Local Big young Yid, J.J. Flotkin had some interesting words culminating in, "Generational silence will only force the “more experienced" leaders of today to build our future for us." Isn't this why we write?
A recent article by J.J. Flotkin entitled, "A Call for Young Leadership" puts up a pretty good defense to those that would call our generation lazy, uninterested, or unengaged.
His call to action includes the sentence, "It is our job as young leaders to find passion in our community."
Should we tell him? I mean, organizational skills, we may not have. Grammar abilities, neither. But passion! Passion we have.
We might not know what to do with it, how how to use it efficiently, but we have it.
On another note, everyone's favorite Hassidic Reggae Superstar, Matisyahu, was interviewed over at Rolling Stone, and was pretty talkative. Except that he really didn't say a whole lot.
He did say that, "Music and Politics is two different things". Which, according to the article, is a big deal.
Gotta cut this one short, its almost time for Shabbat, and we are packed this time around, we even had to tell guests to bring their own chairs.
Read More......
Showing posts with label Jew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jew. Show all posts
Friday, August 8, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Y? goes to a Baptist Church, likes the music, confused by the message
Anyone who has seen "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Joice In The Hood" knows that the Wayans brothers spared no exaggeration in their portrayal of Urban Black America. A random trip to a Baptist worship service held in a public school auditorium in Cincinnati proved to me that every once in a while, there is some truth in caricature.
A good friend of mine, with whom I had played music in high school invited me to catch him at a church service this morning. Never having been to a Baptist service, and having only the aforementioned "Don't Be A Menace" scene as well as James Brown's performance "Blues Brother's" as reference points, I thought seeing the real deal would be a great idea.
I rolled into the service and found my friend jamming, but really COOKING with a drummer, keyboardist, and organist playing along with him. Not only was the music funky and upbeat, it permeated the entire service. When the Pastor started a song, the keyboard player would find the key and start playing chords, and a bar later, the bass and drums would bring the ruckus, and the whole place was clapping and singing along. When the Pastor started preaching, the keyboard and drums would accent the pauses in his phrasing with rich stabs and fills. And when the collection plate went around, a lush sound pad created an almost ethereal ambiance.
But the music aside, and it was hot, what I found really interesting was the message. Now let me be as descriptive as I can, this was a fairly small congregation in which my friend and I were the only non-African Americans. I'm definitely the only Yid in the place. The congregation seems like an economic hodge-podge (if one can truly draw those conclusions from such an encounter) but seemed to skew lower middle class and below.
The service did not require the use of any written documents and all of four lines of scripture, from Galatians, were read. I couldn't even hear them cuz the music overpowered it.
The sermon was delivered based on one line that Paul said about all things coming from Jesus and the way it was delivered made the message hard for me to grasp.
There seemed to be a few key points.
1. God provides for all of our needs, only God provides.
2. God provides for those who provide for the church and others.
3. God doesn't provide for those unwilling to provide for themselves.
Fairly standard populist religion right? But something about it irks me. I want to ask questions about Jesus and why people are being told to be content with their lot instead of seeking further education or training in order to increase their ability to provide for themselves.
At one point the Pastor made a comment about giving to the church even if it meant missing a car payment. That kinda shocked me.
On the other hand, my friend tells me that there have been numerous people who come to the church homeless and the church helps them get their lives together.
For an institution as central to the culture and community of African-America as the Church, it certainly seems like this particular congregation is preaching some of the same values as the ghettoized Eastern-European Old Jew culture.
You know. God is testing you, things will be better if you pray, its all in God's hands etc etc. Basically. . . the stuff that keeps people in their place and doesn't really encourage economic mobility.
I recognize that these are the experiences of an outsider at a specific congregation on a specific day, but what I saw was such a complex tapestry of joy and transcending pain through music, mixed with elements of mental slavery, that I'm not quite sure what conclusions to draw from the experience.
I tend to view any experience that takes me out of my comfort zone and forces me to learn and confront my ignorance as positive, and now I know where to go to get a good solid dose of great blues, funk, and gospel.
Read More......
Thursday, July 24, 2008
We're Everywhere (also, can a tatooed Jew be buried in a Jewish Cemetary?)
A recent check of my Jew Filtr in filterbox showed me some pretty interesting things.
First, Yid Scott Storch, one of the founding members of the Legendary Roots Crew aka The Roots, whose meteoric rise to America's Top Producer (patents pending) was characterized by hits such as Terror Squad's 'Lean Back', has hit some hiccups. Storch has apparently started to believe in the world of bling he finds himself in and needs to get everything together.
Number two, a peace of pre-state Israeli propaganda explaining to British soldiers why they should leave Palestine has interesting parallels to a lot of current anti-occupation propaganda, except that it calls for the Brits to leave as opposed to simply calling them infidels. Judge for yourself.
Third, I found a really interesting article about Israel's citizenship and immigration dilemma which has to do with the legitimacy of being a Jewish democracy and what that means, in terms of who should get citizenship and whether a cultural definition of a citizen might be better than the current religious definition.
Interesting quote - "The halachic position is that a person need not be Jewish to be close to God. Being a member of the Chosen People means being subject to special duties, but it gives you no monopoly on righteousness or spirituality."
Read it.
Finally, the tattooed Jew question. After reading a very interesting article with several people's takes on the issue, including Hollywood and Larry David, the conclusion is. . its forbidden, but won't keep you out of a Jewish cemetery.
Full article here.
Read More......
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Jewish dating
Take a guess at which 'Jewish organization' has the largest number of young Jewish members (facebook doesn't count, despite Zuckerberg's MOT status).
It's not YPD, it's not Gesher-City, its JDate. Really. The single largest group of 20 and 30-somethings in St. Louis (and in most cities) is a website that exists purely for Jewish dating, and potentially marriage. It is useless to argue the chicken and the egg about which came about first, the lack of specific programming for this demographic, or the lack of engagement, but it is still interesting that the Gen Yid demographic would rather join a Jewish dating site, instead of align themselves with a community organization or temple.
It makes sense to a certain degree. A friend of mine was recently lamenting the problem of dating as a young Jew, particularly in St. Louis. While its not my place to judge certain patterns of dating behavior (although judge, I do), he raised some interesting points. The first problem is, where are all the Jewish women at? Second, where are the events at which to find these elusive characters in an environment that is casual, conducive to making friends and potential matches, and not awkward?
This is the beauty of JDate. Its all taken care of for you. You don't have to ask all those hard-to-ask questions that qualify a person as a potential match, its all done for you. They say everyone knows someone who met on Jdate. As more and more of my friends get married, I hear about more and more about Jdate's efficacy.
Granted it doesn't work for everyone. I also know several people who have gone on many a Jdate, and while they made a few friends here and there, the results left much to be desired.
Still, what if there was a place, or a stream of events that were casual enough to just drop by, like Mondays at the Muny (free seats, obviously), or Wednesday night jazz at the botanical gardens, meet a few people, share a glass of wine, and let things take their course.
That is the raison d'etre behind the Gcalendar we organized. Its simple, Just click the calendar link to see what is going on around the city. Also, if you shoot us an email, we put you on the calendar, and you can post your own events.
Then all you have to do is show up.
It's not just about singles. The hope is to provide for ourselves, to be the change we wish to see by simply connecting with the other young Jews in the STL metro area, and providing a forum and a sanctuary where we can express our vision for the future.
Read More......
It's not YPD, it's not Gesher-City, its JDate. Really. The single largest group of 20 and 30-somethings in St. Louis (and in most cities) is a website that exists purely for Jewish dating, and potentially marriage. It is useless to argue the chicken and the egg about which came about first, the lack of specific programming for this demographic, or the lack of engagement, but it is still interesting that the Gen Yid demographic would rather join a Jewish dating site, instead of align themselves with a community organization or temple.
It makes sense to a certain degree. A friend of mine was recently lamenting the problem of dating as a young Jew, particularly in St. Louis. While its not my place to judge certain patterns of dating behavior (although judge, I do), he raised some interesting points. The first problem is, where are all the Jewish women at? Second, where are the events at which to find these elusive characters in an environment that is casual, conducive to making friends and potential matches, and not awkward?
This is the beauty of JDate. Its all taken care of for you. You don't have to ask all those hard-to-ask questions that qualify a person as a potential match, its all done for you. They say everyone knows someone who met on Jdate. As more and more of my friends get married, I hear about more and more about Jdate's efficacy.
Granted it doesn't work for everyone. I also know several people who have gone on many a Jdate, and while they made a few friends here and there, the results left much to be desired.
