Saturday, August 17, 2024
I cast a backward look — how changed
The scenes of other days!
I walk, a wearied man, estranged
From youth’s delightful ways.
John Rollin Ridge, 1827-1867
. . .
In a campaign appearance today, Donald Trump accused his opponent, Kamala Harris, of going “full communist.”
This was music to my ears, shedding decades off my life. Thanks to a very progressive social studies teacher in junior high school, I was aware of Senator Joseph McCarthy applying the communist label on all sorts of folks, prominent and obscure. This continued after McCarthy’s demise with the John Birch Society and other wing nuts. While the practice never completely went away, it wasn’t headline material until the other day. Now, I’m back to my adolescence, with visions of Marx and Engels dancing in my head. Before there was Lennon and McCartney, there was Lenin and Trotsky.
. . .
The term American Exceptionalism arises in political and cultural contexts. I think that it is usually no more than wishful thinking, an attempt to deny the sad truth that people are more alike than not. An example is this story of a participant in the South Africa Miss Universe contest, with a South African mother and a Nigerian father, being hounded out of the competition because of her mixed parentage and her Nigerian name.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/For better or worse, Donald Trump does not figure in the story.
. . .
I’ve been practicing. The Jewish High Holy Days are still about six weeks away, but I am getting ready. Note that these events, Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur, the New Year and the Day of Atonement, have no fixed dates. We know them to be either early or late each year according to the quirks of the Hebrew calendar. They are never “on time.”
A critical aspect of the holidays is reflecting on the year gone by and atoning for your transgressions. In case you need help, the prayer book provides a long list of things that you probably did wrong.
In addition to addressing the Supreme Being, you are expected to ask forgiveness of those that you have wronged. I am certainly no slouch in the transgression department, which is why I have begun to practice my apologies. The only problem that arises is that I find it very difficult to ask forgiveness without explaining what set me off in the first place.
“My dearest Gwendolyn, I want to apologize and ask forgiveness for my rude behavior at the April 13th meeting of the Larchmont Botanical Society. Nothing that you did or said warranted my harsh reaction. In fact, upon reflection, laughter would have been the appropriate response to your inane blatherings.”
Sunday, August 18, 2024
I think that I am surprised to learn that, as of a year ago, about one-third of Americans have a tattoo and that more women than men are tattooed.
Less surprising is the inverse relationship between tattoos and education, wealth and age above 29-years old. This subject is rather foreign to me, on the whole, because Jews have not usually gotten tattooed voluntarily. Leviticus 19:28 “You shall not etch a tattoo on yourselves.” However, on my last visit to Tel Aviv, I sometimes thought that I was in the East Village.
Actually, I just realized that I have a tattoo that I have never seen. It’s on my perineum, a target for the beam radiation treatments for prostate cancer that I received in 2002. I assume that it’s a simple dot or x, but it could be a heart with an arrow through it or the Superman logo. I could ask for help identifying it, but I rather like speculating.
. . .
The other day, the New York City Council’s Education Committee heard from “an educator named Alaina Daniels, who introduced herself as a ‘white, queer, neurodivergent, nonbinary trans woman’ with 12 years of experience teaching everything from robotics to activism. She had also worked as a ‘lunch lady’ and an adviser to eighth graders.”
The subject of the hearing was school dress codes where experience advising eighth graders might be very valuable unlike the litany of personal characteristics more appropriate to a dating app than a discussion of educational policy. Spoken by a white, straight, tall, overweight, left-handed, carnivorous, Mets fan.
Monday, August 19, 2024
I discovered an interesting article in the Journal of the American Medical Association that has significant implications for our current politics, “Association Between Automotive Assembly Plant Closures and Opioid Overdose Mortality in the United States.”
In sum, locales that experienced automobile plant closures in the recent past have an 85% increase in opioid deaths over locales where plants stayed open.
. . .
I've really returned to normal after our trip last week. I had lunch today at Pastrami Queen, 138 West 72nd Street, with Stony Brook Steve. While there was no opportunity to pursue it, Kosher food in Costa Rica is not unknown. There are seven distinct Kosher establishments in the country, all but two in the capital. Similarly, there are three synagogues in San Jose and three congregations in other locations.
Along with about 3,000 Jews in Costa Rica, there has been antisemitic, neo-Nazi and xenophobic activities, so they shouldn’t feel ignored.
It happened almost 20 years ago, but it still sounds fresh.
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Caring Ken Klein joined me for lunch today at tap, “your everyday Brazilian cafe,” 267 Columbus Avenue, a place that I passed many times before without a glance. It’s a small joint, five two-tops inside, a few outdoors. It was full, although it didn’t take that many people to achieve. It advertises itself as gluten-free, but I don’t hold that against it.
The menu reflects its roots. I ordered a New York standard, BEC, but this came with a twist. The generous portion of turkey bacon, egg and cheese was wrapped in an omelette ($12.98). Cholesterol aside, it was delicious. For a dollar less, a tapioca flour wrap is used. Another treat is Guaraná Antarctica Zero, a Brazilian diet soft drink, resembling a mildly fruity ginger ale ($3.75).
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
It took a fainting spell in a bathroom at Montefiore Medical Center to learn vital information. Ample Hills Creamery is open again for business after going bankrupt, because it could not manage success. For me there is a nearby operation, 526 Amsterdam Avenue (no working telephone). Ooey Gooey Butter Cake calls.
Speaking of ice cream, "when it comes to ice cream consumption, the U.S. ranks second to New
Zealand, whose citizens annually enjoy an average of 7.5 gallons of ice
cream per person. Vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor in both
the U.S. and New Zealand (as it is in most countries), but chocolate
takes the No. 2 spot in the U.S., while New Zealanders’ second-favorite
flavor is hokey pokey. First invented in 1953, hokey pokey ice cream
consists of a vanilla ice cream base with small bits of honeycomb
toffee, known as hokey pokey, mixed in."
Thursday, August 22, 2024
At a rally in North Carolina yesterday, Donald Trump “continued to sow doubts about the integrity of the election in November.”
Well, he shouldn’t put up with that. Let him quit now and not be a victim.
. . .
In case you don’t have a grandchild that you want to take to Costa Rica or Iceland, consider Afghanistan, which is trying to encourage tourism.
Of course, if you or the kid happen to be female, consider what a UN expert said recently. “The Taliban’s pattern of systematic violations of women’s and girls’ fundamental rights has intensified, causing immense harm, spanning generations and all elements of society in Afghanistan."
Friday, August 23, 2024
In case you have ever been intimidated by unfamiliar items on a menu, enjoy reading this account of a visit by three distinguished Chinese chefs to an outstanding "foreign" restaurant.
http://www.gourmet.com.s3-
http://www.gourmet.com.s3-
The Fuchsia Dunlop article about the Chinese chefs is excellent. Highly recommended.
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