Obsession

A friend sent me a post yesterday from a wonderful blogger Simply Nutmeg entitled Addiction is Ugly.  In this piece, the author is commenting on her obsession with the upcoming American election and how she cannot seem to get enough news, polls and statistics.  She is basically living and dying by the daily tracking numbers.  Well girl, I am here to tell you that you are not alone. "My name is Dawn and I am a pollaholic!!" The Husband is ready to convene an intervention for me.  I know way more than any rational person should about the +/- percentages and whether or not they fall into the statistical margins.  I am totally captivated with the variances between the polling in south-eastern Pennsylvania and western Penn.  (I nearly had a stroke yesterday when the latest Mason-Dixon poll showed McCain was only down four points in the state.)  I have found tremendous comfort in sites like Pollster.com and FiveThirtyEight.com. I watch the 24/7 news channels with alarming frequency and I find myself catching up on stuff missed online. (I am a regular visitor to MSNBC.com simply because my TV provider refuses to carry the network!! Get with it Bell!) My new crack cocaine is Youtube. I am actually reading both conservative and liberal blogs in order to appropriately gauge the snowmobile wreck that is Sarah Palin. The Washington Post, New York Times and Miami Herald have become part of my daily reading routine and I have become intimately acquainted with columnists like David Brooks, Peggy Noonan, Maureen Dowd, Eugene Robinson and Frank Rich.  I have a tremendous crush on John King at CNN. (The man converted to Judaism to marry fellow CNNer Dana Bash! Gotta love that!)  The way he manipulates that tote board is a huge turn-on.  Chuck Todd at NBC is doing an admirable job trying to replace the irreplaceable Tim Russert, as the political pundit in chief! OY! That I know all of this shit is truly disturbing on so many levels.  The truly crazy part in all of this mishugas is that I am a Canadian and have no voice in this process.  

I feel like an over-the-top sports fan who paints their chest at a game. (Now that would be a sight!)  I am the drinker who doesn't know when to say when.  I am the gambler who puts one more coin into the machine. HELP!!!  I need some relief and the only way out of this mess is a favourable outcome on November 4th.  So, once again and I promise for the final time, to all of my American friends-please get out and vote.  Vote for the candidate that you truly believe will push the country, and by extension the world, into the 21st century.  Vote for the future.  Vote for your children.  Just put an end to my misery.  I am Dawn Ponders and I approved this message!!

Just a quick P.S.

You all must check out margaretandhelen.wordpresss.com.  These two 80 somethings have begun blogging about the election, and they are so funny that I actually need to pee with every post.  Please have a read.  You will be glad that you did.

Watching an Obamamercial!

I have NEVER seen anything like this before. Barack (the game changer) Obama is currently on almost every US network and even a few cable channels, attempting to bring his final arguments to the voters. This is the biggest infomercial I have ever witnessed. I half expect Ron Popeil to jump out and shill the "Pocket Fisherman" or some other new-fangled gadget that you "set and forget!" The mere fact that I am sitting here watching the junior senator from Illinois attempt to sway undecideds in prime time and not my beloved Pushing Daisies, is testament to the passion that I have come to feel for this man and his campaign. This is a get-out the vote video. This is a video that is telling the real stories of real people. This is a video that is meant to show the man as presidential, successfully I might add. (I even like the shots of him sitting on his desk that are obviously meant to convey a smaller and more hamish Oval Office!) This is a man and a political campaign that has truly and with vision, learned how to appeal to the 21st century voter. This is a candidate that understands the variance and vagaries of the new media and the outreach of the information age. He shows his youth and vigour every single time he changes the way that the game of politics is played. Will it work? Will he win? Only the American voters can determine the outcome, but the world is closer to finally entering the new millennium than at any time over the past eight years. On Tuesday November 4th, please vote for the future that you see on your TV screens this evening and not the moldy past.

Halloweenies!

I have decided to come clean. I am ready to admit what, I believe, is obvious to most.  I truly and simply do not enjoy Halloween. It is probably blasphemous for many of you to even silently consider this thought, given that the small children in your midst are so totally wound up in their preparations, but I am far enough removed from the "mommy needs to be supportive" mindset that I can unequivocally state my true feelings on the subject.

