tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30268886083096823962024-03-13T08:10:39.169-07:00Anita Diamant is thinking out loudAnita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-41511729701548049292014-12-27T18:04:00.000-08:002014-12-27T18:04:24.089-08:00WBUR radio interview about The Boston GirlThanks to Anthony Brooks and WBUR's "Radio Boston" for this opportunity to talk about my new book.<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_767534861"><br /></a>
<a href="http://radioboston.wbur.org/2014/12/16/diamant-boston-girl">http://radioboston.wbur.org/2014/12/16/diamant-boston-girl</a>Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-33519745806835375272014-12-27T15:04:00.002-08:002014-12-28T13:39:10.454-08:00Where did you get the idea for The Boston Girl?<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">The ideas for my
novels come to me in different ways. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">I picked up a booklet in a Gloucester bookstore and
discovered the history of the oldest settlement on Cape Ann and </span><u style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">The Last
Days of Dogtown</u><span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> followed. On my first visit to Israel, a tour took me to a living
history museum called Atlit, where Jewish settlers were interned by the British
authorities after the end of World War 2, and that was the source of </span><u style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Day
After Night.</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The working title for<u> The Boston
Girl</u> was <u>Rockport Lodge. <o:p></o:p></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Here’s the story:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I must have d</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">riven
past the place hundreds of times</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%;">. Ihad been visiting and vacationing in Rockport,
Massachusetts for years, and the t</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">hree-story white
clapboard farmhouse with a sign out front looked like a lot of the bed-and-breakfasts
in town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But
one morning, I spotted a friend walking out the front door and pulled over.
Pattie was working as Rockport Lodge’s cook that summer and she told me it was
nothing like the other inns. It had been founded in the early 1900s (1906 in
fact) to provide inexpensive chaperoned holidays to city girls of modest means.
The policy remained “women only” and the prices ridiculously low. In 1990 it was
$35 a day including three meals for women earning less than $12,400. It so
happens that friends had stayed there. “Rustic” is how they described it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During
the 1990s, I watched the Lodge fall apart. The paint peeled, the shutters broke
and the lawn got shaggy. In 2002, the windows stayed dark and weeds sprouted in
the gutters. The wooden annex – a long, shotgun arrangement of guest rooms
behind the big house – sagged and sank and looked like it might blow down in
the next Nor’easter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
main building, built as a farmhouse in the 1750s, was much sturdier, but it was
in bad shape, too. I peered through windows and shredded curtains into dusty
common rooms. A set of Blue Willow china was displayed in the dining room. There
were puzzles and books stacked on shelves and magazines open the occasional
tables in the front parlor, where an old upright piano enjoyed pride of place.
Hand-lettered signs were tacked up beside an old black wall telephone near the
front door. The place was like one of those old steamer trunks full of secrets.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
perfect setting for a novel, right? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
tracked down the Rockport Lodge archives, which are housed at the Schlesinger
Library on the History of American Women at Harvard University: forty- seven
boxes filled with fundraising letters, brochures, housekeeping minutia,
newspaper clippings, board meeting agendas and scrapbooks. The scrapbooks are
yellowed and brittle, scrawled with spidery signatures, inside jokes and
pledges of undying friendship. There are also pictures of girls lined up in
ankle-length skirts, girls lounging on Good Harbor Beach in daring 1920s
swimsuits, girls wearing boxy shorts and bobby socks. The clothes are a fashion
timeline <u>and</u> tell a story about profound changes in American women’s
lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In
2006, Rockport Lodge was sold and the land subdivided. The original farmhouse
is back in private hands; the new owners renovated with an open floor plan and granite
countertops in the kitchen. The only clue to its history are a fading sign