Still, what if there was a place, or a stream of events that were casual enough to just drop by, like Mondays at the Muny (free seats, obviously), or Wednesday night jazz at the botanical gardens, meet a few people, share a glass of wine, and let things take their course.
That is the raison d'etre behind the Gcalendar we organized. Its simple, Just click the calendar link to see what is going on around the city. Also, if you shoot us an email, we put you on the calendar, and you can post your own events.
Then all you have to do is show up.
It's not just about singles. The hope is to provide for ourselves, to be the change we wish to see by simply connecting with the other young Jews in the STL metro area, and providing a forum and a sanctuary where we can express our vision for the future.
Read More......
Thursday, July 10, 2008
What High School did you go to?
I am a first-time blogger and when Y? asked me to write about life after college from the point of a Jew from St. Louis, born and raised, who has returned to St. Louis I figured it was going to be a breeze. I mean that is my life in a nutshell. I have struggled with writing this for fear that people probably don't care what I have to say regarding St. Louis and have probably already formed their own opinions on being in St. Louis after college.
Most of my high school friends, Jewish or not, and almost every one of my college friends lives somewhere other than St. Louis. I have best friends in New York, Chicago, San Diego, Pensacola, Los Angeles, and the list goes on.
So here is what I can tell you…coming back to St. Louis and finding my niche has been a struggle at times. I am the fourth generation of St. Louisans in my family and it's all I know. We are the kind of people who think that Imo's might just be the world's best pizza, the letter 'R' can be found in words like water and wash, and the kind of people who believe that when you turn your ice cream completely upside down it should not fall out of the cup or else it's free. Imo's and Ted Drewes aside, St. Louis is not the familiar place it once was when I was a youngster.
If that came out sounding negative, it certainly was not meant to sound that way. The majority of my current St. Louis friends, especially the Jewish ones, are not from here. Whether it's west coast or east, or a fellow Midwesterner from out-of-state, these friends are the ones showing me all that St. Louis has to offer. Everything I once thought I knew about St. Louis has been improved upon tremendously since returning home. I have always enjoyed the Muny, however a show at the Muny with my group of Jewish friends in the free seats on opening night is a wonderful occasion and new experience for me. I have always known about Forest Park, but live concerts on Tuesdays outside the History Museum and on Wednesdays at the Botanical Gardens fit in this same category as they are things I was not so familiar with growing up. We have really uncovered and discovered some of the finer things St. Louis has to offer.
One thing I noticed that has remained the same is St. Louis' most frequently asked question: "What high school did you go to?" It is grammatically incorrect, like warter and warsh but we always let it slide. It's just how you say it. What we really mean to ask is, where in St. Louis did you grow up and what do your parents do? Do you have more furniture on your lawn or in your house? Do you have all of your teeth or just some? It's a pretty ridiculous question but we cannot stray from asking it, regardless of how inaccurate it may be. I have even noticed my aforementioned friends who are not from St. Louis have begun to ask this same question when they meet someone from St. Louis. I suppose they think it helps them grasp onto some idea about the person with whom they are speaking. I guess what I mean to say is that I don't think it's a good judge of anything. Using myself as an example, I went to a high school in a very affluent part of St. Louis. When I say where that is I always get the same response. However, I don't think I fit any description of the type of person being imagined when I speak the name of my high school. I don't think I fit that mold one bit. Nonetheless, it is inescapable. It is just as certain as the fact that my concrete will not fall out of my cup when the Ted Drewes employee turns my order completely upside down. And for this reason alone, I'll take it. To my new St. Louis friends: Thank you for showing me a St. Louis I have never seen and providing me with a very accepting, informal Jewish experience that I would not trade for the world. To my many original St. Louis friends who will never consider a return to the river city: You are truly missing out on what we are doing. Read More......
Most of my high school friends, Jewish or not, and almost every one of my college friends lives somewhere other than St. Louis. I have best friends in New York, Chicago, San Diego, Pensacola, Los Angeles, and the list goes on.
So here is what I can tell you…coming back to St. Louis and finding my niche has been a struggle at times. I am the fourth generation of St. Louisans in my family and it's all I know. We are the kind of people who think that Imo's might just be the world's best pizza, the letter 'R' can be found in words like water and wash, and the kind of people who believe that when you turn your ice cream completely upside down it should not fall out of the cup or else it's free. Imo's and Ted Drewes aside, St. Louis is not the familiar place it once was when I was a youngster.
If that came out sounding negative, it certainly was not meant to sound that way. The majority of my current St. Louis friends, especially the Jewish ones, are not from here. Whether it's west coast or east, or a fellow Midwesterner from out-of-state, these friends are the ones showing me all that St. Louis has to offer. Everything I once thought I knew about St. Louis has been improved upon tremendously since returning home. I have always enjoyed the Muny, however a show at the Muny with my group of Jewish friends in the free seats on opening night is a wonderful occasion and new experience for me. I have always known about Forest Park, but live concerts on Tuesdays outside the History Museum and on Wednesdays at the Botanical Gardens fit in this same category as they are things I was not so familiar with growing up. We have really uncovered and discovered some of the finer things St. Louis has to offer.
One thing I noticed that has remained the same is St. Louis' most frequently asked question: "What high school did you go to?" It is grammatically incorrect, like warter and warsh but we always let it slide. It's just how you say it. What we really mean to ask is, where in St. Louis did you grow up and what do your parents do? Do you have more furniture on your lawn or in your house? Do you have all of your teeth or just some? It's a pretty ridiculous question but we cannot stray from asking it, regardless of how inaccurate it may be. I have even noticed my aforementioned friends who are not from St. Louis have begun to ask this same question when they meet someone from St. Louis. I suppose they think it helps them grasp onto some idea about the person with whom they are speaking. I guess what I mean to say is that I don't think it's a good judge of anything. Using myself as an example, I went to a high school in a very affluent part of St. Louis. When I say where that is I always get the same response. However, I don't think I fit any description of the type of person being imagined when I speak the name of my high school. I don't think I fit that mold one bit. Nonetheless, it is inescapable. It is just as certain as the fact that my concrete will not fall out of my cup when the Ted Drewes employee turns my order completely upside down. And for this reason alone, I'll take it. To my new St. Louis friends: Thank you for showing me a St. Louis I have never seen and providing me with a very accepting, informal Jewish experience that I would not trade for the world. To my many original St. Louis friends who will never consider a return to the river city: You are truly missing out on what we are doing. Read More......
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Not bad at all, a reflection
Some big things have recently happened, and seeing as how I went to Jew camp, I feel pretty comfortable sharing.
First, the St. Lou Jew blog reached 500 page-views over the weekend, which is fairly momentous because we haven't really done any publicizing other than word of mouth. It took EJ at Celebrity Car Parade a little longer than that and look at him now, pushing that Challenger!
We appreciate your support and would love to hear from you as we expand our content. What would you like to see our crack team of LouJews investigate?
Second, we are moving forward with our partnership with both Moishehouse and Jewish in St. Louis. We hope that by joining up and collaborating, we can start connecting with other young Yids, find some interesting things to get involved with, and maybe make even relieve some debt along the way. Jewish in St. Louis is basically the one stop show for information regarding all things Israelite in the city. The site didn't really have a lot geared towards the post-undergrad-crowd, and I think we can fill that space pretty well.
Third, CRC makes dope Challah. Seriously.
Finally, we are always looking to network and expand. If you are young, Jewish, and in St. Louis (not St. Charles (ok, you too)), and might be interested in linking up to contribute, or just socially, shoot us an email, we're in the business of making friends (actually Auggie Busch the first said that, but we mean it).
Read More......
Friday, June 27, 2008
The Keffiyeh Yisraelit
This might just be the most controversial conversation starter you see all day.
I stumbled upon this Keffiyeh Yisraelit and had nearly spontaneous and opposite initial reactions. First I though, wow, this is cool, I would definitely wear something like this. . . if I was in the desert or during the winter, or possibly as a hard-to-decipher-cuz-I'm-hipper-than-you fashion accessory. Second I thought about cultural appropriation and the Arab-Israeli-Palestinian-Muslim-West conflict. More specifically, taking an object which has most recently been associated with the Palestinian resistance/stuggle/terrorism as well as a fairly prominent hipster accessory, and re-branding it can be seen in two ways.
First, it can be seem as taking something that we find cool, like hip hop or reggae, and putting our own spin on it, like most of the Jdub records artists. Or you could see it as taking something hurtful, like the 'n' word in America, and turning it into a regular part of the urban African-American speech pattern.
From an outside perspective, it shows some of the tensions we feel as both taste-makers and historical underdogs, to find ourselves affiliated with accusations of atrocities and oppression. Perhaps by appropriating the Keffiyeh, an ancient garb worn pre-Islam to protect against the sand and sun, we are embracing that complexity.
