Berkshires.  Richard is the only Jewish man that I know who owns a tractor.  We met at Homestead, 7 Strong Street, Northampton, a homey place with about 18 tables.  I had bucatini (round not flat like linguini) with clam sauce ($24).  There were no shells, atypically, although the clams seemed fresh enough.  Richard and Shelley shared an attractive, large roast chicken ($35), while my bride had baked bluefish ($27).  I admired, but avoided the tiramisu ($10).  The only disappointment was the focaccia, four inches square by two inches high for $6; more than disappointing, theft.    

Sunday, July 23, 2023
Our Eastern Massachusetts family arrived, with many hundreds of others, to visit their camper.  It was good seeing them all; it was the first time that we were together since fleeing Egypt.  After lunch at the camp, the whole bunch of us drove to a local landmark, Rondeau’s Dairy Bar, 1300 Ware Street, Palmer, which offers these many flavors of homemade ice cream.  

Judging by the scoops of chunky chocolate cherry  and orange pineapple that I had, they sound better than they taste.  However, I might have to return to sample Monkey Butt, Peanut Butter Puddle and Chocolate Lovers Trash.  Portions were enormous, one flavor $5.25, two $7.25.   

Again, taking advantage of the location, we went to Amherst to have dinner with Barbara Alfange at Johnny's Tavern, 30 Boltwood Walk.  It is an excellent example of a bar/restaurant, solid, dark furniture, noisy, attentive service, large portions, sports on TV.  I ordered fried chicken, expecting three or four pieces, leg, wing, thigh, breast.  Instead, I got an enormous serving of chicken schnitzel, beautifully crispy fried, accompanied by buttermilk gravy, heirloom carrots and bacon scallion mashed potatoes, a steal at $24.  Now sit down when I tell you that I could not finish it.  My companions each had the Rare Tuna Sandwich on ciabatta, very generously sized ($16).  For a second night in a row, I skipped dessert; the midday snack at Rondeau's doesn't count.  

Monday, July 24, 2023
Heading home, we had breakfast at Tables at the Farm, 3092 Palmer Street, Palmer, a very country place, with just the sort of breakfast items you might expect.  I had the Country Skillet, country lad that I am, eggs, bacon, cheese, onions, mushrooms, green peppers and potatoes ($12.95).  
. . .

From a book review: “In many Asian American households, love is intermingled with food.  Rather than telling us that they love us, our parents feed us, guarding against physical hunger while an emotional one rages.”  I didn’t know that I was Chinese.
. . .

A new study offers an economic profile of elite college admissions.  "Children from families in the top 1% are more than twice as likely to attend an Ivy-Plus college (Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, Duke, and Chicago) as those from middle-class families with comparable SAT/ACT scores."  https://opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/CollegeAdmissions_Paper.pdf

The result is that at Ivy League schools, one in six students has parents in the top 1 percent.  As to the value of the education, remember that Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Samuel Alito, among others, have Ivy degrees.
. . .

Professor Nate is in town before returning to California after several weeks abroad.  We had breakfast at Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish, 273 Columbus Avenue, which I have taught him has the best whitefish salad in the Northern Hemisphere.

I had lox on an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese ($14.50), because it was a little early in the day for whitefish salad by my clock.  My sandwich was a delight and a credit to the Jewish people.

Wednesday, July 26, 2023
DeSantis Offers Campaign Staff Opportunity to Work for Free in Exchange for Invaluable Skills”  The Borowitz Report
. . .

Terrific Tom, Stony Brook Steve and I had lunch at Joe's a/k/a Joe's Home of Soup Dumplings, 7 East 48th Street, a large, two-story, crowded, noisy place that you must visit.  We had chicken soup dumplings ($11.95 for 6 pieces), sesame cold noodles ($7.25), scallion pancake ($7), pan fried vegetable dumplings ($9.50 for 6 pieces) and moo shu pork ($22.45 with 6 pancakes).  The food was excellent, delivered promptly and accurately, although every waiter in the joint tried to take our order at one point or another.  Warning - Don't order Diet Coke, a tiny bottle costs $4.

Thursday, July 27, 2023
Four years ago, my niece Susan moved to Shanghai to work as a librarian in a new high school.  Her daughter Emma accompanied her, eventually graduating from that high school and coming to the USA for college, joining her two brothers who were already here.  Meanwhile, Susan was confined to her apartment complex for most of the last several years, so her visit here is especially significant for her and all of us.

