Category: Brooklyn

I don’t know if any of us have friends or family in New Orleans, but I do feel for New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina is now a Class 5, and will hit by Monday, and the mayor of New Orleans has declared evacuation. Yikes. Stay safe, people.

Oh, why, oh why am I watching the NYC Public Advocate’s debate (Democratic primary)? It’s so ridiculous. No offense to the candidates (or maybe I do mean offense, I don’t know), but there’s something silly about this. I like the substance, if any, but the people… they’re not appealing to me. This isn’t going to be the greatest election, I’ll admit it. The scariest thing is, Norman Siegel, civil liberties man himself, is making sense (and he has to harp on that he’s more than a litigator). Uh…

The latest storyline in the comic strip “Blondie” is sort of amusing. The comic strip is celebrating its 75th anniversary, and so Blondie and Dagwood is throwing a huge shindig, inviting everybody from every other comic strip over. It’s the ultimate crossover. So, in today’s comics section, “For Better or For Worse” congratulated “Blondie”; “Gasoline Alley” interrupted one of Dagwood’s infamous baths to say happy anniversary; and in “Blondie” itself, George W. Bush tried to call and wish Dagwood a happy anniversary, but Dagwood believes it’s a prank. (ah, good one there, Dagwood).

Daily News article in the “Brooklyn” section – Hofstra Law School has America’s first Hasidic Jewish dean, Aaron Twerski (known to some of us from the Alma Mater Law School days; he’s also the known authority on torts law). Mazel tov, as they say!

Rubin Museum of Art – I checked it out the other day; fascinating place. It specializes on Himalayan art. A lot of Buddhist thinking, plus some native Tibetan religion (Bon, which resembles Buddhism, but isn’t the same), with some Hinduism. The colors of the paintings and the sculptures were amazing. The decor was minimalist – made me feel like I was visiting the apartment of really rich Manhattanites (which may have been the idea – with the circular staircase to symbolize Buddhist thinking, but apparently also because it came with the building, which used to be a Barney’s; and because the Rubins were/are a generous couple who collected a lot of stuff). I recommend it as something really different to try in NYC.

I read Margery Allingham’s “Pearls Before Swine,” wherein detective Albert Campion is home in England, grateful to finally be on leave, during the waning days of World War II (it never changes, I guess; we feel bad for the soldiers stationed in Iraq who are missing their rotating leave for home; it’s no different 60 years ago). But, Campion can’t go see his wife just yet; he misses his train to go home, because he’s dragged into a real bizarre murder investigation in London. It’s a load of crazy stuff (as usual, as if Campion’s aristocratic friends don’t get into trouble): Campion’s pal Johnny, Marquess of Carados (a Royal Air Force pilot who’s got war stuff on his mind) is looking like a suspect in killing a woman who was found dead in his bed, on the eve of his wedding to another woman (whom he doesn’t love, but feels he owes, because her late husband was one of his subordinates in the RAF).

Campion gets mired more and more, until the real bad guy is finally revealed. A doozy, too – I did not see it coming. A taste of the homefront, during a time when they felt the world they knew really was gone. And, Campion gets his own personal surprise, when his wife Amanda (aristocratic aviation engineer extraordinaire) introduces him to the son she bore during the war and who he hadn’t met due to the war. Good subway reading.

Otherwise, it is just the lazy days of summer. I love this weather we’re having in NYC – perfect sunshine, and moderate temperatures. I just hate that it reminds me that summer’s almost over…

THE ONE. Had a reunion Turkish dinner at Taksim on 54 and 2nd with my cousin, SSW, and about a dozen people from law school. Good food, great conversation, crazy camera shots, and the longest farewell session (nearly 1.5 hours after the end of the meal.

TWO. Started making small contributions to Wikipedia. It’s in some ways a bit scary as the audience is large, and you don’t know who you might offend, but on the other hand it is empowering.

THREE. Ring circus at work among three buildings. On Thursday, my cell phone pager goes bonkers as half of the network goes down at 7:30 in the morning, and I’m the only person anywhere near there. I get everything back up in 45 minutes, but it’s not a great way to start the day.

FOUR. I haven’t been sleeping well- I’ve been going to bed at 4 daily. Though not connected, a fourth co-worker lost a parent last week – I attended the memorial service that was on Friday.

The passing of the actor Brock Peters, known for his role in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and played “Admiral Cartright” in Star Trek IV, and VI, as well as Joseph Sisko in “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (Capt. Sisko’s dad).