Read More......
Monday, June 23, 2008
Mann tracht und Gott lacht (Man plans and God laughs)
Just as the industrial revolution created adolescence, and the 60's cemented the college experience as essential, Generation Y(id) is creating a new young adulthood period in which experiences and location trump a career, or what was formerly known as 'direction'.
While this period doesn't apply for all of us (just ask Rosh), there are larger and larger numbers of us who are spending time living abroad, quitting jobs we don't like without staying through a first promotion, and many of us who are forgoing cubical based office life all-together. We like meeting new people, doing new things, and having the pictures to prove it.
While many of our parents generation were the first to be college educated, we are virtually expected to get a bachelor's degree at the very least. And as this degree becomes a prerequisite, and a precursor to beginning a life, it also offsets our entry into adulthood. Many of us change majors multiple times, or have multiple majors, most of which don't provide us any hard skills to advance careers. In fact, college is such a ubiquitous experience for us that we don't see it as a path to a career as much as a chance to explore things of interest to us.
The result is that I (and many many of my friends)left college without a clear understanding of what I wanted to pursue, other than a list of places I wanted to visit, and an understanding that I would probably pursue at least 5 different careers over the course of my lifetime, and a sense of 'you're still young', and an internet sensibility in regards to sentence structure.
Perhaps there is no truer measure of the success of the wonderful Schusterman/Bronstein/Birthright program than the fact that we are starting to view life a little more like Israelis, who often don't start careers until they are nearly 30, and live at home until the same time.
To wrap this with a nifty little bow, there is this question that often gets asked in interviews that is indicative of this generational gap, "where do you see yourself in X years?". Generation Y(id) say, "who knows?" and that's the most exciting part.
And why should we try to envision ourselves that far into the future, after all, in the worlds of our (ashkenazi) great-grand parents, "mann tracht und Gott lacht (Man plans and God laughs)".
Read More......
While this period doesn't apply for all of us (just ask Rosh), there are larger and larger numbers of us who are spending time living abroad, quitting jobs we don't like without staying through a first promotion, and many of us who are forgoing cubical based office life all-together. We like meeting new people, doing new things, and having the pictures to prove it.
While many of our parents generation were the first to be college educated, we are virtually expected to get a bachelor's degree at the very least. And as this degree becomes a prerequisite, and a precursor to beginning a life, it also offsets our entry into adulthood. Many of us change majors multiple times, or have multiple majors, most of which don't provide us any hard skills to advance careers. In fact, college is such a ubiquitous experience for us that we don't see it as a path to a career as much as a chance to explore things of interest to us.
The result is that I (and many many of my friends)left college without a clear understanding of what I wanted to pursue, other than a list of places I wanted to visit, and an understanding that I would probably pursue at least 5 different careers over the course of my lifetime, and a sense of 'you're still young', and an internet sensibility in regards to sentence structure.
Perhaps there is no truer measure of the success of the wonderful Schusterman/Bronstein/Birthright program than the fact that we are starting to view life a little more like Israelis, who often don't start careers until they are nearly 30, and live at home until the same time.
To wrap this with a nifty little bow, there is this question that often gets asked in interviews that is indicative of this generational gap, "where do you see yourself in X years?". Generation Y(id) say, "who knows?" and that's the most exciting part.
And why should we try to envision ourselves that far into the future, after all, in the worlds of our (ashkenazi) great-grand parents, "mann tracht und Gott lacht (Man plans and God laughs)".
Read More......
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Springtime for Hitler
So the Muny kicked off its season last night with the opening of the Producers, and who am I to pass up free theater in the park on a beautiful night?
First the particulars... the Muny in Forest Park is an amphitheater that has live musicals almost every night between now and August 10. And even better, there are a ton of free seats toward the back, which is where we sat last night. And if you are savvy, then you can even get some wine into the theater, which makes the night just that much better.
Anyway, check out the Muny, enough said.
Now, onto this week's show, the Producers....
You know how being an MOT you automatically feel like you are part of something special, like the cool Jew club? Well check out the Producers, and you get three solid hours of inside jokes that you need to own a yarmulke to get. From widespread use of Yiddish to jokes that are funny because they are O so true, there was many of time last night when we were the only ones in our section laughing. Now yes, the Producers is a very funny show in and of itself, but it is one of those things, like Chinese food and bagels and lox, that is just a little better, a little sweeter because you are Jewish.
So grab your best Jewish friend (but maybe leave your Jewish mother at home, the Producers is defintely not G-rated) and check out the Producers this week at the Muny in Forest Park.
Now excuse me for cutting this short, but I have a championship-clinching game to attend to. Go Celtics!
Read More......
First the particulars... the Muny in Forest Park is an amphitheater that has live musicals almost every night between now and August 10. And even better, there are a ton of free seats toward the back, which is where we sat last night. And if you are savvy, then you can even get some wine into the theater, which makes the night just that much better.
Anyway, check out the Muny, enough said.
Now, onto this week's show, the Producers....
You know how being an MOT you automatically feel like you are part of something special, like the cool Jew club? Well check out the Producers, and you get three solid hours of inside jokes that you need to own a yarmulke to get. From widespread use of Yiddish to jokes that are funny because they are O so true, there was many of time last night when we were the only ones in our section laughing. Now yes, the Producers is a very funny show in and of itself, but it is one of those things, like Chinese food and bagels and lox, that is just a little better, a little sweeter because you are Jewish.
So grab your best Jewish friend (but maybe leave your Jewish mother at home, the Producers is defintely not G-rated) and check out the Producers this week at the Muny in Forest Park.
Now excuse me for cutting this short, but I have a championship-clinching game to attend to. Go Celtics!
Read More......
Friday, June 13, 2008
Big Things Happenning
Your opportunity to help St. Louis and the environment (and save money!).
Plus, UJC reads our blog, you should too.
And, St. Louis makes its case for legitimacy.
So first and foremost, if you remember, in an earlier post, I bemoaned the public transportation here in St. Louis and made a personal commitment to get involved. Turns out that I'm not the only 'concerned citizen', and in fact, there is a large group in St. Louis, called Citizens for Modern Transit, that is working with employers and other citizens to get people to use the Metro system. In conjunction with Thursday June 19th's Dump The Pump day (to encourage people to drive less by riding bikes and taking public transportation), they are offering free metro rides! I couldn't be more excited to ride around all day and night. The trick here is to get people to ride who normally wouldn't, make them comfortable with the safety and ease of the Metro, and then convince them to lather, rinse, repeat.
The second order of business is that our Israel Correspondent's last post, which is certainly worth the read, was discovered by someone at the UJC, and she was offered the chance to participate on another expedition with journalists to the areas affected by constant bombardment from Gaza. Who says blogging can't change lives. (Consequently, if there is anyone out there that wants to give us a grant to write full time, feel free).
Finally, an update to Summer in the City. Yes, St. Louis might have just become a city in my book. What is it, you say, that pushed it over the edge? Was is population growth? An increase in government funding for development?
No, in fact my opinion was changed by two events. The first was meeting the ensemble cast of the upcoming production of The Producers at the Muny at Kim Massie's weekly show at Beale.
The second was my experience at the Botanical Gardens on Wednesday. Every Wednesday, the Botanical Gardens opens up and people flock to see music, have picnics, and just hang out outside. The sheer number and diversity of people there, as well as the general atmosphere, and absolute beauty of the gardens made me feel more at peace with St. Louis perhaps anything has previously. I know, I know, its not that profound, it doesn't seem that special, but do be there and just see the density of sights and sounds, which I generally associate with Chicago or New York, and to have it almost literally in my back yard. . .fantastic!
Check out Kim Massie:
Read More......
Plus, UJC reads our blog, you should too.
And, St. Louis makes its case for legitimacy.
So first and foremost, if you remember, in an earlier post, I bemoaned the public transportation here in St. Louis and made a personal commitment to get involved. Turns out that I'm not the only 'concerned citizen', and in fact, there is a large group in St. Louis, called Citizens for Modern Transit, that is working with employers and other citizens to get people to use the Metro system. In conjunction with Thursday June 19th's Dump The Pump day (to encourage people to drive less by riding bikes and taking public transportation), they are offering free metro rides! I couldn't be more excited to ride around all day and night. The trick here is to get people to ride who normally wouldn't, make them comfortable with the safety and ease of the Metro, and then convince them to lather, rinse, repeat.
The second order of business is that our Israel Correspondent's last post, which is certainly worth the read, was discovered by someone at the UJC, and she was offered the chance to participate on another expedition with journalists to the areas affected by constant bombardment from Gaza. Who says blogging can't change lives. (Consequently, if there is anyone out there that wants to give us a grant to write full time, feel free).
