Potpourri

Fellow blogger Menachem Mendel cited this fascinating October 12, 1902 article from the NY Times. The Times archives are public and fun to search. Though I haven't heard that Youtube is hurting from the competition. On Sept 18 MM cited a recent article about suing G-d. In a way it reminds me of Rav Levi Yitzchak Mi Berdichev and his prayers and urgings to G-d. He also has a post on Sept 21 (I don't get how to link to specific posts on his blog) about Mother Teresa's letters of faith and doubt (you can find a Times article about this, and my riff plus comments here). As of this moment, his most recent post includes a very biblical speech by Barak Obama. It was a pleasure to have recently met MM and to have now met his thoughtful blog.

--------------------------------------------------

In Quinn Cummings' latest post she writes:

"Adolescence at its worst is suspecting that everyone knows something you don’t, you look stupid and everyone is laughing at you. Usually, looking back, you realize no one knew anything, you looked fine, and everyone was so worried about their own stuff they didn’t give you a second glance." I recommend the whole post - which made me laugh out loud.

-------------------------------------------------

Otherwise

I think that the main purpose behind my meeting a certain person was in order for them to introduce me to Jane Kenyon's poetry.

I think of this one together with a Raymond Carver poem about rain. It reminds me of Our Town. Our Town reminds me of Shabbat which serves as a reminder of the holiness of time. The Temple couldn't be built on the Sabbath, because it is a day when time is more important than anything. In a way, that's the case every day. Maybe that's why the directions mandate that Our Town has no scenery or props. Maybe that's a part of Shabbat, to carry the idea of the holiness of time into every day.

Once Sarah Shapiro's sister was sick and when she was finally able she ate a pastrami sandwich and after one bite she broke into tears because it was so good. On a related note Shapiro cites the words of a boy who after surviving a tragedy said "we didn't realize how happy we were." My brother cited that ubiquitously applicable quote at a community dinner at which he and his wife were honored.

May G-d bless us with health and bless us to appreciate all that we have.I love this poem. It sounds really good out loud. She died of cancer soon after she wrote it.

----------------------------------

Otherwise

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.
At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.
-- Jane Kenyon

---------------------------------------------------

In Shul on the first day of YT a man from the row in front turned around and asked this Torah Trivia Q: Sukkot is unique in terms of Torah reading because we read the same portion on the first two days. When is the only other time when we read the exact same Torah reading two days in a row?

On the topic of Quiz Qs: Name three situations in which you can stand still and by by virtue of the atmosphere/space surrounding you (not an article of clothing or object) you fulfil a mitzvah.

Name two foods that are kosher even though the living thing that produced them is not kosher.

-----------------

Aaron Bulman (Z'"L) was impressed with the film Dancer In The Dark. Some say the director hates America. On page 191 of Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, the author writes, "Dancer in the Dark made me cry so hard for so long that all I could do was put my drained self to bed and apologize the next morning to a friend whose party I missed." I agree; 'tis a super strong sad movie.

How often is a title of a book also the name of a chapter in another work? Gilda Radner wrote It's Always Something. Gene Wilder's autobiography - which I hold in high esteem - takes its title from something Gilda said to him; "Kiss Me Like A Stranger". It also includes a chapter called It's Always Something, in which he talks about his own battle with cancer (G-d should save us).

Amy Rosenthal in her Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, under S, has an entry about Saturday Night Live. The part that interests her most is very end. She wonders what it's like to be standing there on the stage as the music plays and the credits roll. I wonder too.

Reminds me of a vision I had (he said jokingly) of the world coming to an end. The music plays. The credits roll. Among the credits are the words; "martyr played by Neil Fleischmann".

The Christine Lavin song The Kind of Love You Never Recover From hits me hard. There's an anecdote in Rosenthal's encyclopedia about her being in the car with her son, talking about sensitivity. She put in a new Christine Lavin CD and it got stuck and kept replaying the word sensitive. I'm sensitive toward people who insult and hurt and then put it on you, saying things like, "don't be so sensitive." These are often the same people who hurt you and then claim to be joking. I don't get it. Well, maybe I do.