over the front door, and now, <u>The Boston Girl.</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-73700893835031347212014-11-21T14:56:00.001-08:002014-11-21T14:56:51.434-08:00Anita Diamant on THE BOSTON GIRL<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CJpN_LxjcLE" width="480"></iframe>Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-85342938988925920362014-09-21T12:51:00.001-07:002014-09-22T06:10:43.704-07:00Lucky me<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16pt;">Every morning, The American Academy of Poets sends me the Poem of the Day. I always open the email, though often I never get past the first line. If it's t</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">oo pretentious or precious, I hit "delete," pronto.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;">But some days, I read </span><span style="font-size: 21px;">a poem</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> I can't bear to lose and drag it into a file.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 21px;">Recently </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">I trolled through the ones I saved in search of a phrase vaguely remembered and found it. A little miracle. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><i>The Wind Sleepers</i> by H. D. arrived today. And because I was near the sea and had my phone in my back pocket, I reread it on the rocky beach pictured here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16pt;">Lucky, lucky me.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmWVq4Qm_ihMp8syKTnU7Ey7Zc3cO5gX21pbhF_JHPsRnUbUWd1xXvkOuRYOP7PR91KbRgUnZYowc-oUhKMKFbjDZlFRPG6fa3irml1ctp2Swk9wHy92KmZIHiJfjRJsWlED1ypBoR5AN/s1600/Camera+Effects%5B1%5D.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmWVq4Qm_ihMp8syKTnU7Ey7Zc3cO5gX21pbhF_JHPsRnUbUWd1xXvkOuRYOP7PR91KbRgUnZYowc-oUhKMKFbjDZlFRPG6fa3irml1ctp2Swk9wHy92KmZIHiJfjRJsWlED1ypBoR5AN/s1600/Camera+Effects%5B1%5D.jpeg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">THE WIND SLEEPERS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">by H.D.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Whiter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">than the crust<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">left by the tide,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">we are stung by the hurled sand<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">and the broken shells.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">We no longer sleep<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">in the wind—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">we awoke and fled<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">through the city gate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Tear—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">pile them with the rough stones—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">sleep in the wind,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">propitiate us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">Chant in a wail<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">that never halts,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">pace a circle and pay tribute<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">with a song.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">and sea-birds that cry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Times;">discords.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-80981757015232668332014-08-28T05:50:00.001-07:002014-08-28T05:51:05.036-07:00Namaste, Mr. Iyengar<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I never quite bought into the idea of the yoga “community."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve taken yoga classes for more than twenty years from a succession of teachers in rooms full of familiar-looking faces whose names I never knew. And yet, the news of B.K.S. Iyengar’s passing on Aug. 20 at the age of 95 felt like a death in my tribe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I never met Mr. Iyengar, who was one of the great theorists, practitioners and popularizers of yoga. I did not study with him or read his books. After I heard he died, I had to go online to see what he looked like. But since several of my yoga teachers are his students, I am only one degree of separation away from the man.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Iyengar is a regular presence in the studio where I practice yoga. My teachers, Tristan, Carin, Nadja, Mary, Justine and Rosie quote him often and those who studied at his institute in Pune, India, tell stories about being in class with <i>Mr. Iyengar --</i> the honorific is always employed as it would be unseemly to go first-name with one’s guru. Even so, they talk about how funny he could be, as well as how demanding and wise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Having read several obituaries, I now know that Iyengar was the eleventh of thirteen children born to a poor family in the south of India. A sickly child who suffered from typhoid, tuberculosis and malaria, he was not expected to live long. He credits the practice of yoga for all those “extra” years. They say he was practicing up until two months before his death.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He came to international prominence in 1953 thanks to the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who became a devotee and called him his “best violin teacher.” Iyengar’s other celebrity students included Aldous Huxley, Annette Bening, Donna Karan, and politicians and sports figures in India.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He became a yoga rock star, but William Broad, the author of “The Science of Yoga” -- a comprehensive and balanced book about the benefits of yoga -- credits Iyengar with being the first major teacher to acknowledge that forcing the body into difficult postures can cause injury. Rather than try to fit the body into idealized shapes, Iyengar designed ways to make postures fit the body, using props to create a safer experience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As a result, Iyengar classes often look like a kindergarten, the room cluttered with chairs, blankets, bolsters, straps, wall ropes, blocks and boards -- equipment that makes postures (<i>asanas</i>) accessible to bodies that could otherwise never do, say, a downward-facing dog, feet flat on the ground as in the “classic” pose. <u></u><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=downward+dog+with+props&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&imgil=O6PL4Siv3fwEEM%253A%253BDgAtvsFsP3TcpM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fthreeminuteegg.com%25252Fandasanasyogawiththeegg%25252Fadho-mukha-svanasana-%25252525E2%2525252580%2525252593-downward-facing-dog%25252F&source=iu&fir=O6PL4Siv3fwEEM%253A%252CDgAtvsFsP3TcpM%252C_&usg=__CrOwn25K2qV_4Ikmy7kgkh08k24%3D&sa=X&ei=9Xv-U_ONFIqeyATW8oG4Cg&ved=0CDkQ9QEwAw&biw=1296&bih=690#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=O6PL4Siv3fwEEM%253A%3BDgAtvsFsP3TcpM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fthreeminuteegg.