We met for lunch today at Pho One, 181 US-1 South, Metuchen, New Jersey, because good Vietnamese food is easier to find in New Jersey than good Chinese food or delicatessen, for that matter.  Some people might say that the food is of no consequence when seeing your niece for the first time in four years.  Those people are wrong.  Good food stimulates the senses, making for better conversation and prevents the mind from drifting, "When do we eat?"

Pho One provided a good setting for Susan's accounts of her years in China, including the fascination many Chinese had with Emma's extremely curly hair.  The food played its part.  We shared summer rolls ($6.95 for two pieces) and vegetarian summer rolls ($5.95 for two pieces).  My young bride had vegetarian vermicelli noodle ($12.95), while the three of us had versions of rice vermicelli, big bowls with shredded lettuce, mint, pickled carrots & radish, cucumber, scallion oil, crushed peanuts and egg rolls.  My brother had his with beef, Susan shrimp and I chicken ($13.95-14.95).    


Saturday, July 22, 2023

Limping Along

Saturday, July 15, 2023
It was Irwin Pronin, CCNY Student Government President Emeritus, who first pointed out that today is National Ice Cream Day.  Several places were handing out free ice cream in celebration, but the big, somewhat grotesque, news came from Serendipity 3, 225 East 60th Street.  When I returned from exile on the Left Coast in 1980, I ate in Serendipity, on the average, three times a month.  I always had the same, a hamburger, distinguished by being rolled in cracker crumbs before grilling to make it crusty, and a “Frrrozen Mochaccino Hot Chocolate,” their signature frozen hot chocolate with some coffee stirred in.  With tip, it was under $10, expensive at the time, closer to $40 today.

But, today it is ice cream that calls attention to Serendipity; the 3 is only used on ceremonial occasions.  For National Ice Cream day and today only, it is selling "All About the Benjamins $100 Sundae."  For $100, you'll get 12 scoops of ice cream in 9 various flavors including vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, butter pecan, birthday cake, cookies & cream, mint chocolate chip, chocolate peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie dough in a 100-ounce footed goblet.  The sundae is then covered with hot fudge, peanut butter topping, mini chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, caramel sauce, maple walnut topping, crushed Oreos, and a giant cloud of green glittered whipped cream and topped with edible $100 bills.  No, thank you.

Sunday, July 16, 2023
Airbnb published the statistics on domestic searches for the last quarter.   https://www.travelandleisure.com/louisville-kentucky-top-trending-destination-airbnb-summer-travel-7497574

Louisville, Kentucky landing in first place is not really a surprise, since the Kentucky Derby was held in this period.  However, much of the rest led to vigorous head scratching.  Laconia, New Hampshire, came in second, followed by  Lexington, Kentucky; Pittsburgh; and Panama City, Florida.  Don't Real Americans go to Orlando, Las Vegas, or Graceland anymore? 
. . .

Sunday is the day of rest, except if you go to a yeshiva, "a traditional Jewish educational institution."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshiva

However, the educational component has come under question.  "Eighteen ultra-Orthodox yeshivas are not providing students with a secular education that meets state standards, city officials said Friday, concluding an eight-year investigation that faced lengthy delays and alleged political interference."  https://gothamist.com/news/18-nyc-yeshivas-fail-to-provide-adequate-education-investigation-finds

But, maybe these yeshivas are doing what they are supposed to be doing.  “There are people who argue that by teaching children the English language it will help them make a living.  In truth, this is misguided.  Everything that has a benefit to Jews is written in the Torah.  Therefore, if it were beneficial to Jews to learn secular education, the Torah would have ruled that it’s incumbent upon Jews to learn secular studies.  However, since the Torah makes no such ruling, it follows that learning secular studies is not only unhelpful, it is also detrimental to Jews.”  Thus speaketh the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson.  

Monday, July 17, 2023
It was the healthy influence of Gentleman Jerry that directed us to Le Botaniste, 100% Organic, Plant-Based Food, 156 Columbus Avenue, for lunch.  It's a nice looking joint, a fancy salad bar, designed to look like an apothecary.  It serves primarily salad and soup, although I was left wondering whether Chocolate Raw Cake was denied access to an oven.