Finally, an update to Summer in the City. Yes, St. Louis might have just become a city in my book. What is it, you say, that pushed it over the edge? Was is population growth? An increase in government funding for development?
No, in fact my opinion was changed by two events. The first was meeting the ensemble cast of the upcoming production of The Producers at the Muny at Kim Massie's weekly show at Beale.
The second was my experience at the Botanical Gardens on Wednesday. Every Wednesday, the Botanical Gardens opens up and people flock to see music, have picnics, and just hang out outside. The sheer number and diversity of people there, as well as the general atmosphere, and absolute beauty of the gardens made me feel more at peace with St. Louis perhaps anything has previously. I know, I know, its not that profound, it doesn't seem that special, but do be there and just see the density of sights and sounds, which I generally associate with Chicago or New York, and to have it almost literally in my back yard. . .fantastic!
Check out Kim Massie:
Read More......
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
This is how we survive
Israel's top left leaning newspaper, Ha'aretz (lit. The Land) posted as story on their website about a satellite company's commercial which incorporates Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President who repeatedly calls for either the destruction of Israel or regime change depending on your news sources and translator.
From the site: "My brothers," says the mock Iranian president in a speech broadcast through loudspeakers across the country, "the uranium is in our hands and after Monday it will be goodbye to Israel."
Unexpectedly, the Iranian leader's supporters - dressed in Shiite religious garb - take exception to the speech, dismayed at the prospect of missing their favorite Israeli television series.
"What are you talking about?" asks one of his followers. "It's the last episode of Danny Hollywood on Monday."
The declaration of Iranian president's intent to destroy Israel is met with riots and the police are deployed to control protests which suddenly take the form of a big budget musical.
The commercial, produced by advertising company McCann Erickson, is entirely a parody of "Cazablan," a hit Israeli musical of the 1960s.--
Never underestimate the power of humor. Read More......
From the site: "My brothers," says the mock Iranian president in a speech broadcast through loudspeakers across the country, "the uranium is in our hands and after Monday it will be goodbye to Israel."
Unexpectedly, the Iranian leader's supporters - dressed in Shiite religious garb - take exception to the speech, dismayed at the prospect of missing their favorite Israeli television series.
"What are you talking about?" asks one of his followers. "It's the last episode of Danny Hollywood on Monday."
The declaration of Iranian president's intent to destroy Israel is met with riots and the police are deployed to control protests which suddenly take the form of a big budget musical.
The commercial, produced by advertising company McCann Erickson, is entirely a parody of "Cazablan," a hit Israeli musical of the 1960s.--
Never underestimate the power of humor. Read More......
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Nutritious content
I recognize that up to this point, the blog has been mostly an exercise in vanity.
That is my fault, I apologize. That's not to say that there won't be excessive ranting or attempts to make ourselves look cool in the future, but I'll try to ensure that actual social/political/cultural content gets added as well.
First, check this out: CEO's for Cities's CEO blogs about Cincinnati, my hometown, and another post-industrial declining city.
In that vein, I want to write about something that continues to be an issue of both great pride and consternation to me. That issue is the relationship between the Jewish community and the African-American community, specifically the descendants of Africans who were brought to America to be slaves.
This is an important distinction to make, as a side note, because there are very large splinters in the African diaspora community within America. Generally this tends to revolve around the relative economic mobility that more recent African immigrants have had as opposed those aforementioned descendants of slaves.
In fact, it might be argued that the only thing that unites the Black community (and perhaps the only shared aspect of identity) is racism and prejudice, real or perceived. I direct your attention to Amadou Diallo.
So here we are in 2008, with Crown Heights acting up again, world image of Israel at a low point, young Jews in America struggling to figure out where we fit in the whole equation.
Let me reign this back in with a thesis statement:
Although Jewish- and African-Americans have historically had higher levels of interaction and often cooperation than either group had with any other ethnic minority, the 'golden age' of this relationship has been allowed to pass, and without focused attention the issue, the two groups face mutual alienation and further antagonism.
When I was in Chicago, Elena, one of the more interesting people I am fortunate enough to know was talking to me about Black-Jewish relations in this country.
She broke it down as follows:
Why care? Really, why should African-Americans trust that Jews in America are any different than the rest of the white population, purveyors and enablers of slavery and rape, prejudice, racism, and humiliation?
Why should Jews care about African-Americans, with whom they currently seem to have little in common?
She was basically pointing out that Jews became bougie, that with the economic mobility that we have enjoyed, we have forgotten from whence we came, save a few Holocaust remembrance days and Yiddish-colloquialisms. In a sense, Elena is saying that we became white, trading in our identity for a ticket on the bus, or in this case, a suburban house in a quiet (white) neighborhood, a big (goyish) SUV, and private schooling.
If this is true, than it is truly frightening, clearly for the wider implications, but specifically in regards to Black-Jewish dialogue. Jews have succeeded wildly in America, despite having come (mostly) as poor immigrants and refugees while African Americans have been plagued by high incarceration rates, low incomes, and poor outcomes.
The only remaining point of contact seems to be popular culture. What can explain the fascination of generations of American Jews with American African culture, the Beastie Boys, Mattisyahu, Scott Storch, back to Benny Goodman and Irving Berlin?
Perhaps the core explanation is an identification with suffering, at least from the Jewish perspective. The ideas that A. we were slaves in the land of Egypt and B. we have an obligation to heal this imperfect world are essential to the psyche of the American Jews who fought in the civil rights movement. The oft-referenced Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner murders are constantly used as evidence of the sacrifices of Jews for the Black struggle for equality in America, and is a personal point of pride for me (and AEPi, to whom both Goodman and Schwerner belonged).
Another, perhaps less altruistic, perspective is that Jews understood that African Americans were one of the few groups lower on the ethnic pecking order and were effectively a canary in a mine shaft. That is to say that Jews recognized that they had better improve the situation for Black folk in America, because the same racism that was targeted at Blacks, could just as quickly and easily be shifted in the Anti-Jewish sentiment (antisemitism includes other Semitic peoples).
In any case, the great strides that Jews and Blacks had made together, as embodied by Rabbi Heschel walking arm and arm with Dr. King, Jr. was shattered and we have a responsibility to pick up the pieces.
There is so much more to write on this topic, but really, we just need to be out there in the community, we have created a physical distance between ourselves and the black community, and only proximity will force us to improve that relationship.
Which is why we moved to the sanctuary.
--edit-- Rosh thinks I need to provide more solutions instead of diatribes, so here we go.
1. Live in a neighborhood in which you come into contact with people who don't look, talk, or believe what you do.
2. Take some time to read about the history of civil rights in this country, learn about some of the challenges still faced by African-Americans.
3. Turn the radio off. The 'Blazing Hip Hop and R&B' on the radio today is an extension of Blackface and Minstrel shows. This is clearly a personal diatribe, but that's what the internet is for right? Read More......
That is my fault, I apologize. That's not to say that there won't be excessive ranting or attempts to make ourselves look cool in the future, but I'll try to ensure that actual social/political/cultural content gets added as well.
First, check this out: CEO's for Cities's CEO blogs about Cincinnati, my hometown, and another post-industrial declining city.
In that vein, I want to write about something that continues to be an issue of both great pride and consternation to me. That issue is the relationship between the Jewish community and the African-American community, specifically the descendants of Africans who were brought to America to be slaves.
This is an important distinction to make, as a side note, because there are very large splinters in the African diaspora community within America. Generally this tends to revolve around the relative economic mobility that more recent African immigrants have had as opposed those aforementioned descendants of slaves.
In fact, it might be argued that the only thing that unites the Black community (and perhaps the only shared aspect of identity) is racism and prejudice, real or perceived. I direct your attention to Amadou Diallo.
So here we are in 2008, with Crown Heights acting up again, world image of Israel at a low point, young Jews in America struggling to figure out where we fit in the whole equation.
Let me reign this back in with a thesis statement:
Although Jewish- and African-Americans have historically had higher levels of interaction and often cooperation than either group had with any other ethnic minority, the 'golden age' of this relationship has been allowed to pass, and without focused attention the issue, the two groups face mutual alienation and further antagonism.
When I was in Chicago, Elena, one of the more interesting people I am fortunate enough to know was talking to me about Black-Jewish relations in this country.
She broke it down as follows:
Why care? Really, why should African-Americans trust that Jews in America are any different than the rest of the white population, purveyors and enablers of slavery and rape, prejudice, racism, and humiliation?
Why should Jews care about African-Americans, with whom they currently seem to have little in common?