It is not that I have any religious objection to the day.  Years ago, I took a course with a rabbi who was firmly set against Jewish children observing a day so obviously grounded in pagan and Christian ritual. I personally never bought into this way of thinking.  I tend to view Halloween with the same lens as Valentine's Day-obviously not from my people, but so secularized over the years, that really where's the harm?  In my very orthodox-Jewish leaning area, there are far more houses that are kept dark on Halloween than are openly inviting for the Trick or Treaters. (Given that Halloween falls on a Friday this year, I am certain that there will be even fewer houses open for the kids!) No, the non-Jewish arguments simply fall flat for me.

My issues with Halloween are far less philosophical and much more practical.

Firstly, I suck at anything that remotely resembles arts and crafts. (Please recall that I am a disaster with sharp objects so any sort of customization of costumes, carving of pumpkins or decorative initiatives are usually met with copious amounts of my own blood being spilled all over the kitchen counter!!) When the boys were younger, it became mandatory that their costumes had to be formulated from already constructed items that could be found around the house or purchased very cheaply.  If that didn't work, I would get down on bended knee to the Little Bro's Ying to his Yang and beg for mercy.  She is a whiz with anything visually creative and would sometimes take pity on me and my ineptitude.  I actually think that the thought of her nephews looking like refugees from Value Village horrified her and her sense of style, so she helped when she could.  As to the carving of the pumpkins, that little job became the purvey of the Husband.  He was one of the first in the neighbourhood to procure jack-o-lantern stencils and safety gear. The boys would gather with Dad in the kitchen for the ritual cutting (sort of a brit milah for gourds!) and they would all scream at Mom whenever she even so much as approached a knife. My job consisted mainly of scooping out the rancid goop and seeds, (lovely job!!) so you can see why I never really enjoyed the experience.

Secondly, Halloween is one big sugar high. With our penchant for chocolate, the last thing that this household needs is more calories.  And, the worst part is that with those mini bars, one never really feels as though the waistline is expanding. In our kid-friendly days, we had a little practice around here known as "treat days".  The only days during the week that the kids were allowed sweets and treats were Saturday and Sunday.  The weekdays were junk free.  (I know that you are thinking either that this was impossible to patrol, or that my kids were deprived by a true bitch of a mother!) It really did work as a life philosophy, but Halloween presented a whole other set of challenges.  When the boys returned home with their loot, they were permitted to choose a few items and then the rest went into storage for treat days.  The problems arose when the husband discovered the storage place.  He would surreptitiously sift through the good stuff and leave the kids with all of the "undesirable" items like raisins and stale suckers.  I never really knew if the boys discovered that their candy had been looted, because after a couple of weeks, they actually forgot that the stuff existed and by March or April, I would either toss the leftovers or put it away to give to some other poor sucker on the following Halloween.  I am convinced that there were some items that kept making their way back to my house year after dreaded year, because other parents in the neighbourhood had the same ideas that I had.

Thirdly, I hate dressing up in a costume.  I have already explained that I cannot make my own, so that leaves rentals.  Have any of you ever rented a costume?  They smell funny (probably from the previous renter's perspiration) rarely fit properly and they cost a bloody fortune.  My Little Bro and the Ying to his Yang used to have a yearly All Hallow's Eve celebration.  They would come up with these odd costume requirements and expect us all to partake.  Being the good sport that I am, I always came dressed for the occasion, but the Husband would bitch and moan every year. (He has especially miserable memories of when I dressed him up as the Jolly Green Giant with me as the Little Green Sprout! That costume came complete with tights and green face paint!! If you ask me quietly offline, I might be able to dig up a picture or two.) While some amongst us relish in the kid-like experience of dressing in costume year after year, I believe that there is a shelf-life to the costume wearing experience, and I think that mine has expired.

Finally, Halloween comes at a dark, cold and miserable time of the year.  I used to hate the idea of dressing the kids up in their costumes, only to have to cover all of the work with winter coats, hats and mittens.  Maybe if our climate was more moderate, there might have been a bit more excitement and enjoyment, but the Husband and I would actually flip a coin to see which of us losers had to make the Trick or Treat rounds.  In fairness, he lost way more often than did I.