I had a Seasonal Special salad, with mixed greens, cauliflower, squash, red sauerkraut, carrots, quinoa, shelled peas, "Veggie balls" (gentile falafel) and something like but not exactly hummus ($19).  No living thing was harmed in the preparation of this meal.
. . .

In the real food department comes the news that Russ & Daughters, a singular New York institution, is opening a new branch at 50 Hudson Yards, 415 Tenth Avenue, a restaurant and retail shop.  I hope that they bring Jewish soul and tam to an otherwise bland, artificial neighborhood. 

Wednesday, July 19, 2023
After the $100 ice cream sundae, can the $29 hot dog be a surprise?  Pete Wells, restaurant critic of the New York Times, reviews Mischa, 157 East 53rd Street, a vaguely Eastern European restaurant, today.  While he is generally positive about the restaurant, he finds that "the $29 hot dog is obnoxious, a flagrantly expensive lowbrow-highbrow stunt."

On the other hand, he says that "the $29 hot dog is glorious."  What he describes is closer to a kielbasa, pork-based, nine inches long.  While he doesn't advocate selling it on every street corner under an umbrella, he concludes that "it’s got to be the greatest sausage in a bun in the city."
. . .

Naz and I spent more than $29 each for lunch at Urban Hawker, 135 West 50th Street.  That's the gathering of 17 vendors, inspired by or based in Singapore, under one roof.  Their cooking draws on the cuisines of most neighboring Asian countries -- China, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia -- more successfully than not to my Brooklyn-trained palate.

We ran up the bill by sharing four items from different vendors, plus a variety of liquids hot and cold.  My favorite was the oyster omelet from Prawnaholic Collections ($18), which, if you thought you might like an oyster omelet, you would really like this oyster omelet.  Next was Lontong (pressed rice cakes) at Padi in a thick yellow chicken broth with boiled eggs and fish cakes ($16.50).  I don't know if the fish in the Stingray fried rice at Mr. Fried Rice was actually Stingray, but the predominant taste came from the sour, salty, sweet paste covering it ($21).  There was a lot of fish and a lot of fried rice in this interesting dish.  The most familiar item was the lamb biryani from Mamak's Corner ($21), which I found too conventional in this grouping.  Adding a mango curd mousse from Lady Wong ($8.95) ensured that we were totally stuffed. 

By the way, I got back and forth to Midtown on buses alone, without any trouble.  Watch out world, I'm on my way back. 

Thursday, July 20, 2023
While Florida is known for its oranges, the political administration seems to be interested in the production of lemonade.  In its attempt to unwoke our country’s history of race relations, the Florida Department of Education has called for middle school instruction to include “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”  
. . .

I had lunch at Two Wheels, 426 Amsterdam Avenue, a neat little restaurant, named for the hurly burly of vehicles seen on Vietnamese streets.  It’s a small place with six small square blonde wood tables fixed to the floor.

I ignored the heat outside and ordered Phở Đặc Biệt, a big bowl of excellent hot broth loaded with vermicelli, shredded brisket, sliced sirloin and meatballs ($17.95).  Bean sprouts, cilantro, peppers and a lime wedge were served on the side, to add as you choose.
. . .

I skipped dessert after Two Boots, but the opportunity presented itself.


 

Saturday, July 15, 2023

Shoot From The Hip

Sunday, July 9, 2023
According to one industry source, home prices declined for the first time in six years.  https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/homebuyers-have-been-waiting-6-long-years-for-this-moment-but-theres-a-huge-catch/

Whether you consider $441,000, the latest median price, a bargain depends upon location, the magic word in real estate.  If you are looking to relax, another survey ties stress to location, with finances as only one variable. 
https://wallethub.com/edu/most-least-stressed-cities/22759

What I found most interesting in this collection is how 9 out of 10 of the least stressed cities are cold places.  Only one, Fremont, California, does not experience winter, the others typically facing harsh winters.  The converse is not true, however.  The 10 most stressed cities are a mixture of rust belt and sun belt locations.  I'm pleased and somewhat surprised that the Holy Land, sitting 38 out of 182, isn't exceedingly anxiety ridden.

Monday, July 10, 2023
"The New York Times to Disband Its Sports Department"
Shame!
. . .  

I made a partial return to civilization today.  Accompanied by America’s Favorite Epidemiologist, I visited my primary care physician.  I took public transportation for the first time in a month, buses only, subway steps still too challenging.  And, I wore long pants.  Big deal, you think?  Try putting on long pants when one leg doesn’t bend.