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2011%252F09%252F3ME-Downward-Dog-with-Eggs-in-Hands-300x203.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fthreeminuteegg.com%252Fandasanasyogawiththeegg%252Fadho-mukha-svanasana-%2525E2%252580%252593-downward-facing-dog%252F%3B300%3B203" style="color: purple;" target="_blank">downward dog with props</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A day after Iyengar died I received an email from Justine Wiltshire Cohen, the director of Down Under Yoga, announcing his passing and celebrating a life well lived and “an epic yoga legacy.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #535353;">“I remember practicing at the foot of Mr. Iyengar as he taught the pose called </span><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=ardha+chandrasana&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&imgil=GQf8kxhHxNs4CM%253A%253BZriPb-Un_9nyKM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fyoganewsletters.wordpress.com%25252F2012%25252F06%25252F05%25252Fardha-chandrasa-from-utthitatrikonasana-half-moon-pose-from-triangle-pose%25252F&source=iu&usg=__m1Jo-FSfS8r54vlUx0eZFU_Rzqo%3D&sa=X&ei=Koj7U-HPGoieyASIyYKYCQ&ved=0CDUQ9QEwAw&biw=1437&bih=690#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=GQf8kxhHxNs4CM%253A%3BZriPb-Un_9nyKM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fyoganewsletters.files.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F06%252Fardha-chandrasana-with-a-block.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fyoganewsletters.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F06%252F05%252Fardha" style="color: purple;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000e9;">ardha chandrasana</span></a>.<span style="color: #535353;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #535353;"><span style="font-size: large;">He asked a woman with one leg why she was not attempting it. She gestured to her body in answer. Fifteen minutes and several props later, I watched this woman lift up into this one-legged balance pose, tears of disbelief and joy streaming down her face.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #535353;">“He was a man who could make one believe anything was possible.”</span><span style="font-family: '?? ????', 'MS Gothic';"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">His approach -- making yoga accessible to everybody -- is not sweaty or sexy. Which isn’t to say that it’s easy. The emphasis on alignment means going slowly and learning how far to push your body and when to acknowledge its limits. It is a deliberative and a humbling practice, which has taught me -- through his students, my teachers -- that I will always be a beginner.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2014/08/28/bks-iyengar-yoga-anita-diamant">Cognoscenti: WBUR</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><img class="UMSRatingIcon" id="ums_img_tooltip" /><a href="http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2014/08/28/bks-iyengar-yoga-anita-diamant">http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2014/08/28/bks-iyengar-yoga-anita-diamant</a></span></div>
Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-48904004711310261752014-07-10T08:15:00.004-07:002014-07-16T13:01:22.829-07:00The Last Session<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<o:p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-size: large;">Four months ago, my therapist told me she would be retiring
this summer. I was taken aback –a phrase that suddenly made perfect sense to me
since I felt as though I had been physically moved without my consent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In a way, it didn’t seem like such a big deal. We had been
slowing down. I wasn’t coming every week anymore. After nearly three years, my depression had cleared. I had been able to finish a large project of which I
had despaired. I had resolved some of the issues that other therapists had not
quite gotten to -- probably because I wasn’t ready to face them. She also
helped me negotiate the start of my seventh decade – I’m 63 -- with a sense of
proportion and grace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I know almost nothing about “Sharon.” I don’t know if she’s
straight or gay, married or single. I have no idea where she lives, whether she
likes to vacation in Maine or the Cape or if she plans to travel abroad in her
retirement. She had told me that she treated children and teenagers but I don’t
know if she has kids of her own. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And yet, I do know her. Even though the intimacy of our
relationship has been entirely one-sided – appropriately all about me -- I know
that she is patient, kind and wise. Although she speaks softly, she has a big
laugh that comes easily. She is grounded and purposeful and I want to say she
is possessed of grace, another phrase I never use and one I can’t explain.