Star Trek’s official website also posted the news of other notable Trek related passings – Loulie Jean Norman (who sang the theme song to “Star Trek”) and Herta Ware, who played Capt. Picard’s mother in a first season episode.

Something to make us all feel a little older – the kids currently entering college as freshman this fall – the future Class of 2009 – is the first generation who spent a majority of their lives under the President Bush(es) eras; drinking Starbucks; going on-line; and cell phones. Eek.

The weather around here has been absolutely perfect the past couple of days! Which means summer’s end is coming too soon…

Fascinating story on a unique group of Asian Americans – Indian Jews. Columnist Charles W. Bell notes:

Every Saturday for two years, Romiel Daniel and his family walked more than a mile from their home in Rego Park, Queens, to attend Sabbath services at an Orthodox synagogue in Forest Hills.

Then, one cold day he decided to check out the Conservative synagogue one block from his home, the Rego Park Jewish Center.

There, Daniel found a mission: He just celebrated his first anniversary as president of the congregation. He is its cantor and, because the synagogue has been without a rabbi for 19 months, often leads worship services.

That is not what surprises many people, including Jews, when they first meet Daniel. The surprise is that he is an Indian Jew.

“A lot of people never knew that there were Indians who are Jews,” he said this week, when he issued an appeal on behalf of Jews in Mumbai, which until eight years ago was called Bombay and is where he was born 63 years ago. “They think we’re all converts, but we’re not.”

The appeal was issued by Jews of India, which Daniel heads, to raise funds to replace two torahs lost in a recent monsoon that devastated the city. In all, six torahs in the Beth-El Synagogue of Panvel, a suburb of Mumbai, were destroyed in the flooding, and Daniel said members desperately need new torahs in time for the coming High Holy Days.

The Rego Park synagogue, which has 293 members, mostly East European, occupies most of his spare time, but his main job is being director of a lingerie import company in midtown Manhattan. When he assumed the presidency last summer, it made him the first Indian-born Jew to head a U.S. synagogue.

He is a member of Bene Israel, by far the largest of three Indian Jewish groups, with about 60,000 members, including 300 or so in the United States, about 1,000 in Canada, about 5,000 in India, and most of the rest in Israel. The other two groups are the Cochinis, now down to 16 members, all in the Cochin area of India, and the Baghdadis, with about 250 members, living in Britain, Australia, Canada and elsewhere.

Their histories in India go back 2,000 or so years with the arrival of Jews, starting with the Cochinis, who were fleeing the persecution of King Antiochus of Syria – the Jewish revolt against him is celebrated today as Chanukah. The Bene Israel arrived at about the same time, when Daniel’s ancestors were shipwrecked near Bombay while fleeing Antiochus. The Baghdadis arrived in the late 18th century from Syria and Iraq. All are considered Oriental Jews.

There are a few differences between Western and Oriental Jews. Before entering a synagogue, for example, Oriental Jews remove their shoes. They eat rice at Passover instead of matzo, and wear all white on Yom Kippur. [….]

Fascinating stuff.

And, then we may ask: what does it really mean to be a “minority,” when the so-called minority may be majority?

My new homepage is the Wikipedia Random Page. Yeah, I was one of those geeks that actually liked reading random encyclopedia articles when I was young and my parents bought the requisite multi-volume set with the annual year books. Wikipedia is a thousand times better because it incorporates cultural awareness in its researched articles. You also can look at the discussion and see what kind of biases exist in the writing, which you can’t do in a regular encyclopedia.

They’re in another fund-raising season — consider contributing.

I’ve been out of action for a while, partially because I needed a break after cooking for 200 at last week’s successful APA picnic in the Bronx, and partially because my hard drive crashed on my desktop computer, putting a big crimp on my Internet addiction.

Updating a previous post, my friend had a healthy 7 lb. baby boy in HK on Monday. Congrats!

In APA news, Cristeta Comerford, who is Filipina, becomes the first Asian executive White House chef. Apparently, the Bushes were looking for someone that could cook both state dinners and huevos rancheros.

Finally, got a brand new work laptop. 6 weeks on back order, I finally got a Thinkpad T43. Perfect typing surface, long battery life (got over 4 hours on one charge) and built in everything. Very very sweet.

Hmm, so it’s not hot the past two days – wow. After the blistering high temperatures of the weekend (wherein I became convinced of the reality of global warming and spent the entire time indoors in air conditioning), the cooler temperatures feels alien…

Hmm, so what’s with Slate? Dahlia Lithwick and Emily Bazelon are saying that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts really isn’t so bad (or, at least, that the left-of-center folks will swallow him as someone who isn’t so bad).