Please don't take my indictment of this holiday as anything other than my own personal bias. Seeing tiny winged fairies and miniature SpiderMen come to the door is always a highlight, but it never seemed to be enough to balance out the stuff that didn't appeal.  I just don't like the idea of being scared out of my wits. I don't enjoy horror and slasher films and I don't like the commercialization of the whole ordeal.  This year, the Husband and I will be taking our Halloween celebrations to a concert with Buffy Sainte Marie and Richie Havens. Now that is what I call a Halloween party!!

Funny!!

This is very clever, biting and very funny. Something small for your Sunday. Enjoy.

Whisky for Love!

I have done a great deal in my lifetime for love of family and Shalom Bayit. Some of it has been shared publicly (in this space, in fact) and some of it is better left to the imagination.  But, never in my wildest dreams, could I have imagined that in the interest of a happy household, I would be working at a whisky trade show as an non-paid shill!  And yet, that is exactly how I will be spending my Kabbalat Shabbat this evening.  

I have shared with you all on many occasions of The Husband's and Twin Son's venture into the strange and cultish world that is the whisky industry.  While policy wonks in various governmental and regulatory bureaucracies have attempted to stall their progress, the two tenacious lads (very Scottish, no?) are still plugging away with their life's mission to bring untasted and better tasting whisky and spirits to the unsophisticated North American palates that are pretty much sated with rotgut!! As we enter into year 4 of this business, the guys have taken their passion to the next level with the launch of their online store. www.whiskyworks.ca. Please visit and shop until you drop. The holidays are coming and there might be an aficionado on your list that might be served well.  Mama has a need to eat and my children's education is still not fully paid!! If you are interested in the other end of their business, check them out at www.premiumbottlers.com.

As part of their ongoing attempts to educate the whisky-drinking public, the guys will be prominently featured at the Whisky Live show this evening in heart of downtown TO.  Since they are a start-up bootlegging (oops, sorry for the slip)-I mean-legitimate whisky importing operation, they don't have any money to hire shleppers and grunts to help them out with the heavy work.  As such, they have co-opted family members on many occasions to package, bottle, label and shlep.  Both of the progeny have done time in the warehouse, (literally and figuratively!) as have the offspring of Twin Son and his Better Half. But, it is at the trade shows, where the spouses are put out front as if we were hot babes at a car show! (OK! Maybe we aren't in the same league as the long and lascivious, but we don't don't embarrass the cause either.) I am so far out of my league at this events, it is beyond the comical. As a true teetotaler who is far more schooled in the differences between Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, I find myself answering questions about the "nose" and "finish" of particular drams.  I sound a bit like Sarah Palin answering questions on the role of the Vice President!! Bullshit is a kind word for the crap that I have slung.  The Better Half is far more suited for this role of shill then am I.  She can speak with authority on everything from the variances of the highland or lowland distilleries, to the floral qualities versus the fruity qualities. (This is in reference to the Scotch and not the attendees of the shows who, in my humble and totally biased opinion, can on occasion tend to border on the pretentious.  Either that, or they are total boors who guzzle everything in sight!) It is a lovely break in our sentences-I mean time at the show-when a true whisky lover approaches and speaks with understanding and authority on the subject. It is at that point that the guys take over the conversation, but as I stated earlier, this is a family business and I need to do all that I can to aid in the cause. So, I am heading down later this afternoon to act as a combination waitress/hostess/cash girl. (I can only hope!) If any of you in the GTA find yourselves with nothing to do this evening and would like to spend your Shabbas tanked, head on down to the convention centre.  If you cannot or are outside of safe travelling distance,  please check out the aforementioned websites. Tell your high-spirited friends and family! (pun absolutely intended!) In a bad economy, what better place to spend your dwindling assets then on booze!!  And they tell me, that this is the GOOD STUFF!!!

Conservatives for Change

I found this video absolutely gripping.  You can read about it here.  The basic idea was to show why so many mainstream conservative Republicans have switched their votes to Obama this year. These are real people in their own words and they represent a fairly equitable cross-section of the population.  