I certainly learned a lot from her<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>--and
by that I mean her approach and perspective as well as her insights. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When she first told me about her retirement plans and asked how I felt
about it, I realized that I’d been hoping for an on-going relationship. I
have a few friends who, long after ending regular therapy, still make an occasional
appointment for a “tune up,” especially at times of transition or stress. But after
thirty years, Sharon was closing up shop. There would be no tune-ups. She offered
to refer to another therapist. At first I said no, but at our next-to-last visit I
decided I wanted a back-up so I took the phone number of a colleague Sharon said
would be a good match and (this being the real world) would also accept my
insurance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I dreaded our last appointment. Even though I’d known Sharon for only three years, the loss felt as profound as when my rabbi of twenty five years left his
pulpit. My sadness was even deeper than when my physician of nearly twenty years left
her practice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I didn’t know how to say goodbye. Should I give her flowers,
or a book of poems, or maybe just a card? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the end, I brought all three as well as a Boston cream pie
cupcake, which she accepted with a delighted laugh. They were retirement gifts,
parting gifts, things I chose because I was pretty sure that Sharon would love them
much as I do. Because during our three years, bounded by all the conventions
and rules that properly govern the therapist-client relationship, we shared a
lot of love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-31443540059085956632014-07-04T15:19:00.002-07:002014-07-09T05:17:10.590-07:00The Boston Girl<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"> It’s done. <i>The Boston Girl,</i> my fifth novel
and twelfth book, has been submitted, accepted and copyedited. Publication
date: December 9, 2014.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBXil0-qPzmG235qJFseUFP_uE8OS-8M9B_6SRUdkJJLGClNSOunlxOxbc7Fyfps7FvyFTKpdSCb87jVAQjHub54-NeO-n50_ZxmrhcFerpagCoBiwjXufsrYwbTpOfX01304cUWX2GUvn/s1600/Boston+Girl+cover%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBXil0-qPzmG235qJFseUFP_uE8OS-8M9B_6SRUdkJJLGClNSOunlxOxbc7Fyfps7FvyFTKpdSCb87jVAQjHub54-NeO-n50_ZxmrhcFerpagCoBiwjXufsrYwbTpOfX01304cUWX2GUvn/s1600/Boston+Girl+cover%5B1%5D.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It’s a historical novel told in the first person by
an eighty-five-year-old woman named Addie Baum in response to a question from
her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter who wants to know how she came to be the
woman she was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Addie starts the story in 1915 when she is fifteen
years old and the world begins to open up to her, the daughter of immigrants
who live in Boston’s polyglot North End. The 1910s and '20s were a fascinating
period: short skirts, movies and new opportunities for
women.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I sent the copyedited manuscript to New York on
June 26, which turned into a bit of a drama when the mailroom lost it. This was a big deal because copyediting is done the old fashioned way: pencil on paper. The wonderful Laura
who worked on my book was meticulous and thoughtful and saved my credibility a
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But lo! I had made a copy of the marked up text –
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original in a warehouse somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Sheesh. And then, whew. No harm no foul and it’s
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A week later and I've I cleaned my desk. I filed some files. I have put
new liners down in the kitchen cabinets. I’m having lunch with friends I
neglected in the marathon to finish the book. I’m back to yoga twice a week.
