Meaty Post

Eating
How we could eat then -
innards, gizzards, calves' brains,
cholent, petcha (with garlic)
brisket and tongue
on the fleishig sideboard.

It was why we were there,
at the big table -
to daven and sing
and slurp the marrow
from those bones.

BhikshuniWeisbrot
Jewish Currents
Summer 2010

Yiddish words:
Cholent: A 24 hour stew to be eaten on the sabbath (because you don't have to light a fire)
Petcha: Cow's Foot Jelly
Fleishig: Meat
Daven: Pray

1950's race and religion in Newark

In 1954, I was in the fifth grade at Hawthone Avenue School in Newark.   It was one of those urban brick school, where the walls went right up to the sidewalk and seemed to hulk over everything.   The neighborhood was Weequahic, which we knew was a native american name.   We thought it was pretty weird because we could no signs of Native American anything around us (we were looking for anything we had seen on Roy Roger...teepees, bows and arrows, etc.)

At any rate about half my class was black and about half was Jewish.  So I concluded that race and religion were categories that always went together.....all Jews were white, all whites were Jewish, all blacks were Christian, and (of course what else is left) all Christians were black.

Well in the early fall of 1954 I told my father that I didn't believe in God, that I was an atheist.   He just said OK.   Hmmm....I didn't get much reaction out of that one.   Later in the fall come the Jewish holidays, so I'm sleeping in my bed thinking, "well I don't need to get up and go to school."    Along comes Dad and says, "get up."   I ask, "why?"   He says," if you don't believe in God, you get to go to school on the Jewish holidays."   "Okay," I said, surely not backing down on my principals.

So off I trot to school, expecting to see all the black kids, and none of the white kids.   Well I had a really big surprise waiting.   Sitting in class was one white girl!   So I went up to her and said, "are you agnostic or atheist?"    Her answer, "I'm Catholic."    That just destroyed my view of the world.

Well if I had been a bit more worldly, I would have known....because her name was Rosemary......not a very good Jewish name.   Well of course thinking she was terribly exotic, I promptly developed a huge crush on her.

This story went very well with my West Virginia union friends, because most of them grew up never seeing a Jewish person.   What different little worlds!

What will it take to move the economy forward?

I've just read two approaches in three magazines on this issue....the Nation, the Economist, and Business Week.

All three agree that the economy is stalled and that recovery and growth are not obviously in the offing, with the chance of a double dip recession (another drop in spending, jobs, etc.)

All three magazines see the need for something to stimulate the economy, and none of them expect that government stimulus can be significant to put us on the track to full recovery.

The Economist and Business week say that growth can come from either or both of two sources:   technological innovation, or increased exports.   They propose government intervention that would favor these developments.  (BTW there is an implication that the lack of these two helped to cause the recession.)

The Nation (and Robert Reich, specifically)points at economic inequality in the US as both leading to the recession and (if corrected) the way out.   This is a traditional argument, possibly first made by Karl Marx.   When wealth concentrates in  a relatively small part of the population, they do not spend it in a way that creates economic activity, jobs, etc.   Not only does Reich criticize Regand and the Bush's for their policies that accelerated economic inequality, but is also contrite about his own and the Clinton administration's poor record in this area.   So his solution is tax and other policies that will put money in the hands of those who will spend in ways that will drive the economy.

What do I think.   Well certainly I agree with Reich that we need to "spread the wealth", not only for fairness, but because that will fuel a recovery.  Government support for technological innovation should also be a part of the picture, especially "green" technologies.   Exports...if the other two occur, that will take care of itself.   It's already happening because the low value of the dollar.   I'm not an economist, but this seems just common sense.

accordion....life lessons

I made an offer to write on a topic chosen by anyone who joined my blog.   Abe Belhassen chose "what learning and playing accordion have taught me about life."

Okay.  So when I began accordion, I sat in a klezmer accordion class with  (the great) Allen Berne (sic).   He had all us former pianists just play a ditty on the treble keyboard, no moving the bellows.   Low and behold, no sound.   Well to make the obvious point telling, the bellows is one part of what accordion playing is all about.   You've got two machines with reeds and controllers for air, connected to a bellows which provides the breath.