She was basically pointing out that Jews became bougie, that with the economic mobility that we have enjoyed, we have forgotten from whence we came, save a few Holocaust remembrance days and Yiddish-colloquialisms. In a sense, Elena is saying that we became white, trading in our identity for a ticket on the bus, or in this case, a suburban house in a quiet (white) neighborhood, a big (goyish) SUV, and private schooling.
If this is true, than it is truly frightening, clearly for the wider implications, but specifically in regards to Black-Jewish dialogue. Jews have succeeded wildly in America, despite having come (mostly) as poor immigrants and refugees while African Americans have been plagued by high incarceration rates, low incomes, and poor outcomes.
The only remaining point of contact seems to be popular culture. What can explain the fascination of generations of American Jews with American African culture, the Beastie Boys, Mattisyahu, Scott Storch, back to Benny Goodman and Irving Berlin?
Perhaps the core explanation is an identification with suffering, at least from the Jewish perspective. The ideas that A. we were slaves in the land of Egypt and B. we have an obligation to heal this imperfect world are essential to the psyche of the American Jews who fought in the civil rights movement. The oft-referenced Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner murders are constantly used as evidence of the sacrifices of Jews for the Black struggle for equality in America, and is a personal point of pride for me (and AEPi, to whom both Goodman and Schwerner belonged).
Another, perhaps less altruistic, perspective is that Jews understood that African Americans were one of the few groups lower on the ethnic pecking order and were effectively a canary in a mine shaft. That is to say that Jews recognized that they had better improve the situation for Black folk in America, because the same racism that was targeted at Blacks, could just as quickly and easily be shifted in the Anti-Jewish sentiment (antisemitism includes other Semitic peoples).
In any case, the great strides that Jews and Blacks had made together, as embodied by Rabbi Heschel walking arm and arm with Dr. King, Jr. was shattered and we have a responsibility to pick up the pieces.
There is so much more to write on this topic, but really, we just need to be out there in the community, we have created a physical distance between ourselves and the black community, and only proximity will force us to improve that relationship.
Which is why we moved to the sanctuary.
--edit-- Rosh thinks I need to provide more solutions instead of diatribes, so here we go.
1. Live in a neighborhood in which you come into contact with people who don't look, talk, or believe what you do.
2. Take some time to read about the history of civil rights in this country, learn about some of the challenges still faced by African-Americans.
3. Turn the radio off. The 'Blazing Hip Hop and R&B' on the radio today is an extension of Blackface and Minstrel shows. This is clearly a personal diatribe, but that's what the internet is for right? Read More......
Monday, June 2, 2008
Weekend Happenings
I had a nice little weekend going without Y? around so after running around the apartment naked for about 10 minutes, I decided to move on and be social. Friday night was the premiere of Sex in the City, so basically all the ladies went to the premiere and a fashion show prior to it. I did hear that there was a certain amount of debauchery that occurred during it, but overall it seemed pretty tame besides them getting home at 4am (its almost like they ran a marathon of lady things). All the guys including myself, ds, blev, l'haim, and amen went to amen apartment downtown. The best part about this shindig is that I called up l'haim first and told him that I wanted to pre-game a bit prior to going out to the restaurant. He replied in an exclamatory manner that he can't even remember the last time he pre-gamed, I am thinking to myself that its time to bring sexy back to St. Louis, because we all know pre-gaming -> drinking -> sexiness. Either way I tell l'haim that basically I am going to show up at someone's place with alcohol in hand because I wanted to celebrate two big things happening at work for me. I called up amen and left a message basically inviting myself over because I wanted to get my drink on. Though I usually do not do that, I thought amen and I have established a mutual level of understanding as in he understands that I want to get my drink on prior to going out. Either way amen tells me I am more than welcome to come over but again he has not pre-gamed in forever. So basically I now believe that I really need to bring sexy/pre-gaming back to St. Louis. I get to amen apartment and l'haim steals my parking spot, but its cool, I let it slide because he gets in the car with me and we drive around for about 10 mins looking for a spot. I am sorry, but seriously, after searching for a parking spot for 10 mins, I never want to live in the actual city again, I appreciate where I live so much more.
So we finally make it over to amen's place and I begin to finally get my drink one, 1, 2, 3, 4 beers, its like I am Coolio except without the dreads. We try and play some drinking games, but I don't want to get amen's place dirty and there are not many drinking games you can play without spilling a drink randomly at one time or another. I am as usual pretty impressed with amen's place, its like a bachelor pad extraordinaire, except the fact that he has more shoes than my mother and some of my ex-girlfriends combined, here's to being fashionable big guy. Eventually we meet blev and dsing down at the restaurant for some shenanigans. l'haim decides to be "that guy" at the restaurant and make our waiter extremely uncomfortable by asking questions like "how do you like working here?" and "how is your shift going?" Somehow he ducks and dodges most of the questions, and overall survives unscathed which is pretty incredible. I was surprised he did not turn into Y? and ask for a discount at the end of the meal, that would have been the icing on the cake. Overall it was a pretty good time considering the conversation was pretty lively and the surrounding tables were as well. We took our leave after dinner and returned to amen's apartment for some more drinking and had intended to go out again until mother nature peed on us. And when I say peed, I mean rained, but basically torrential downpours occur right as we plan to hit up another spot. So we try and wait it out for a bit, but eventually we just reserve to ourselves that we are staying in for the night and soon the politics conversation comes out, and that's always my cue to hit the sack.
On Saturday, basically I just cleaned and worked, so domestic, I know, until about 8:00 pm when myself and amen drove on over to mkram's apartment for a rousing game night. Now usually I get pretty excited about game nights, its pretty wholesome fun and there are always hilarious tendencies that come out. I bring Taboo because there is no game night that I can take part in without having Taboo in the pecking order for games to be played. There were 6 of us involved, l'haim, rhaim, mkram, scotty (sorry scotty, cannot remember your last name for the life of me), myself, and amen. Now as you might have noticed, lhaim is married to rhaim and scotty is in it for the long haul with mkram (especially after the conversion classes, oye, that seems like a lot of work, kudos big guy, you are a gentleman and a scholar for surviving). So that leaves myself and amen as the extra two, rather than shun the idea of us, we embraced and made quite a few jokes about. I think I might have made my significant other jealous for a bit, but I digress. The first game we play is apples to apples, I had never played it before so I came out close to the bottom of the pack, though in all truth the game has little rhyme or reason to it. You have a hand of cards that have nouns on them and someone picks and adjective card, you must pick the best noun card out of your hand and give that card to the person who picked the adjective card. That person then picks the best card that describes that adjective in their opinion. So you can either go logical like miles davis = creative, funny like darth vader = touchy feely, illogical like bombs = delightful, or completely nonsensical like rosie o'donnell = dead. You choose on the basis that you think the person will choose your card. So when I chose my cards, I was completely judging on which made me laugh the most. Either way, basic good time, but nothing to write home about.
Once we get done with that game we move on to Taboo which is basically the king of all games, it is the trump card to every single family/friends get together. If you want to get enemies loving each other and friends hating each other play Taboo. We split up into teams and I am placed on the team that does not include l'haim, professional Taboo player since May of 2008. The first round starts, and he is answering clues within the first 10 seconds of their introduction. It turns out hes a cheater, and you can all say you heard it here first, l'haim cheats at board games (this supports my l'haim claim of professional taboo player since may of 2008). When l'haim has the buzzer, I swear it was like he was a gymnast with that buzzer, through the legs, above the head. I have never seen technology and human form melded so well together. Even when he did not have the buzzer his voice basically impeded the game. It was like Moses parting the Red Sea, except his voice caused the timer to be stopped and everyone to start yelling at him. After every round, he made sure I was keeping the scores accurate and the rules needed to be clarified to make sure no-one but him could get their cheat on. He even found a way to get around a rule, so we had to change the rule to prevent him from cheating even more. I loved it, it was like high school swimming when before each meet my team would have a team chant, but our team chant was special, we would steal a t-shirt from the opposing team and do a little song and dance, at the end we would lift whoever was captain for the week in the middle of the team and he would rip off the shirt we stole and start roaring. Nothing says good sportsmanship like stealing and destruction of personal property. Either way, l'haim's team lost (meaning my team won, heck yes) and balance was restored to the jewish community taboo universe. We then called it a night and I returned to my domicile with my dignity intact.
