Link Heaven

Someone asked me if I'm OK. I said I hope so. That question's almost as hard as "is everything OK?" Everything? Was I supposed to be keeping track? The question was if I'm OK health wise. I asked where that came from, and was reminded that I'd recently written something. What did I write? The thing that got this friend concerned was the first poem in this post. To me that poem was straight forward, yet poetic. This friend added that it was a very good poem.

I was pleased with that poem and (to a lesser degree) the one about Francis in that post. I want to share my poetry. I want it to be in book form. I need to make it happen. I want to get it more out there. Maybe I should put it out myself, no matter the cost. I can't wait to share a book with the friends, family, and students who have said - each in their own way - for years "You should put out a book".

I am happy for Natasha Lyonne. Joe Dziemianowicz gave a rave review to a play she's in (by Mike Leigh called Two Thousand Years) and singled her performance out as "especially fine." It seems to me that she's been through a lot. May G-d bless her and her family.

Somewhere, I heard someone say that he didn't like plays because they're always yelling. Which reminds me - why does it sound to me like Hilary is always yelling? How come no-one's making a point of the fact that when she ran for NY senator she swore that it wasn't just as a stepping stone to running for president? Is that just the way it is and some things will never change?

It's long been my perception that my colleague Marie Conroy is a master at balancing caring and compassion with strictness and rigor. Last Thursday night, when I spent a couple of hours in Y.U.'s BM reviewing with students, something came up about cell phones and class. And a student said that if you were caught using one in Dr. Conroy's class it wouldn't be good. Why not? Because she'd lose respect for you. Wow.

Jennifer Anne Moses just published a personal piece that touched me. Here's a taste: "Years ago, my mother turned to me and, for no apparent reason, announced that by 40 or so, any woman that is more concerned with her outsides than her insides is in mondo trouble. She herself was blessed with an amazing lack of vanity. But maybe she sensed, that unlike her, when my own looks began to give out, I'd mourn. Or perhaps she was thinking of those of her friends who were nipping and tucking, dying and grafting. When she herself died of cancer at the age of 72, she was worn-out and white haired. And more beautiful than ever." Talk about beautiful.

"Maybe it's time to learn to drive?" You don't want to get a car?" Comments like that make me think, "OK - I'd prefer not to trouble you for a ride again." Such remarks also bring to mind the fact that if I play basketball and don't get any in the hoop, or try a video game and get quickly destroyed by enemy soldiers - no-one gets hurt, but the stakes are higher in driving. Is it so complex a reality to keep in mind that; while many people do many things, some people can't and some people shouldn't, and some people don't?

I miss the way people wrinkle their nose and say ichsa in Israel.

An added benefit of being a guest in someone’s home is the bookshelves. My friends and hosts this past Shabbos have hundreds of books. Tucked away in the basement was The Yalom Reader. It's one of those books I've touched and held in Barnes and Noble amidst many a visit. Love's Executioner was a gift from a fellow intern at FEGS in '96. I ate it up and went on to read his first novel. He's got a human approach, I like that.

This volume is dedicated to Yalom's wife Marilyn; "wife, lover, editor, Soulmate for fifty years - and not nearly long enough." Wow. One more taste: he writes of his first encounter with an actual "patient": "What could I possibly offer her? All I could do, I ultimately decided was to allow her to be my guide and to explore her world as best I could...Her story touched me. I thought about her often between our meetings, and over the weeks we developed a tender, even loving, relationship. She seemed to improve rapidly. How much of her improvement was real? How much of it was a reward for listening and caring. I never knew."

I recently heard The Smothers Brothers interviewed on radio and laughed out loud. Then I looked around YouTube. They are not only funny, they sing really well. Here they are singing They Call The Wind Moriah. As a famous singer once said of them - they sing so on key that it hurts.

Steve Martin was asked by Johnny Carson what he thought Tommy Smothers meant when he said that "being with Steve Martin is like being alone." Steve said "I think he meant to say that I can be very quiet." I found an interview in which Smothers explains himself. It's more fascinating than I could have hoped, He's responding to the question: "What's your opinion of most comedians?" And this is what he says: "I haven't seen one comedian who is really emotionally stable. Maybe Steve Martin. Time spent with him is like being alone. He doesn't reveal himself at all, while most comedians will tell you their whole life story in a second."

There was a time when I would jump and shut the radio if this came on. Now I can listen straight through. It reminds me of someone and some time, still. But I can appreciate the song itself again. It can't be a great sign when you're seeing someone and And So it Goes is "your song."
Here's another song that "gets me." This wasn't a theme of any one thing for me. It came out during the five straight years I spent in Israel learning. It penetrated me. "This is my home town...."