So starting with the bellows, you need to squeeze them (as in squeezebox.)   That's a lot of love!   Start playing the accordion with love and you'll do fine.   And what does the accordion do when you squeeze?   It breathes.   It don't take a yoga fan to know how central to life is the breath.   So playing the accordion is like loving a central element of life.

Now hidden away in the bass and treble machines are metal reeds.   Yes metal.   Yes, kinda base metal.   As in twang.  And they would twang if you struck them.   But the beauty here is that you don't strike the reeds, your bellows breathes (loving breathe) through them.  And (depending on the care and materials in the reeds) they can make some beautiful sounds....akin to a pipe organ. 

Now what's left?   controlling or providing purpose to the breath.  Which reeds are gonna sound.   Well the engineer in me loves the arrangement of cams, levers, rods, pads, that open and close holes that allow loving breath to vibrate the reeds.  In some cases one little button opens up three reeds in multiple registers (octaves.)   The method here is perfect 19th century engineering....many many many pieces of simple material (wood, metal, leather, wax) integrated into a Rube Goldberg array to allow the whole to work in concert.   So control of your life and emotions (sometimes constructive) and providing a purpose may seem simple, but is often complicated.   You need to be well integrated to make it work.  Without purpose no sound.

Modern accordions have actions (keys, rods, cams, pads, valves) that operate much more quickly, smoothly, and quietly than old ones.   We don't have to work so hard as a musician to control the instruments.   But as a loose generalization, older accordions had better reeds with finer tones.   What does that say?

Back to the lungs, or bellows.  For us pianists the bellows are a challenge.   We tend to put them on autopilot, with lots of gasps and gaps in the wrong places.   We don't know how to really express through belows force, velocity, and acceleration.  So (as yoga tells us) we need to pay continued attention to the breath.

There is kinetic movement involved in playing all musical instruments.  The accordion requires small precise motions from the fingers and big broad movements of the left arm that sweep the music out of the instrument.   I believe the most effective people are those who can execute both the big picture and little details as well.   Most of us lean towards one or the other.   Few can do them both.   Accordion analogy????

As a musical instrument, the accordion has strengths and weaknesses.   The strength is that it can sustain a long note or chord, and even vary the volume within that note.   The weakness is that there is almost no attack to the way the sound emerges.   Thus you have a lush sound....which is why you hear accordions in commercials to evoke nostalgia.  But without attack there is a certain monotony in the sound (shared by organs) due to the lack of attack.   I believe that one of the best combinations is an accordion with a mandolin.   Accordion has sustain without attack, mandolin has attack and struggles for sustain.   Is there a life lesson there?

Well Abe, this is for you.   I'm not sure I hit too hard on the life lessons, but I think they are at least strongly implied from the above.   Thanks for getting me to think about this stuff.

Vilsack/Sherrod: VWhat does child rearing have to do with being a good bureaucrat?

I spent five years as Associate Director of West Virginia University's Extension Service.   When I took the job, I had very little experience as an administrator.   I was a little concerned about not having the right knowledge and skill set to be an administrator.

One of my first challenges was dealing with faculty member disputes.   Someone would come to me with a complaint about a supervisor or another faculty member.   They were always completely sincere and convincing.   I was tempted to make up my mind and act based on a single conversation.   Then I remembered my kids and how their versions of stories contradicted.  So I pulled in the other party and heard their story.   Usually equally sincere and convincing, but 180 degrees different.  I learned to always get the other side.  and then it occurred to me that many concepts in good child rearing applied to administration:

Encourage appropriate autonomy
Praise more than criticize
Be empathetic
Model behavior
Emphasize rewards over punishments
etc.etc.

The recent forced resignation of Shirley Sherrod by Tom Vilsack could have been avoided if Vilsack had gathered more information.   His action apparently came based on a video fragment of her speech at an NAACP event which left out an important part of her message.  He now apologizes saying he did not have complete information.  He could have avoided this embarasment, by checking things out...starting with Sherrod.

No Choice at All in the Gulf

Click the title to see a video of the gulf oil burnoff.