On Sunday, me and the g/f, need to find a good nickname, how about gorgeous? brownie points ahoy! Anyway, gorgeous invited me to Taste of Clayton which is this snazzy event where lots of restaurants get together and charge even more for their food than they would when you go to the restaurants. There were 6 of us there, Smorr, Brando (sorry can't remember your last name as well, though I think I never was told it) mmeye, awils, myself, and gorgeous. I was pretty peeved once I figured out exactly how you go about enjoying the event. The idea of these things is that you get to try lots of different foods determine if you like the items and then eventually you might go to the restaurant. I purchased 12 tickets for like 15$ and within the first 5 minutes I was out of tickets given the fact that items cost 5 tickets a piece. Not to mention, most of the items looked extremely unappealing. The only thing that I liked was some white sangria which was 4 tickets a glass until the end of the event when the lowered it to 2 tickets a piece. We ravaged the sangria when it was lowered to 2 tickets a pop considering that is actually a somewhat normal price for it (slightly low, but I am not one to complain about that). In the past I guess I am used to flat fee events, you pay one fee at the door which entitles you to just walk around and taste everything, if I ever end up meeting the person who organizes it, I am definitely going to relay this idea to him/her. To sum it up, the company was amazing (more brownie points), but the food and idea were underwhelming to say the least. We eventually moved to Barcelona to have a drink, ordered an extremely large pitcher of red sangria which was very good as well and seemed to never end. We moved back to the event area soon after to watch the fireworks which I can safely say I was impressed by. It was a 10-15 minute show and though the fireworks were not like gigantic, for some reason, we were pretty close to them. There was even some guy talking on a cell phone almost on top of the launchers, the things some people will do to get off the phone (I am underwhelmed by the quality of that joke and I created it). We called it a night after that so here I sit thinking to myself, one, why can't St. Louis get these events to be even remotely enjoyable and, two, why can I not find a place online to give feedback to the event.
Either way, this Saturday should be an awesome time, we are having a get together at the sanctuary and I am looking forward to it, gonna make some appetizers and then get to the drinking and drinking games. And as in the traditional way that I leave my posts, I wrote a haiku earlier in the day to Y? and it fits well with our plans on Saturday:
Drinking games are swell
'Til someone dirties the floor
in that special way
Again, apologies for using 'Til, gotta fit it someway. Read More......
So we finally make it over to amen's place and I begin to finally get my drink one, 1, 2, 3, 4 beers, its like I am Coolio except without the dreads. We try and play some drinking games, but I don't want to get amen's place dirty and there are not many drinking games you can play without spilling a drink randomly at one time or another. I am as usual pretty impressed with amen's place, its like a bachelor pad extraordinaire, except the fact that he has more shoes than my mother and some of my ex-girlfriends combined, here's to being fashionable big guy. Eventually we meet blev and dsing down at the restaurant for some shenanigans. l'haim decides to be "that guy" at the restaurant and make our waiter extremely uncomfortable by asking questions like "how do you like working here?" and "how is your shift going?" Somehow he ducks and dodges most of the questions, and overall survives unscathed which is pretty incredible. I was surprised he did not turn into Y? and ask for a discount at the end of the meal, that would have been the icing on the cake. Overall it was a pretty good time considering the conversation was pretty lively and the surrounding tables were as well. We took our leave after dinner and returned to amen's apartment for some more drinking and had intended to go out again until mother nature peed on us. And when I say peed, I mean rained, but basically torrential downpours occur right as we plan to hit up another spot. So we try and wait it out for a bit, but eventually we just reserve to ourselves that we are staying in for the night and soon the politics conversation comes out, and that's always my cue to hit the sack.
On Saturday, basically I just cleaned and worked, so domestic, I know, until about 8:00 pm when myself and amen drove on over to mkram's apartment for a rousing game night. Now usually I get pretty excited about game nights, its pretty wholesome fun and there are always hilarious tendencies that come out. I bring Taboo because there is no game night that I can take part in without having Taboo in the pecking order for games to be played. There were 6 of us involved, l'haim, rhaim, mkram, scotty (sorry scotty, cannot remember your last name for the life of me), myself, and amen. Now as you might have noticed, lhaim is married to rhaim and scotty is in it for the long haul with mkram (especially after the conversion classes, oye, that seems like a lot of work, kudos big guy, you are a gentleman and a scholar for surviving). So that leaves myself and amen as the extra two, rather than shun the idea of us, we embraced and made quite a few jokes about. I think I might have made my significant other jealous for a bit, but I digress. The first game we play is apples to apples, I had never played it before so I came out close to the bottom of the pack, though in all truth the game has little rhyme or reason to it. You have a hand of cards that have nouns on them and someone picks and adjective card, you must pick the best noun card out of your hand and give that card to the person who picked the adjective card. That person then picks the best card that describes that adjective in their opinion. So you can either go logical like miles davis = creative, funny like darth vader = touchy feely, illogical like bombs = delightful, or completely nonsensical like rosie o'donnell = dead. You choose on the basis that you think the person will choose your card. So when I chose my cards, I was completely judging on which made me laugh the most. Either way, basic good time, but nothing to write home about.
Once we get done with that game we move on to Taboo which is basically the king of all games, it is the trump card to every single family/friends get together. If you want to get enemies loving each other and friends hating each other play Taboo. We split up into teams and I am placed on the team that does not include l'haim, professional Taboo player since May of 2008. The first round starts, and he is answering clues within the first 10 seconds of their introduction. It turns out hes a cheater, and you can all say you heard it here first, l'haim cheats at board games (this supports my l'haim claim of professional taboo player since may of 2008). When l'haim has the buzzer, I swear it was like he was a gymnast with that buzzer, through the legs, above the head. I have never seen technology and human form melded so well together. Even when he did not have the buzzer his voice basically impeded the game. It was like Moses parting the Red Sea, except his voice caused the timer to be stopped and everyone to start yelling at him. After every round, he made sure I was keeping the scores accurate and the rules needed to be clarified to make sure no-one but him could get their cheat on. He even found a way to get around a rule, so we had to change the rule to prevent him from cheating even more. I loved it, it was like high school swimming when before each meet my team would have a team chant, but our team chant was special, we would steal a t-shirt from the opposing team and do a little song and dance, at the end we would lift whoever was captain for the week in the middle of the team and he would rip off the shirt we stole and start roaring. Nothing says good sportsmanship like stealing and destruction of personal property. Either way, l'haim's team lost (meaning my team won, heck yes) and balance was restored to the jewish community taboo universe. We then called it a night and I returned to my domicile with my dignity intact.
On Sunday, me and the g/f, need to find a good nickname, how about gorgeous? brownie points ahoy! Anyway, gorgeous invited me to Taste of Clayton which is this snazzy event where lots of restaurants get together and charge even more for their food than they would when you go to the restaurants. There were 6 of us there, Smorr, Brando (sorry can't remember your last name as well, though I think I never was told it) mmeye, awils, myself, and gorgeous. I was pretty peeved once I figured out exactly how you go about enjoying the event. The idea of these things is that you get to try lots of different foods determine if you like the items and then eventually you might go to the restaurant. I purchased 12 tickets for like 15$ and within the first 5 minutes I was out of tickets given the fact that items cost 5 tickets a piece. Not to mention, most of the items looked extremely unappealing. The only thing that I liked was some white sangria which was 4 tickets a glass until the end of the event when the lowered it to 2 tickets a piece. We ravaged the sangria when it was lowered to 2 tickets a pop considering that is actually a somewhat normal price for it (slightly low, but I am not one to complain about that). In the past I guess I am used to flat fee events, you pay one fee at the door which entitles you to just walk around and taste everything, if I ever end up meeting the person who organizes it, I am definitely going to relay this idea to him/her. To sum it up, the company was amazing (more brownie points), but the food and idea were underwhelming to say the least. We eventually moved to Barcelona to have a drink, ordered an extremely large pitcher of red sangria which was very good as well and seemed to never end. We moved back to the event area soon after to watch the fireworks which I can safely say I was impressed by. It was a 10-15 minute show and though the fireworks were not like gigantic, for some reason, we were pretty close to them. There was even some guy talking on a cell phone almost on top of the launchers, the things some people will do to get off the phone (I am underwhelmed by the quality of that joke and I created it). We called it a night after that so here I sit thinking to myself, one, why can't St. Louis get these events to be even remotely enjoyable and, two, why can I not find a place online to give feedback to the event.
Either way, this Saturday should be an awesome time, we are having a get together at the sanctuary and I am looking forward to it, gonna make some appetizers and then get to the drinking and drinking games. And as in the traditional way that I leave my posts, I wrote a haiku earlier in the day to Y? and it fits well with our plans on Saturday:
Drinking games are swell
'Til someone dirties the floor
in that special way
Again, apologies for using 'Til, gotta fit it someway. Read More......