I’m cooking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I have started reading three books, hoping to be
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I don’t really want to start something new but empty hands make me nervous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">People ask if this is like having post-partum blues, and even though there are similarities I always say no. With a book, you push
hard the last few months and then you give it away, wait for someone to tell
you whether or not it’s viable, and you don’t see it again for several weeks.
When you get it back, there are questions and corrections all over it. And then
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arrival (I hope), I no longer remember the names of some of the minor
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i>This is not a plea for help so please, do not make
suggestions </i>for<i> </i>my next novel. It doesn’t work that
way. Actually, I have no idea how it works. It’s a mystery. *<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And I’m trying to be okay with that.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times;">*<i>March 17 blog post, "Finishing the hat." </i></span></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-30717502153146820292014-04-17T09:30:00.001-07:002014-04-21T15:30:42.662-07:00What were they thinking?I just received copies of my novel DAY AFTER NIGHT in Russian.<br />
<br />
I believe this is the first of my books translated into the language of Dostoyevsky.<br />
<br />
I wonder if the designers or editors even glanced at what's inside because this image is so profoundly odd.<br />
<br />
Sure, the sky is ominous but four happy gals striding into the future dressed like they're going on vacation or maybe applying for jobs in the advertising industry?<br />
<br />
The book tells the stories of four young women who have survived the Holocaust in Europe and in 1945 end up in an internment camp in Palestine.<br />
<br />
I wonder what readers will think when they open the book and find a world of pain -- ultimately redeemed, but still...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-63105802021263728132014-04-15T04:53:00.001-07:002014-04-21T15:31:44.893-07:00On the first anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombings<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
In
the long, sad run-up to the 2014 running of the Boston Marathon, I’ve been
thinking about the families of the four people who died. The youngest was a
baby, only eight years old, standing near the finish line with his family. The
oldest was a twenty-nine-year-old woman with an impish smile and a reputation
for kindness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
For
the families and friends of the four who died, this has been a year of
heartbreaking firsts: the first Thanksgiving without her at the table, the
first uncelebrated birthday of all the birthdays he was owed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
The
coming marathon will be a public commemoration of their deaths. In Jewish
tradition this is called a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yahrzeit</i>, a
year’s time, the annual remembrance that includes lighting a twenty-four hour
candle and saying <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kaddish</i>, a prayer that
requires the presence of at least ten other people, because grief is even more
unbearable if you’re standing alone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
first anniversary is the most painful and the first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yahrzeit</i> is the most difficult, not only because the wound is still
so raw and the absence so vivid, but because they signify another ending.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyone who has ever lost a
loved one knows that grief is more than an emotion -- it’s a place, a parallel
universe in which “the valley of the shadow” is not a metaphor but an address. It
is important and necessary to spend time in that shadow, to cry and wail. But it
is unhealthy to stay too long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yarhzeit</i> is kind of an eviction
notice. Time to turn away from the darkness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
This
doesn’t mean “getting over it” or forgetting. The first anniversary might be the
end of one kind of grief, but it is the beginning of the next stage. From then
on, there may be visits to the grave, candles, prayers, memory, charity, and
tears. But death cannot have the last word.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
And
this is where the public has a meaningful and valid part to play.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
We
are here to provide a tangible form of sympathy to the bereaved, like the
quorum of ten who assemble so that Jewish mourners can recite Kaddish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
Those
of us who will line the racecourse on April 21 will be standing with the
bereaved and with the wounded. Cheering for the runners doesn’t mean that we’ve
forgotten the dead or the bereaved, the injured or their loved ones. In fact, we
will be cheering in solidarity with those who mourn, in memory of those died
and in honor of those who are wounded and hurt. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
We
will cheer for the nurses and firefighters who ran toward the explosions and
not away from them because of their commitment to life.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
We
will cheer for the impromptu memorials that cropped up around Boston and all
over the world, monuments of sympathy made of shoes and flowers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
We
will cheer for the generosity of the hundreds of thousands who gave millions of
dollars. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
We
will cheer for the ways that human goodness trumps human evil.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
The
restaurants reopen, the memorials are digitized and the money is given where it
will help. Life is relentless. Thank goodness, or if you prefer, thank God.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<o:p> For audio version: </o:p>http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2014/04/15/yahrzeit-anita-diamant</div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-67010181930641374252014-03-17T04:40:00.002-07:002014-03-19T18:11:33.969-07:00Finishing the Hat<br />
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I’m close to finishing the book. I think so. No, really, I am. Maybe.