I told my dear friend Martin about this about 15 years ago. And he tracked down the lyrics in a special music library near where he worked at the time. He and I and many others have been cut deeply by this song. It's from when the world and I were young, just yesterday. Shades of Gray.

My introduction to this one came when my brother asked for a Jim Croce album (bro confided in me that he knew only one song on the album but he still thought it was worth buying) as a kid. Like so many younger siblings much of my music in my youth (with the exceptions of Jethro Tull and The Who) came to me via big brother. My dad and I once spent a lovely evening watching Moshe Yess perform just for us in his Cafe on Rechov Salamon. He sang I've Got a Name (as well as Sukkos in Jerusalem as per my request, and much more) with a few emendations. He also sang California Dreamin' with the line "Stepped into a Shul and began to pray..."

As a tween and teen I was into Laurel and Hardy. I used to look like Laurel and do a pretty good imitation. I wrote a couple of skits and did both voices. When I spotted a collection of songs and dialogue on an album in Korvettes I pushed for it and got it. I sat on the carpet afoot the living room stereo with the headphones plugged in and took these genius artists in like oxygen. I just found one of them on YouTube. That prompted me to get the record out of the closet.

The YouTube phenomenon has broken the distance between fans and art. I used to imagine these L&H scenes as I listened, knowing that acquiring the films was a long shot. This has dawned on me before, particularly when watching Ian Anderson or America and seeing them up close for the first time. I'd seen Jethro Tull in concert on two occasions but didn't know what Anderson really looked like when he sang until I YouTube him. (See one of his most upbeat and unknown songs here.)

Was I the only 12 year old in America in 1974 walking around singing The Trail of The Lonesome Pine verbatim? It wasn't until I saw the YouTube clip that I got the comedic brilliance that accompanies the pitch perfect song arrangement. Take a look.

I got an ad in the mail. It sat in a pile for a while until I unfolded it like a Jacob's Ladder and discovered magic. Each section contained an excerpt and each excerpt included writing like this: "As we grow up we put away our laughter and our silliness and our childish noises...and the next thing you know, the little child...is just another boring adult..." (John Rosenthal - Amazing Conversations).

"I'm considering subscribing to The Sun. I checked out the archives online. How do people write so well? Great writing is like when the nurse hits the vein just write and even you have to admit the beauty as you stare at your own blood flowing smoothly into a clear container.

I wish there was more time to read. I almost wish that I'd start one of these Sun pieces and roll my eyes or lose interest or just let tiredness win out as the page slips away and I fall asleep on the couch. But this writing is killer.

Here's one from The Sun that made me cry. It was the avocado piece that really hit me. But each piece of this piece was strong and delicate and real, like the avocado, like the author. This is a segment they have, a kind of challenge, in which someone writes about ten things that only he or she knows.

A dear friend of mine, a tremendous talmid chacham, mentsch, and leader is also an avid Seinfeld fan (I'm not a fan of the show. I do think that as a comedian he's one of the best ever. Here's a clip of him pretending to just chat with Johnny while showcasing his routines.) He just shared a profound line. Seinfeld is undergoing a lie detecor test to prove to his policewoman girlffriend that he doesn't watch Melrose Place, which he's really a big fan of. He seeks help from George who gives him this advice worthy of Yoda's evil twin: "Just remember, if you believe it - it's not a lie." Maybe one day I'll take the time to write the long version of that, it may take a book. For now I'll just say that I see that play out every day in many directions and many ways.

There's a little book called The Gentle Weapon; Prayers for Everyday and Not-So Everyday Moments. It's a collection of poetic incarnations of the ideas of Rav Nachman MiBreslov. Just as the authors of that book were moved to tranfer his words into short poetic form, I have been inspired to compose haiku based on the prayers in the book.

I first heard about the book from someone I met socially:

A woman I met
poularized this book
she deserves to be happy

I love the title:

The gentle weapon
what a beautiful image
for man and his prayer

This is inspired by "Courage To Grow" on page 4;

Let me catch the risks
Help me take them in my soul
and spin out chances

This is based on "A Full Life" on page 5:

G-d help us live right
Present us with holy acts
Let us be fulfilled

This one's based on "Making Ends Meet" on page 6

G-d help me survive -
make a dignified living -
keep You in my eyes

"Let," inspired by In The Black on page 7:

Let me avoid debt
Let it be just between us
Let me not owe man