Michael Perskin, M.D., master diagnostician, basically liked what he saw.

Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Today is Tuesday, my deductive powers tell me.  That accounts for Gentleman Jerry and Caring Ken Klein joining me for lunch at Pastrami Queen, 138 West 72nd Street, to enjoy the Tuesday Special, pastrami and corned beef sliders and French fries for $19.95.  Previously, you could substitute a potato knish for the fries, my preference, but not today.  Whether it was the company or the destination, I moved much faster than I had for weeks.  Definitely a successful venture.
. . .

The leader of a prominent alumni group at Texas A&M said, "I think identity politics have done a lot of damage to our country."  Slavery?  No.  Jim Crow?  No.  Redlining?  No.  "I think identity politics have done a lot of damage to our country, and the manifestation of that on campus, the D.E.I. ideology, has done damage to our culture at A&M.”  Is it possible that he meant D.U.I.?

Wednesday, July 12, 2023
I took another vital step in my rehabilitation today.  I went to New Jersey, specifically the gargantuan ShopRite supermarket, 40 Nathaniel Place, Englewood, 77,400 square feet, larger than a football field.  Mother Ruth Gotthelf was a world class shopper, researching the bargains offered over the decades by Bohack’s, A&P, Waldbaum’s, Daitch-Shopwell, C-Town, the Associated and Pathmark to optimize her time and dollars.  I learned from her and have usually been the designated shopper throughout my adult life.  My universe of alternatives consists of Fairway, ShopRite, Trader Joe's and Zabar's, each having special strengths.
. . .

Patrick Kane is one of the leading players in the National Hockey league.  Last season, he was traded to the New York Rangers after 16 years with the Chicago Blackhawks.  Now, he is unsigned by any team, because of "Kane's decision to undergo major hip surgery a month before free agency opened, which will keep him out of action for four to six months."  https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/37999418/patrick-kane-free-agency-nhl-2023-blackhawks-rangers-surgery

I expect to be skating as well as I ever did in much less time.

Friday, July 14, 2023
In 2019, 46 percent of Asian American high school graduates nationally had completed calculus, compared with 18 percent of white students, 9 percent of Hispanic students and 6 percent of Black students, according to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics.
 
This prodded me to find an article by Arthur Ashe, "Send Your Child to the Libraries."   https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/06/archives/send-your-children-to-the-libraries.html
 
Ashe, a Black tennis champion, wrote that "we blacks spend too much time on the playing fields and too little time in the libraries."  He believed that the same diligence that so many young Blacks applied to their athletic skills, against very long odds of reaching the top, should be applied to other areas of accomplishment.  "We have been on the same roads—sports and entertainment—too long.  We need to pull over, fill up at the library and speed away to Congress and the Supreme Court, the unions and the business world."  The presence of two Blacks on the United States Supreme Court today doesn't change his basic message.  Is it unfair to put the burden on Black parents?  History teaches us that waiting on the goodwill and largesse of the white majority is often unrewarded.
                                                                . . . 
 
1940, a year within the lifetime of some of us.  New York University (NYU), an institution that many of you have attended as undergraduates, law students, film students, medical students, or graduate students in a large variety of disciplines.  Back then, NYU had a football team and one that played a national schedule.  In 1939, in fact, it was ranked high on the Associated Press poll.  In 1940, NYU was scheduled to play the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.  Bowing to "a little-known but widespread practice in college athletics known as the 'gentlemen's agreement,''' NYU left Leonard Bates, a star fullback, an African American, at home.  Thousands of students protested to no avail, a handful suspended for their role. 
 
NYU lost 33-0.  I could find no trace of Leonard Bates, but Evelyn Witkin, one of the suspended students, went on to great things.
 

Saturday, July 8, 2023

Hip Parade

Saturday, July 1, 2023
Terrific Tom came by to see that I got in some al fresco walking.  In fact, we made it all the way to Gray's Papaya, 2090 Broadway (72nd Street), whose founder died just over one month ago, leaving a major gastronomic landmark.  After breakfast, when an egg sandwich is available, Gray's offers hot dogs, called franks, and hot dogs alone to eat and a variety of "tropical drinks," notably papaya juice.