It looks good. I don't know. I think I can, I think I can. Somebody shoot me. Or get me some
uppers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I had an anxiety dream a few nights ago. I was onstage in
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filled with my friends from all over the country including Joe Biden and the
senator from Massachusetts, which one remains unspecified.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to sing the last song, an anthem, a
cross between “Staying Alive” by Sondheim and “I Am What I Am” from La Cage aux Folles. Oh, and I am playing a gay man in my pajamas singing about the
lost/dead love of my life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s the anxiety part: I know the song pretty well but not
all the words<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Curtain up and somehow there is a record player (old school)
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hands, and slowly I join the recording, faking/remembering the lyrics. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get through the whole song but I have no
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I can’t recall if there was any applause.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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This is my life as a writer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Whenever I speak in public there are inevitably questions about the “process.” I usually say something about walking the dog and drinking
coffee and now that I’m of a certain age, I may add something about taking a
hit of Advil. I say the process is like watching paint dry. I really don’t know
what to say. It would be too pretentious to say, “It’s a mystery.” (Favorite line
from “Shakespeare in Love,” when all seems lost and the play must go on.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When asked if I “channel” my characters I
say, “Not really. It’s work.” I try to sound cheerful but inside I'm seething. “Channeling? Are you kidding me?"<o:p></o:p></div>
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I think I can.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-25491708911050210202014-01-08T12:43:00.000-08:002014-01-08T12:43:54.195-08:00Boston: My Home Town. Sort of.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">I have
to admit that I felt a little bit like a wedding crasher at the inaugural ceremony
for Mayor Marty Walsh on January 6. You see, I live in Newton, a city that only
shares a border with Boston proper — and apparently, a small portion of Boston
College.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">But I
wanted to be there for the historic changing of the guard, to get a look at the
new mayor for myself, and to celebrate with my city. And even though I don’t
vote or pay taxes there, it is my city, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Even though
I don’t vote or pay taxes there, it is my city, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Whenever
I travel outside the Commonwealth and am asked where I’m from, I say “Boston.”
This is not only because everyone knows where Boston is and Newton, not so
much. And it’s certainly not because I’m ashamed of Newton, which is a
wonderful place and I will rise to its defense against anyone who would sneer
at my leafy green town.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">But for
me, one of Newton’s primary charms is its proximity to Boston, the Hub of this
local universe, the sun that illuminates and nourishes life in its satellite
cities and towns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Boston
— like other cities — is the source of great art, music and arguments; a
destination with a million reasons to visit and live in, including an abundance
of restaurants, hospitals, parks, cobblestones and church spires, architecture
and universities. And in the 38 years I’ve lived in and near Boston, the city
has gotten better in countless ways, from the replacement of the miserable
Central Artery with the unfolding potential of the Rose Kennedy Greenway, to an
Irish mayor who repudiates discrimination based on race, religion or sexual
identity and whose first meeting addressed the murder of young
African-Americans in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Maybe this is the new
definition of “world class city,” Boston Strong and the Red Sox,
notwithstanding,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">The
inauguration of Marty Walsh was pure Boston. There was a little high-flown
rhetoric (John Winthrop’s “city on the hill” got a workout, cited by no fewer
than four speakers) but there was a lot more plain talk about what’s good in
Beantown and even more about what needs fixing — and nearly all of it was
delivered in real Boston accents, which continue to confound even Academy
Award-winning actors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">It was
a civic pageant with a touch of pomp but virtually no pomposity. It was serious
but didn’t take itself seriously. It was real.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Gov.