There’s this picture in today’s Daily News of the dog that won the ugliest dog contest (a Californian dog); he (or she?) really didn’t look very pleasant. The picture’s also in Newsday. Daily News is asking NY’ers to see if we can top that ugly Californian dog, and offered the contest winner’s dog a day at doggie spa. Umm, sure.

And, while I’m happy that Dick Clark is planning to be back for the upcoming Rockin’ New Year’s Eve, I’m not sure what to make of his intending to bring along his anointed successor, American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest. Seacrest has already taken over the old Casey Kasem Top 40 show on the radio; must he aim to take over other things? Well, I’ll reserve judgment – for all I care, he and Simon Cowell might end up joining forces to host tv bloopers to replace Dick Clark and Ed McMahon.

Wednesday night – ABC aired a two-hour, commercial-free tribute to Peter Jennings – “Peter Jennings: Reporter” (to remind us of those specials he used to do, “Peter Jennings: Reporting.”). Poignant stuff – his colleagues and friends expressing themselves about the man they admired and respected. The clips of his finest moments – Challenger, Millenium New Year’s 2000, and Sept. 11, 2001 – and I wondered what might have been (if he had covered the South Asia tsunami, the passing of the Pope, and the London bombings). And, some clips of his “Reporting” specials (“The Search for Jesus” was a good one to show of clips). The tributes made the point that Peter worked hard and believed in standards.

One of those Peter Jennings memories of mine – just before the original Gulf War, he had a special to educate kids and adolescents about the Middle East. Being the age I was back then, it was enlightening to have watched. There was something reassuring about Peter, that Dan or Tom didn’t do for me (ok, so there was Peter’s handsome good looks and sophistication, but that’s besides the point). And, Peter did stories – the world news stuff – that others didn’t really do (I didn’t truly appreciate that until I got old enough to appreciate the NY Times and the Jim Lehrer news in-depth coverage). And, of course, those times of watching him do the presidential campaign coverages. Sad to have seen a clip of him and David Brinkley doing an Election Night coverage and realizing both are now gone.

Summer reading – On Monday night, I finished (finally!) reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.” Huge thick book (even for a paperback). Harry’s clearly an adolescent, angst and self-absorption and all – somewhat justifiably sad and angry all at once. The adults’ dilemmas were also finely drawn (not bad for a book from Harry’s perspective – one could feel Prof. Dumbledore’s pain, and that of everybody else’s). But, I kept wishing for an editor who could have cut the book somewhat – no offense intended to J.K. Rowling, but Books 4 and 5 were really thick books. The brand spanking new Book 6 is in the “To be read” pile – dare I pursue it so soon?

In the meantime, I read “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” by Vonda McIntyre in the “Duty, Honor, Redemption” compilation edition of the novelizations of the trilogy films (II, III, IV). As noted in a previous entry, these were great novelizations. It had been awhile since I last read “II” or watched it, but the book feels a little dated.

The characterizations were nicely consistent to what I’ve seen or read in other Trek novels or movies/shows (Spock at this point was accepting his role as friend/ officer/part Vulcan-part human; McCoy being, well, himself; Kirk dealing with age, mortality, and loving every minute of being the leader), but some stuff felt a little odd (like must David Marcus, Kirk’s son, be that hostile about Starfleet? It’s a “military” but hardly the secret police of a dictatorship). I didn’t remember Scotty’s nephew being that young in the movie – the book made him a teenage cadet, a la the kid cadets of Russell Crowe’s movie “Master and Commander” and Saavik, in the book, was an extremely young lieutenant (umm, Kirstie Alley in the movie as Saavik wasn’t that young).

My guess is that McIntyre was buying into Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s idea of a Horatio Hornblower/coming of age model of naval training, with literal children training aboard the vessel. If that’s the case, why wasn’t Saavik made an ensign rather than a lieutenant? (actually, I have no idea how young lieutenants are in the real military, so …) – Eh, whatever. Fortunately, years of modern Trek (in books and movies) kind of changed the portrayal Starfleet training (i.e., making Starfleet Academy more like the modern West Point or the Naval Academy, an elite college, so it’s not like you have 14-year-old kids training like you had in the Horation Hornblower era of the 1700’s and 1800’s). But, these are mere quibbles – the book was vivid stuff, and made Khan (if it is possible) even more vicious by taking an inside look from the view of the people he led. “II” was a nice subway read.