I ordered the Recession Special, 2 hot dogs and a medium drink ($6.95 including tax), a good deal and a good meal.  While it did not necessarily put pep in my step, it made the limp home more pleasant.
. . .

I could spend the rest of my days discussing the radical departure of the current United States Supreme Court from established jurisprudence, the positing of political goals and the backfilling of pseudo legal arguments to reach the foregone conclusion.  Almost every major decision of this court's conservative Trumpified majority leaves precedent and established constitutional principles behind.  Yesterday, we got a double whammy.  

Both the Colorado gay-averse website designer and the opponents of student loan forgiveness had no case or controversy to resolve, according to the requirements of Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution.  Lorie Smith did not actually have a website design business and had no customers, straight or gay, for a website design for a wedding or anything else.  Her company did graphics design and she was considering extending its scope.  The Court, as paraphrased by the New York Times, held that "Ms. Smith and her company had established standing to sue because they faced a credible fear of punishment under a Colorado anti-discrimination law if they offered wedding-related services but turned away people seeking to celebrate same-sex unions."  In basketball, it's No Harm, No Foul, but to this Court, when all you have to fear is fear itself, you are elevated to historic martyrdom.  

Who successfully sued to overturn Biden's student loan forgiveness program -- borrowers, lenders, students, colleges?  No, the Republican attorneys general of several states.  As Elena Kagan wrote in dissent: "The plaintiffs in this case are six States that have no personal stake in the [government's] loan forgiveness plan."  Only a batter's box designed by the Federalist Society would keep these guys at bat.  Did it matter that the law allowed the government to "waive or modify" the financial assistance programs?  Not to the textualists in the conservative majority.  

Sunday, July 2, 2023
A Q&A column in today’s paper is headlined “What to Say When You Want to Say No.”  No problem.  “No.”  The “Seinfeld" show is ballyhooed as being about nothing.  I disagree, it’s about not being able to say No.

Next time you see “Seinfeld” on the Comedy Channel, Netflix or local syndication, listen for the unspoken No.
. . .

Utility bills, property taxes, insurance and essential home maintenance are considered the hidden costs of homeownership.  However, their ever-growing size makes it hard to keep them hidden.  https://www.zillow.com/research/hidden-costs-homeownership-2023-32723/

Not surprisingly, the high cost of real estate foreshadows high hidden costs, putting the Bay Area, the Holy Land and La La Land at the top of the list.
. . . 

Gentleman Jerry came along on my walk today and we made it to Fairway Market, 2131 Broadway at 74th Street.  At this rate, I should be on your doorstep for Halloween.

Monday, July 3, 2023
“Smoking prevalence is nearly 50% higher in a group of Midwestern and Southern states compared to the rest of the country.”  They are Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia.  https://truthinitiative.org/tobacconation

In 2016, they all voted for Donald Trump; in 2020, all but Michigan did.
. . .

Aryeh Gold, David Goldfarb and Nate Persily are all non-smokers and share this birthday. 

Tuesday, July 4, 2023
As much as I would like to believe that we locals are constantly choosing between Le Bernardin and Per Se for our next meal, reality is most accurately conveyed by this collection of quintessential New York meals.  It is a near perfect, but not perfect, snapshot of what I might eat in any four-week period of time.
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Mossad Moshe was my wingman today.  The temperature reached over 90°, but, proceeding at a snail’s pace, I remained cool and dry.

Friday, July 7, 2023
Affirmative action is a difficult issue.  Focusing typically on admissions to select institutions, it bears the burden of trying to right the wrongs to millions of people over hundreds of years.  Today, the rights of Asian Americans are sometimes compromised as we attempt to bring justice to African Americans.  

There is one certainty, though, when we examine the reasoning of members of the United States Supreme Court’s conservative majority — they will say anything to support their foregone conclusions.  In his concurrence in the Harvard case, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote “Under our Constitution, race is irrelevant.”  Even if he stopped reading at the 12th Amendment, ignoring the articulation of citizen rights for formerly enslaved people in the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments, he must have blacked out when reading Article I, Section 2's reference to "all other Persons," worth three-fifths of "free Persons."  In oral arguments, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson tried to explain that the 14th Amendment was "not a race-neutral or race-blind idea," but maybe Thomas just doesn't care.