We (the people) are left with terrible choices:   The entire ecology of the gulf vrs worker safety and health and pollutions of our environment.   That's no choice at all.  We need to change the rules of the game

King Coal Australian Style

Australia is the world's largest exporter of coal (and iron ore.)  The growth of the industry has had negative economic outcomes for Australians not in the coal industry.   The currency has risen, hurting other export industries.   The cost of  borrowing (interest) has also risen, squeezing consumers and other industries.   There is a shortage of skilled workers available for other industries as well.

In an effort to ameliorate these economic distortions, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd tried to increase taxes on coal and decrease them on other industries.   In June coal had him booted out.

John Williams in his book Captains of Industry describes the conscious efforts of big coal to control both WV's and the nation's policies to coal in an effort to insure no barriers to profits.   AT Massey blatantly continued this policy with his "buying" a WV Supreme Court Justice.

Kind Coal Australian style, is just another example of corporate SOP (Standard Operating Procedure.)

Cuch Alaine (sic)

In the fifties, the men worked and the women were at home. So what happened in the summer? The women and children went downdashaw (down to the Jersey shore) with the children. Where did they stay? Motels barely existed then. They stayed in a cuchalain (pardon my very poor transliteration.) This was essentially a boarding house where each family of mother and kids had a cramped sleeping room. Then there was a kitchen in which each family had space in a refrigerator for their food and used the kitchen to cook.

Now my mother did work as a school teacher. But she was off in the summer, so the effect was the same. I believe we had this adventure at least 3 times. I remember we went once with her cousin Estelle...who was at that time single. The idea of an unmarried woman in her 30's was strange to me. (Estelle later did get married....no kids. Her husband sold imported jewelry. My mother bought a very sparkly bracelet out of something called Marcusite from him. I remember it being a big deal so maybe it was expensive.)

I think we went to either Asbury or Bradley Beach.

I remember:

It was very hot in the house
The kitchen was tiny
I got knocked around by the waves
I got sand in my eyes
All the food was delicious
I remember eating soft ice cream (we called it frozen custard)

In retrospect, there was something special about vacations with just my mother. (There were also the summer months at Maple Manor.) Lacked the excitement my father generated. Much more laid back. But what a nice warm cocoon. The little things like getting lunch, eating grapes, walking to the boardwalk hand in hand, stick (and that is exactly the right analogy) in my mind and heart.

P.S.   I'm sure you can guess how to tranlate cuhalaine from the yiddish.....

Der Milnern's Trern,,, The Miller's Tears

click on the title to hear and watch the video. This is one of my favorite yiddish songs.   The words are terribly painful, but  the melody is actually tender and not pained.   I always thought of this song as an individual lament.   A commentary suggests this is an allegory for living under the czar. Sidor Belarsky was a Ukranian singer who died in 1974. Lyrics" Oy, vifl yorn zenen farforn Oh how many years have passed Zayt ikh bin a milner ot to do. Since I’ve been a miller here? Di reder dreyen zikh The wheels turn Di yorn geyen zikh, The years pass Ikh bin shoyn alt un grayz un gro. I’m growing old and grey. S’iz teg faranen There are days Ch’vil mikh dermonen I would have wanted to remember Tsi kh’hob gehat a shtikl glik— If I had only had a bit of happiness Di reder dreyen zikh The wheels turn Di yorn geyen zikh The years pass Keyn entfer iz nit do tsurik. No reply do I hear Ch’hob gehert zogn I’ve heard it said Men vel mikh faryogn They want to drive me out Aroys fun dorf Away from here Un fun der mil. And from the mill. Di reder dreyen zikh The wheels turns Di yorn geyen zikh The years pass Oy, on an ek un on a tsil. Without end and without purpose Fun glik fartribn Exiled from happiness bin ikh geblibn I remain without it On vayb, on kind ot do aleyn. Without wife or child–myself alone Di reder dreyen zikh The wheel turns Di yorn geyen zikh, The years pass Un eylent bin ikh vi a shteyn. I am lonely as a stone Vu vel ikh voynen Where will I live? Ver vet mikh shoynen Who will care for me? Ikh bin shoyn alt I’m already old Ich bin shoyn mid – I’m already tired Di reder dreyen zikh The wheels turn Di yorn geyen zikh, The years pass Un oykh mit zey geyt oys der yid. And with them too goes the Jew. translated by Richard Silverstein (with initial assistance from Jenny Levison’s translation at Zemerl) After listening to the above link for the traditional song, check this out: http://www.myspace.com/yiddishprincess