You can see more of this work at www.ConservativesForChange.com

Shabbat Shalom all!

First They Came...

I have resisted writing this particular post for quite a while now, mostly because I am truly hesitant to get mixed up in the highly flammable combination of religion and politics. Yet, it seems to me that this election season in the United States has dragged all of us around the world kicking and screaming into its vortex and so, with much trepidation,  I cautiously wade into the fray.

I am a Canadian Reform Jew.  While many of my landsman might question my observance and devotion to my faith, I have no such qualms.  I have found a comfortable place in which to reside that allows me to follow the modern order of my religion, while not sacrificing basic tenets of observance, law and tikkun olam. (repairing the world) It is a fully egalitarian, inclusive, non-discriminatory and wholly monotheistic observance that allows me to participate fully in all aspects of religious law and it has been built on a tremendous foundation of social justice.  To me, this is the essence of Judaism and it is what we as Jews have always strived and fought so hard for.  

I am also a frequent visitor to the wonderful world that is South Florida.  The husband and I have owned property there for a number of years, and we have come to think of the area as a second home.  We have spent our time amongst many of the Jewish retirees that have made the area their homes. (We do spend time with people our own age too!! I am not yet ready for the Early Bird Specials!)  We have attended synagogue and social programs and we have shared laughs and tears.  Some of these wonderful people are survivors of the Holocaust, some are early baby boomers and some are just tired of the cold and have relocated to the balminess of the Gold Coast.  They wear their Jewishness proudly on their sleeves and they all know that the comfort that they feel was not always the case.  Every one of them can recount stories of anti-semitism from their lives.  Every one of them remembers a time when it was customary to bar Jews from country clubs, beaches, unions and colleges.  Every one of them can remember being tagged by some scurrilous racial epithet.  Many can recall the horrors of Nazi Germany and striving for a place of equality in their chosen country.  So, it is to these people that I must ask "How can we as Jews subject any person to the racism and hatred that we have fought so long and hard to eradicate?"  If the answer is that we cannot, then as Jews I am begging you to take a hard look at the campaign of fear, xenophobia and out and out racism that is being waged by the McCain camp against Barack Obama.

It is true that Mr. Obama has a difficult name for Jews to digest, but it was hard for the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers to accept the Bloombergs, Liebermans and Brandeises and that has seemed to work out okay.  It is also true that he is an African American.  So?  As a community, we have a history of fighting for the equality of all people.  Did not Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel march arm in arm with Dr. King at the civil rights march on Selma?  Wasn't it the Jewish community that was shoulder to shoulder with the NAACP in the voter registration drives of the 1960s.  When did members of my community decide it was ok to derisively call this tremendously gifted and educated man a "shvartza"?  When did we become so fearful?  If Barack Obama was Joe Lieberman and the same campaign of racism was transposed to a campaign of anti-Semitism, we would be screaming foul from every media outpost in the land. We cannot allow ourselves to be drawn into the viral world of hate that this campaign has spawned.  We as Jews know all too well the ramifications of hate and fear and we can never allow ourselves to become party to it either by commission or omission.

If John McCain is your candidate of choice because you truly believe in his policies and politics, then I cannot sway you and nor would I attempt to do so.  But, if you are voting for McCain because you are fearful of the black guy with the scary Arab-sounding name, then I urge you to take a second look.  The world needs change and the time is now. Barack Obama is the only candidate that truly represents at least a glimmer of hope for that kind of true sea change. I am too young to remember the excitement and the hopefulness that President Roosevelt or President Kennedy embodied.  This man engenders that kind of passion. Is he perfect?  Of course not, but he is worth the gamble. Unfortunately for me and millions more like me, we cannot vote in your election, the most important in a generation!  We leave it to your capable hands, my American friends.  As Jews, we need to leave behind the politics of fear, and embrace the politics of hope.  May we never again know what it feels like to be isolated or hated simply because we are not the majority. 

First they came for the Communists,
- but I was not a communist so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists,
- but I was neither, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Jews,
- but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892-1984)