Everything happens for a reason. A cultural commentary with a lotta rock-n-roll, semitism, and parenting. See our Etsy Shop! Buy HeadyBands, Hoodies and more at www.wholephamily.etsy.com
I have the best mother. She saved my 1st grade "Me" book all of these years. And now it is in my ownership. The book was a collaboration between my first grade teacher and my art teacher, Mrs. Hollinger. Myrna Hollinger was a renegade art teacher. She taught me that coloring books have no place in a child's life. The facade of her house was covered in all sorts of buttons and pins. At one point she sold her eclectic upscale jewelry at Neiman's or Barney's. I last saw her when I was in college and worked at a gourmet food store, back in the nineties when they were still called gourmet food stores. She bought a ficelle.
Always striving for less-is-more living, currently I am in purge mode (can you say 8 bags to the Junior League thrift shop last week?) so another object, though replete with nostalgia, is exactly what I don't need.
If I only did this for my own children...
I love this connecting of history...my own 5 year old, The Wolfman's Brother, with his mother's creation from 35 years ago
My memory of going to the movie theater with Rachel Rezak, a couple of friends, and her dad, is so sweet. We went to Mario's for pizza afterwards and everyone was able to get half a can of soda. You know what? That's all a child really needs, if any. But those were the days before we drank water, so I was likely thirsty from the pizza. We didn't know any better.
The word daven was yet to enter my lexicon.
Gelt. Now that is a good thing to give kids for Hanukkah gifts.
We used oil with the paint in water to create the paper on which the drawings were glued.
It's not a bird and it's not a plane. It's the moon, and she's right up there waiting for you to notice her. Recently we met a very bright young 3rd year student at the Law School (as if there's only one) who was wrongfully convinced that the ecocult which he'd ultimately like to establish will be based around solar energy. "The sun's bright and full of energy," he extorted as we departed our conversation on the steps of a summer camp dining hall. Au contrare, my friend, how mistaken you are.
Lunar power is where it's at. And she's all woman. Any thinking woman will tell you that just as the moon waxes and wanes (gets bigger and smaller for the lunar-jargon challenged among us), so too do women have their highs and lows. Call it what you want: soul sistas, girl power, or women's intuition...it's all the same deal. The moon is cyclical. What goes around comes around. Isn't that what life is all about?
Some tunes to recall at this point include Sir Elton John's"Circle of Life." Even Disney is capable of words of wisdom.
We also recall Harry Chapin's "All my Life's a Circle."
Finally let us always remember Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game" which, it is claimed in this YouTube's comments section, was written with Neil Young. Don't doubt that one.
We have the moon to thank for those.
The moon may be smaller than the sun, but she's a lot smarter and got her head screwed on straight. She ain't the one in the news on a seemingly daily basis. With the current energy crisis, the words climate change, global warming and greenhouse gases are all connected to the sun and enough to drive any middle American batty. Just the other day, the White House said no thanks to solar panels. Uh oh, we're in big trouble.
If you are a girl or woman, stare at the moon for as long as you can every night. Once we locate the moon, that's when we usually say, "look, there she is!" For Jewish women, it is a way of participating in the celebration of Rosh Chodesh, the new month in the Jewish lunar-based calendar. At this moment, the moon is waxing gibbous, getting fuller and fuller to that point next week when she's a glorious full moon and Jews the world over will rejoice during the harvest festival of Sukkot (note to self: check out sukkah city), also known as the "time of our happiness" (remember our blog post referring to Joy at its end? Same deal).
If you want to get all astrological and womyn and some say wiccan about it, you can even check out We'Moon. How interesting that their publisher is called Mother Tongue Ink.
In Yiddish, mother tongue is rightfully referred to as mamaloshen. Now that's something to talk about.