diners

Being from NJ, and naturally funky, I have a lifelong affection for Diners.  My first Diner was the Weequahic Diner at the bottom of Howthorn Ave.   Little did I know that this Jewish Diner was an anomaly among diners.  Besides great deli sandwiches like pastrami (corn rye, cole slaw, russian dressing) they made a gourmet puffy bread french toast.

New Jersey diners seem to be mostly owned by Greeks these days.   You need a back belt to be able to pick up the menus.    How can a restaurant make a living when its menu is 20 pages long.

I remember a diner I used to eat at at the tip of Bayonne.  I was working as a Good Humor man and ate there every day.   (Bayonne was great for the ice cream business)  All summer long I would get a big plate of blueberries in sour cream.


There was a diner that became a teen hangout on Rt 22 in either Springfield or Union.   I don't remember the food, but I do remember the very very large neon sign that simulated a huge flame blazing up and down.

When I went on sabbatical in Massachusetts in the 90's, I discovered several pre-war diners that were even funkier than New Jersey.   No chrome, and tiny.  One was the Owl.   It was in Lowell.   It was alleged to be frequented by a leader of the "Beat" writers/poets.   I can't remember who.

There's a lot of interest in diners as an icon of pop culture.   Here's the site for the American Diner Museum:  http://www.americandinermuseum.org/site/history.php

As with all these small worlds, the different "experts" and organizations fight over the true definition of a diner.   Does it have to have chrome?   Can you include chains like White Castle?

Last week I ate at French's Diner in Marlinton, WV.   I had a ham on bisquit sandwich.   The ham was a bit salty for me (recall I was below the Mason Dixon Line where salty food is part of a way of life.)   The bisquit itself was melt in your mouth.   The cooks, were wonderful, friendly.   While high on the funky scale, the diner didn't look like one, and probably wouldn't meet an afficionado's definition.

Here are some pictures of the owl:

Lowell, Mass’. Owl Diner nears completion of new vestibule! « Diner Hotline Weblog

Lowell, Mass’. Owl Diner nears completion of new vestibule! « Diner Hotline Weblog

Naturalism and Mastery, which way environmentalism

This somewhat academic article in Tikkun raises important consideration of the "naturalist" and "mastery" strands of environmentalism. Naturalism takes a humble approach and looks for harmony with nature. Mastery says industrial and social forces have taken us past the point where we can solve environmental problems... by harmonizing. The author accepts the necessity for some mastery (re global waring, for example) but suggests it needs to be informed by naturalistic impulses.

Click on the blog post title to view the Tikkun article.

 

A Long Time Comin'

Go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE4qBjKCtBM

Sam Cooke's It's Been a Long Time Comin' is certainly one of my top 5 songs. Sam was a not a civil rights leader, but was disturbed by incidents denying him lodging on tour in the south. He was also considering the death of his brother when he wrote the song.

The song subsequently became an anthem of the civil rights movement. Obama paraphrased the song in his presidential acceptance speech.

Wikipedia lists 33 covers (not counting rap and hip hop samplings) Name 5 and you're good. Name 10 and you're an R&B allstar.

LYRICS:

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I been a runnin' ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming but I know
A change gon' come oh yes it will
It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die
Cuz I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming but I know
A change gon' come oh yes it will

I go to the movie, and I go downtown
Somebody keep tellin me "don't hang around"
It's been a long, a long time coming, but i know
A change gon' come oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say "brother, help me please"
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees
There been times that I thought I wouldn't last for long
Now think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, along time coming but I know
A change gon' come, oh yes it will

dysfunctional capitalism

More and more articles in the press identify the ways in which unfettered capitalism is dysfunctional. In this article the NYTimes identifies the short term time horizon for profits as leading corporations to underinvest in research and expansion. In this time horizon, these are just seen a costs. 

 

Karl Marx would be proud of the NYTimes!