Saturday, July 1, 2023

Everything Old Is New Again

Saturday, June 24, 2023 
As you well know, international Jewish bankers sank the R.M.S. Titanic with explosives, not an iceberg.

Therefore, it follows that the Titan submersible, funded by the Rothschilds, was destroyed to prevent the disclosure of evidence.

Sunday, June 25, 2023
Hats off to Billy Spiro.  Not only does he continue to sell me tickets to Ranger games at face value, but he offered to bring food from Wo Hop in Chinatown to my door.
. . .

Where do you live?  If asked by someone from Denver, you might say New York.  If within 100 miles of the Holy Land, you'll probably name your neighborhood, because placing yourself merely among 8,000,000 other souls isn't very helpful.  Accordingly, it's interesting to know the desirability of local neighborhoods to prospective renters.  https://www.renthop.com/studies/nyc/hottest-nyc-neighborhoods-for-new-yorkers

Note that five of the top 10 were considered "bad neighborhoods" within recent memory, places where you would not park your car or go for an evening stroll.  In this case, plus les choses changent, plus les choses changent.  It seems like a neighborhood’s decline need not be permanent.  On the other hand, once ascended, a neighborhood may avoid decline.

Blockbusting was the way to turn a “good” neighborhood “bad.” Nowadays, NIMBY is invoked to keep good neighborhoods from getting better.
. . .

Maybe it’s OK that I am walking unsteadily with a cane, otherwise I would be jumping up and down at the stupidity of a federal court judge’s defense of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.  (I will not name this sycophant.) Ignoring the actual winners and losers in his rulings, Your Dishonor claims that Thomas’ originalism “more often favors the ordinary people who come before the court – because the core idea behind originalism is honoring the will of the people.”  Although some were individually distinguished, the “people” of 1787 were white male property owners, that property often including other human beings.  
. . .

Not only am I unable to jump up and down, but I probably could not have done more than a block or so down Fifth Avenue in today’s Pride parade.   However, I had vivid memories of the first parade in 1970, held to commemorate the riots at the Stonewall Inn on Sheridan Square the year before.

I was living in Greenwich Village in a tiny, dirty, dark, roach-ridden apartment on a fabulous street.  I had a nice car and a folding bicycle.  On Sunday, June 28, 1970, the Christopher Street Liberation Day March stretched about 15 blocks when I caught up with it on my bicycle.  Am I claiming to have joined that first March?  No, but I was a fellow traveler. 

And, there might be proof of a sort.  Jerry Davis, brother of my brother's friend Danny Davis, a freelance photographer, was covering the March for a Brazilian press agency.  No doubt, Jerry captured big me on top of a little bicycle.  Unfortunately, he died young decades ago without sending any copies to me, but I must have been digitized somewhere along the way. 

Monday, June 26, 2023
This list of the 50 most banned books in America is cluttered with advertisements, but it’s a good picture of what we are afraid of.
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-50-most-banned-books-in-america/

Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Some things you have to take on faith, especially when they are presented with exactness on the Internet.  I can’t help it if you don’t believe that there are 61,134,526 Marias in the world, the most popular first name.  

Thursday, June 29, 2023
Best forgotten?
My Chinese American physical therapist was amused when I described Boaz as #1 Grandson.  It seems that he never heard of Charlie Chan.
. . .

Once upon a time, affirmative action in admissions to educational institutions disprivileged the privileged, taking slots away from white students to make room for “others.”  Now, the success of one group of others, Asian Americans, has changed the playing field.  So, opposition to affirmative action, buried by the United States Supreme Court today, has a variety of sources, representing different interests with varying degrees of integrity. 

I believe that one significant element of the opposition, supplying a lot of the bucks in this decades-long battle (Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 [1978]), comes from those who tacitly cling to the Lost Cause.   https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cause_of_the_Confederacy    

Any victory, any advancement of African Americans refutes their belief in white supremacy, the natural order of society.  They will tolerate success by Asian Americans, even Jews, as long as a white foot stands on a Black neck.  

Friday, June 30, 2023
Many thanks to Stony Brook Steve for getting me out of the house and onto local sidewalks.
. . .

Looking at the opinions in yesterday’s Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, you find remarkable agreement by the two Black members.  Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent opened with “Our country has never been colorblind.”  In his concurrence with the majority opinion, Clarence Thomas said “our society is not, and never has been, colorblind.”  The critical difference is that Thomas then says ”So what?”