Saturday, June 14, 2025
“Antisemitism is a light sleeper.” Conor Cruise O’Brien, Irish writer and politician.
. . .
Aiming to make chicken salad, we have begun looking into bringing the family together in Israel for Passover 2026. I was stunned (well almost) by the other worldwide Passover destinations offered to wandering Jews. Mexico, Bahamas, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Thailand, Vietnam, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Turkey, Panama, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Monaco, Canada, South Africa, Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Georgia, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Japan and Dominican Republic. Are there even enough Jews to go around?
Sunday, June 15, 2025
“Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America” said the President of the United States. You know the guy who wants to “knock the crap out of them,” “just shoot them,” “punch him in the face,” see hecklers “carried out on a stretcher” and promised “If I don’t get elected . . . it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”
Monday, June 16, 2025
Bon voyage, American Airlines Flight 142 from New York to London, purchased from Booking.com, designated as “British Airways Operated by American Airlines,” with two empty seats which I have been unable to cancel in spite of repeated calls to each of the named parties. In fact, two of the three, American Airlines and British Airways, agree that flying to London is pointless since we are unable to proceed to Israel on our “multi-city” (JFK-LHR-TLV-JFK) trip. However, Booking.com demurs, insisting that their choice to record the transaction as three separate trips locks me into the initial New York to London segment inflexibly.
Incidentally, Booking.com has refused my offer for it to retain $996, the assigned value of the New York to London segment, and apply to a round trip to London at a future date.
. . .
I tried not to take it all out on Stony Brook Steve when we met for lunch at the brand new Shanghai Dumplings Fusion, 158 West 72nd Street, formerly the site of Seven Hills Mediterranean Grill, a pretty good Turkish restaurant, which succumbed to Covid.
No trace of Asia Minor remains after the move to Asia Major. A sign out front announces a “soft opening” and the scene and the waiter seemed a bit tentative. However, the food was good, the portions generally medium sized and the prices a bit high.
We shared sesame cold noodles which could have had more of that cheap peanut butter flavor that I like ($10.95). Steve had a scallion pancake ($9.95) and a large plate of sweet and sour eggplant ($17.95). I had chicken soup dumplings, five pieces for $11.95, better than average because the wrappers were not gummy. I also had a scallion pancake with sliced braised beef ($9.95).
. . .
Speaking of Chinese food, there has been a monumental development in one of Chinatown’s culinary monuments. Wo Hop, 17 Mott Street downstairs, has expanded to street level.
When I was at Wo Hop just ten days ago, I saw no evidence of such a radical innovation. Of course, we will soon test out the new operation. Whether being above ground in clean, bright and airy surroundings actually is an improvement has to be determined. By the way, do not confuse Wo Hop City, 15 Mott Street at street level, with either the original Wo Hop or its new extension.
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Today is my beautiful wife’s birthday. However, international strife, domestic chaos and our own travel problems have denied her the pleasure of fully enjoying the occasion. I hope that coming days bring her the delight and pleasure that she so richly deserves.
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
. . .
Terrific Tom joined Stony Brook Steve and me for lunch at the cafe at Fairway Market, 2131 Broadway. Our entrance reminded me of this memorable scene.
Thursday, June 19, 2025
If you read some columns, the problem in the United States is not the extra-constitutional exercise of power by the president, but the perceived sclerosis of the Democratic Party. Today, discussing the need for fresh blood in New York politics in opposition to Andrew Cuomo and national politics generally, we read: “For the last decade, a group of uninspiring politicians have stomped out competition and held on to power.”
The author continues, “Mr. Cuomo is winning big among Black voters and white moderates.” So, let us turn away from our core constituency and reach for something new and shiny.
. . .
The temperature is in the high 80s and the humidity was not far behind. I really wanted Chinese food which I had not had for 72 hours, so I took the short walk to Simply Noodles, 267 Amsterdam Avenue, which could be called Mostly Noodles. The small place, 10 two-tops, was full once I sat down. It is easily overlooked as you head somewhere up Amsterdam, but it deserves your attention.
I ordered Spicy Scallion Oil Rice Noodles with chicken, chopped peanuts, sesame seeds and half a medium-boiled, tea-stained egg, a very satisfying dish ($16). I emerged to run into the leading edge of a rainstorm, the first of three in the next four hours. Trader Joe’s was across the street and I only got wet enough to feel relief from the heat.
Friday, June 20, 2025
I got a note from Danny Macaroons reminding me that, in addition to the second location of his Super Nice Coffee and Bakery, he has opened Super Nice Pizza, 975 Amsterdam Avenue, actually a bistro with pizza. I have a complaint though; so far, it is open only for dinner. Hey, Danny, I want pizza for lunch.
. . .
I hope that my friend Burt remembers our introductory German classes at CCNY as fondly as I do. They were just about the only “A”s that I got outside the Government Department. Professor Kahn was a tall, elegant man with silver hair. He must have been Viennese.
I particularly recall the exercises in writing sentences, demonstrating our command of grammar and vocabulary. Believe it or not, I was a bit full of myself in those days and took pleasure in composing absurd sentences, technically correct, but even beyond the bounds of Monty Python. “The girl ate the sky on Wednesday without salt.”
And so we come to Donald Trump. Lawrence O’Donnell, the left-liberal commentator, goes on at great length about “the stupidest man in the Situation Room.”
O’Donnell looks at some Trump utterances as examples of his (un)intelligence. That’s wrong. What Trump does is what I was doing in German classes, making sounds that fit the rules of language without attempting to make sense, maybe even trying to avoid making sense. “His third dog painted the swimming pool with green chicken fat.”
Ludwig Werner Kahn - 100th birthday
ReplyDeleteAfter the Nazis came to power, Ludwig Werner Kahn emigrated to Switzerland in 1933 and moved to England one year later, where he held the post of Assistant Lecturer in German at University College in London until 1936 and worked as a research assistant at the Warburg Institute.
After emigrating to the USA in 1937, Kahn worked at various American universities, e.g. as a professor at the City College of New York. From 1973-1976 he was the director of the Deutsches Haus at Columbia University in New York; in 1974, he became a member of the Council for Research in the Humanities at Columbia University, New York. Ludwig Werner Kahn published a large number of works, including “Social ideals in German literature: 1770–1830 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1938) and "Literatur und Glaubenskrise" [Literature and the Crisis of Faith] (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1964).
Kahn received several awards for his work. He was a Senior Fulbright Research Fellow at the University of Stuttgart, a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, and received the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class. In 2003, Ludwig Werner Kahn presented his written legacy to the German Exile Archive 1933–1945. In a letter dated 2 August 2003, he wrote:
“I am somewhat surprised that the German Exile Archive is interested in my papers, because I did not think that I or my papers were of interest. I had already destroyed some of them [...].”
Ludwig Werner Kahn died in Seattle, Washington, on 4 December 2007. The German scholar's estate contains academic and personal correspondence, including letters from Richard Alewyn, Käte Hamburger, Sol Liptzin (who succeeded Kahn as the Chairman of the Department of German and Slavic Languages at the City College of New York), Kurt Pinthus, Hilde Spiel, Johannes Urzidil and Harry Zohn. The collection also includes personal documents and specimen copies of his academic works.
Sol Liptzin, mentioned in the previous comment, was my teacher in Northern European Literature, where we studied Ibsen among others. He was a lovely man.
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