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The Sanctuary
So Y? already teased this in talking about the weekend, but Friday's Shabbat dinner and "after-party" deserve more than just a passing mention. Luckily, I am here to pick up the pieces for you all who missed out. So Y?'s parents were in town, which meant Shabbat dinner at the sanctuary. Granted, I had to bring my own chair, beer, and candles, but I scored an invite. (Sidenote: Schnucks's in the CWE only sells Shabbat candles in packs of 72, so the candles are on me for the next 35 Shabbats!) Anyway, dinner had all the amazing interactions you would expect when two parents (one of whom is a rabbi deeply learned in Torah) enter the world of the young professional on a Friday night. Save for the candles, challah and wine, nothing and no one was sacred as the chicken marsala and potato chips flowed like honey from the kitchen.
So, around 11:30 (four hours after the dinner began) we decided that it's probably time to conquer the world beyond the sanctuary. As we are determined to find new things to do in the city, we headed out to check out some SLU bars, figuring that its a major urban university (albeit Jesuit) there's gotta be something good going on. And was there ever...
So we get down to SLU and park by a place called Magnolia's. Everyone's pumped up and ready to go, fat and happy from dinner, when the bouncer tells us it's a $3 dollar cover plus a one drink minimum. A ONE DRINK MINIMUM? Sounds kiiiinda like an East Side joint you're thinking? Us too. So we move on, only to be greeted at the window of the next bar by stereotypical white shirtless dude. So now we're stuck. I mean, this is St. Louis so of course there are only those two bars within walking distance. So, being the resourceful smart Jewish folk that we are, we ask some passerbys what exactly is Magnolia's? "A gay club dude."..."No, really, man, what is it?"... "It's a GAY CLUB."
So we start looking around, really paying attention to our surroundings, and the tight pants give it away, that Magnolia's really is a gay club! Not that there is anything wrong with that, and it certainly was the most popular place around SLU that night, but not quite what we were looking for when we set out for some Shabbat night exploring.
I guess the lesson here is that when you commit to finding new things in St. Louis, you gotta be ready for anything. So when you come out with us, consider yourself warned, you never quite know where you might end up. But in a place like St. Louis, where so much is too often the same, isn't that a good thing? Read More......
So, around 11:30 (four hours after the dinner began) we decided that it's probably time to conquer the world beyond the sanctuary. As we are determined to find new things to do in the city, we headed out to check out some SLU bars, figuring that its a major urban university (albeit Jesuit) there's gotta be something good going on. And was there ever...
So we get down to SLU and park by a place called Magnolia's. Everyone's pumped up and ready to go, fat and happy from dinner, when the bouncer tells us it's a $3 dollar cover plus a one drink minimum. A ONE DRINK MINIMUM? Sounds kiiiinda like an East Side joint you're thinking? Us too. So we move on, only to be greeted at the window of the next bar by stereotypical white shirtless dude. So now we're stuck. I mean, this is St. Louis so of course there are only those two bars within walking distance. So, being the resourceful smart Jewish folk that we are, we ask some passerbys what exactly is Magnolia's? "A gay club dude."..."No, really, man, what is it?"... "It's a GAY CLUB."
So we start looking around, really paying attention to our surroundings, and the tight pants give it away, that Magnolia's really is a gay club! Not that there is anything wrong with that, and it certainly was the most popular place around SLU that night, but not quite what we were looking for when we set out for some Shabbat night exploring.
I guess the lesson here is that when you commit to finding new things in St. Louis, you gotta be ready for anything. So when you come out with us, consider yourself warned, you never quite know where you might end up. But in a place like St. Louis, where so much is too often the same, isn't that a good thing? Read More......
Monday, May 26, 2008
Intro to me
So its time for this shindig to truly begin. The best way to start is usually to give a little background. I am a St. Louis transplant. When I was born and lived my life, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I was going to live in Missouri. Previous to living here, I lived in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Texas, California and Georgia. Now that its virtually on paper I can just refer everyone here to figure it out rather than me telling the story. Unlike Y? I am just trying to make my way as the new kid in school might. Meet a ton people, try to tell a joke or two to show that hey, you can dig it, and then find my own path among the others. That's why when I blog, I will be more focused on the here and now from a new mind.
In my mind, I don't bring too much to the table. Rather than an unbiased opinion, I think and act like most young jews do and went to overwhelming jewish college where I did not hang out with too many jews. I can definitely say that I was less religious prior to going to college. I learned my Torah portion and my Haftorah, had my bar-mitzvah and then kind of went on with my life. Religion always seemed like a task just because everyone I was around considered it to be that. Because of that, I have never really hung out exclusively with a Jewish community, I pledged a Jewish fraternity in college that was about 40% jewish so my experience in a full fledged jewish community is lacking. I try to make up for all that is lacking with humor, but it falls short very often, just ask anyone who I hang out with. Life in general currently is not too bad, in fact at certain very specific times its damn near enjoyable.
Now back to the actual blog, I believe my purpose in this whole shebang is to give an honest opinion of how an outsider looking in sees this whole community. Right about now, I would say the barriers of entry are slightly higher than I expected, to be truly part of the community, you need to be a generally interesting person that brings more than just a sweet personality, you need to make several connections with different people at different stages of life (college, post-college, new job, sturdy job, single and looking, taken and looking, taken and liking it, engaged, married, kids and babysitters are frequented, kids and you better believe the world is ending before I hire a babysitter).
Overall would I like to see the community expanded to cater to more people like myself, most definitely (just in the fact that is has been my dream to be in a mob, and we have not as of yet reached mob capacity). To do that, I don't know exactly what needs to be done, I have my ideas but those can be saved for later posts to keep you coming back. Overall I would say the thing I have been the most impressed about is once you are in everyone wants to be your friend which is not something I am completely used to. And to truly end with a bang, I will leave everyone with a suitable haiku because that's how I roll:
Y? plays his music loud.
Looking for good sex music?
I think that's the case.
Apologies for the 's to get the syllables right, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Read More......
In my mind, I don't bring too much to the table. Rather than an unbiased opinion, I think and act like most young jews do and went to overwhelming jewish college where I did not hang out with too many jews. I can definitely say that I was less religious prior to going to college. I learned my Torah portion and my Haftorah, had my bar-mitzvah and then kind of went on with my life. Religion always seemed like a task just because everyone I was around considered it to be that. Because of that, I have never really hung out exclusively with a Jewish community, I pledged a Jewish fraternity in college that was about 40% jewish so my experience in a full fledged jewish community is lacking. I try to make up for all that is lacking with humor, but it falls short very often, just ask anyone who I hang out with. Life in general currently is not too bad, in fact at certain very specific times its damn near enjoyable.
Now back to the actual blog, I believe my purpose in this whole shebang is to give an honest opinion of how an outsider looking in sees this whole community. Right about now, I would say the barriers of entry are slightly higher than I expected, to be truly part of the community, you need to be a generally interesting person that brings more than just a sweet personality, you need to make several connections with different people at different stages of life (college, post-college, new job, sturdy job, single and looking, taken and looking, taken and liking it, engaged, married, kids and babysitters are frequented, kids and you better believe the world is ending before I hire a babysitter).
Overall would I like to see the community expanded to cater to more people like myself, most definitely (just in the fact that is has been my dream to be in a mob, and we have not as of yet reached mob capacity). To do that, I don't know exactly what needs to be done, I have my ideas but those can be saved for later posts to keep you coming back. Overall I would say the thing I have been the most impressed about is once you are in everyone wants to be your friend which is not something I am completely used to. And to truly end with a bang, I will leave everyone with a suitable haiku because that's how I roll:
Y? plays his music loud.
Looking for good sex music?
I think that's the case.
Apologies for the 's to get the syllables right, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Read More......
Due Diligence
Big weekend. Momentous even. The folks, or for all your Ash-kosh-kenazis, Mishpochah, came in and stayed at the sanctuary (our apartnemt).
This is big. First, they came in to see the Opera. Right, from the 513 to the 314, they drove, or braved, rather (due to the rising cost of crude), the several hundred mile distance to see the Opera. I was an afterthought. It makes a little more sense when coupled with the fact that Tales of Hoffman is different every time you see it because Offenbach, its writer/composer died before it was finished. They know this guy Michael Kaye (mentioned in the wiki) who did a bunch of research and put together what is considered the truest version, so he got them comps and they came in. Lets examine that tale for Jewish themes, shall we? 1. Opera 2. Networking 3. Free stuff.
Ok, now that you know why they came in, let's talk about why its a big deal. I hosted my parents. Let that sink in. That's roll reversal. They stayed at my apartment, we (Rosh) cooked them Shabbat dinner, showed them around the town, and took care of them.
Several interesting things occurred. First, the sanctuary almost didn't survive. Literally. Rosh was frying some french fried potato chips and they weren't getting crispy so my mom advises him to turn the heat up (if you can't stand the heat. . .). I turn around a minute later and my parents and Rosh transfixed by three foot flames leaping from the pan. The fire alarms start going off, which is good because I didn't know we had fire alarms, and they work. This is bad because they are painfully loud. While they are all staring at the flames and backing away, my dumb ass rushes towards them to try to smother it with something. Unfortunately all I can find is aluminum foil, and so my first attempt is unsuccessful. Then I grab the pan, with the intention of placing it upside down in the sink so that I can run cold water over the bottom (thereby not spreading the grease fire). The fire is so big that it singes by arm hair, and burns while I figure out that this isn't going to work and throw the pan back on the oven. Finally, I get exasperated, take my best Shofar blowing breath and blow on the flames. And it works?! The fire is out, and we spend the next 15 minutes getting the smoke out of the apartment.
The rest of the weekend is pretty mild compared to that. Showed my parents the Scholarship (you need to get down with this, second hand name brand clothes and the money goes to scholarships for lower income students towards college education).
We check out the Soulard Farmer's Market, where I prove my Israeli bargaining skills aren't wasted in this country.
Dinner was at 1111 Mississippi, and was fantastic. Tried a pineapple wine, which wasn't nearly as bad as I had convinced myself it would be.
Checked in with Shel at Casa del Kamen in the CWE and helped her get rid of some rum, then checked in with the core Yid crew for Mindy's celebration of the anniversary of her birth (or Birthday if you wanna be a jackass about it). Spent some money at Bar Italia, then shuffled over to Brennan's and tried a few interesting beers including a wheat based dopplebock, which was good but had quite a bite.
Sunday was a grad party which pitted our stomach against vienna all beefs. We ended up getting games of beer pong going with some ZBT vs AEPi action as I face my roommate in a battle to the last cup.
He won. My effort was less than valiant.
Caught a memorial day BBQ at Todd's with the (in)core(porated)group and had some fantastic shishlik/shipudim/kebabs. Got to do a lil swimming on the side as I tried to get to know the people that are going to shape the community.
The core kids basically those that have already committed themselves to the community here, they hold leadership positions, and most of them grew up here and have known each other forever. Its a welcoming group, but despite their incredible hospitality, its not impossible to feel like an outsider due to the close nature of the group.
So I guess the question is how do we expand this community, right? Do people just start meeting us out and about?
The week is already shaping up, which Funky Butt Brass Band playing at the Oyster Bar tomorrow, a possible stop at 33 on Wednesday, and my trip to Chi-town on Friday. Read More......
This is big. First, they came in to see the Opera. Right, from the 513 to the 314, they drove, or braved, rather (due to the rising cost of crude), the several hundred mile distance to see the Opera. I was an afterthought. It makes a little more sense when coupled with the fact that Tales of Hoffman is different every time you see it because Offenbach, its writer/composer died before it was finished. They know this guy Michael Kaye (mentioned in the wiki) who did a bunch of research and put together what is considered the truest version, so he got them comps and they came in. Lets examine that tale for Jewish themes, shall we? 1. Opera 2. Networking 3. Free stuff.
Ok, now that you know why they came in, let's talk about why its a big deal. I hosted my parents. Let that sink in. That's roll reversal. They stayed at my apartment, we (Rosh) cooked them Shabbat dinner, showed them around the town, and took care of them.
Several interesting things occurred. First, the sanctuary almost didn't survive. Literally. Rosh was frying some french fried potato chips and they weren't getting crispy so my mom advises him to turn the heat up (if you can't stand the heat. . .). I turn around a minute later and my parents and Rosh transfixed by three foot flames leaping from the pan. The fire alarms start going off, which is good because I didn't know we had fire alarms, and they work. This is bad because they are painfully loud. While they are all staring at the flames and backing away, my dumb ass rushes towards them to try to smother it with something. Unfortunately all I can find is aluminum foil, and so my first attempt is unsuccessful. Then I grab the pan, with the intention of placing it upside down in the sink so that I can run cold water over the bottom (thereby not spreading the grease fire). The fire is so big that it singes by arm hair, and burns while I figure out that this isn't going to work and throw the pan back on the oven. Finally, I get exasperated, take my best Shofar blowing breath and blow on the flames. And it works?! The fire is out, and we spend the next 15 minutes getting the smoke out of the apartment.
The rest of the weekend is pretty mild compared to that. Showed my parents the Scholarship (you need to get down with this, second hand name brand clothes and the money goes to scholarships for lower income students towards college education).
We check out the Soulard Farmer's Market, where I prove my Israeli bargaining skills aren't wasted in this country.
Dinner was at 1111 Mississippi, and was fantastic. Tried a pineapple wine, which wasn't nearly as bad as I had convinced myself it would be.
Checked in with Shel at Casa del Kamen in the CWE and helped her get rid of some rum, then checked in with the core Yid crew for Mindy's celebration of the anniversary of her birth (or Birthday if you wanna be a jackass about it). Spent some money at Bar Italia, then shuffled over to Brennan's and tried a few interesting beers including a wheat based dopplebock, which was good but had quite a bite.
Sunday was a grad party which pitted our stomach against vienna all beefs. We ended up getting games of beer pong going with some ZBT vs AEPi action as I face my roommate in a battle to the last cup.
He won. My effort was less than valiant.
Caught a memorial day BBQ at Todd's with the (in)core(porated)group and had some fantastic shishlik/shipudim/kebabs. Got to do a lil swimming on the side as I tried to get to know the people that are going to shape the community.
The core kids basically those that have already committed themselves to the community here, they hold leadership positions, and most of them grew up here and have known each other forever. Its a welcoming group, but despite their incredible hospitality, its not impossible to feel like an outsider due to the close nature of the group.
So I guess the question is how do we expand this community, right? Do people just start meeting us out and about?
The week is already shaping up, which Funky Butt Brass Band playing at the Oyster Bar tomorrow, a possible stop at 33 on Wednesday, and my trip to Chi-town on Friday. Read More......
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Opening Arguements
As a recent college grad, and a transplant no less, I have mixed feelings about St. Louis.
On one hand, its just another post-industrial, conservative-minded, Midwestern layover. On the other hand, the city has been taking some steps in the right direction, there are a few cool bars here and there, some farmers markets, and the nascent skeleton of a public transportation system.
On the other hand, the St. Louis Jewish community is pretty focused on the whole family thing, everyone over the age of 26 is married, has been married, or is trying hard to get married. Its like they take all of the Jews between the ages of 21 and 26 and hide them in some incubator until they are ready to marry off and settle down.
On the other hand, and perhaps the most important hand, the city has potential. Serious potential. On the Yid side, the established community is having a coronary trying to reach out to us, they just have no idea how (more on that later). In this 'small-town-big-city', all it takes is a few connections, and every door in the city is open to you. On the secular side, my contact at the Regional Business Council tells me the number one issue is how to keep us (the graduating and recently graduated)in St. Louis.
Now I'm always down for being sought after (especially by attractive Jewish Princesses, but I digress), but really, its on us to make something happen. . . Really.
I'm not saying we need to celebrate every holiday with a young professionals' service, but we need to network, get out and meet each other. Is anyone else even out there? JDate wasn't so encouraging, but I gotta believe that there is talent in this city and that it can be put to work. Read More......
On one hand, its just another post-industrial, conservative-minded, Midwestern layover. On the other hand, the city has been taking some steps in the right direction, there are a few cool bars here and there, some farmers markets, and the nascent skeleton of a public transportation system.
On the other hand, the St. Louis Jewish community is pretty focused on the whole family thing, everyone over the age of 26 is married, has been married, or is trying hard to get married. Its like they take all of the Jews between the ages of 21 and 26 and hide them in some incubator until they are ready to marry off and settle down.
On the other hand, and perhaps the most important hand, the city has potential. Serious potential. On the Yid side, the established community is having a coronary trying to reach out to us, they just have no idea how (more on that later). In this 'small-town-big-city', all it takes is a few connections, and every door in the city is open to you. On the secular side, my contact at the Regional Business Council tells me the number one issue is how to keep us (the graduating and recently graduated)in St. Louis.
Now I'm always down for being sought after (especially by attractive Jewish Princesses, but I digress), but really, its on us to make something happen. . . Really.
I'm not saying we need to celebrate every holiday with a young professionals' service, but we need to network, get out and meet each other. Is anyone else even out there? JDate wasn't so encouraging, but I gotta believe that there is talent in this city and that it can be put to work. Read More......
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