Deval Patrick was brief, warm and funny. Suffolk County Clerk Michael Donovan
(he made a joke of his own obscurity) was like the uncle whose wedding toast
goes on three minutes too long but is forgiven because the guy has a heart of
gold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Mayor
Walsh’s inauguration was also wicked Irish. It kicked off with the Boston Fire
Gaelic Pipe and Drum Band, Yo-Yo Ma’s set included a traditional Irish melody,
and it closed with “God Bless America,” sung by the Irish tenor Ronan Tynan,
who said, “It’s a good day to be Irish.” Sure, and it was, but there was also
enough racial and ethnic diversity sitting on the platform and acknowledged in
the mayor’s inaugural address that the rest of us didn’t feel we’d stumbled
into a party at the Hibernian Hall.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">Boston
is ascendant but not arrogant, as demonstrated by the election of Mayor Marty
“one-day-at-a-time” Walsh. This is a hard working man with a moving life-story,
but did you ever see a less charismatic politician? Okay, not counting Tom
Menino.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial;">I went
to the inauguration because even though my zip code does not begin “021,”
Boston is my hometown and I felt like cheering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-31971615279780780952013-12-19T13:45:00.000-08:002013-12-19T13:45:01.697-08:00Call me Schnorrer<div class="MsoNormal">
The Yiddish word, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">schnorrer
</i>has more than one meaning. It can be used to describe a habitual moocher, someone
who never picks up the check, or a low-level jerk, a no-goodnik. However, the first
definition in most dictionaries is “beggar.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are all kinds of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">schnorrers</i>:
panhandlers on the street, the kid who knocks on your door collecting for
UNICEF, and me, too.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In December I become a big <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">schnorrer</i> for Mayyim Hayyim -- the mikveh and education I helped found more than ten years ago. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is not easy for me. Asking friends, acquaintances and blog readers for
donations can feel presumptuous – like I’m trying to cash in on our
relationship.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the other hand, when my friends ask me to support good
causes and organizations they care about, I am happy to give what I can. I also
applaud them for asking because I know it’s not easy for them either. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A professional fundraiser once told me that asking for money
gives him joy because he is providing others the opportunity to do something
that will make <u>them</u> feel good. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hope that my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">schnorrring</i>
for Mayyim Hayyim calls up a vision of the kind of Jewish world we all want to
build -- fully inclusive, beautiful, intellectually honest, spiritually alive
and joyful. I hope that giving to Mayyim Hayyim makes people feel good knowing
they are helping to make that vision a reality. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
(If you don't know what Mayyim Hayyim is, explore our website by clicking here: <a href="http://www.mayyimhayyim.org/">http://www.mayyimhayyim.org</a> )</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has been said (a million times) that people only give if
they are asked.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has also been said (as often) that people tend to give
when asked by people they know and care about. So I am asking. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, I’m asking you. Now. Click here to give:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<a href="http://www.mayyimhayyim.org/Getting-Involved/Donating-to-Mayyim-Hayyim">http://www.mayyimhayyim.org/Getting-Involved/Donating-to-Mayyim-Hayyim</a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Donating will make you feel good about sustaining Mayyim Hayyim so we can continue to comfort and celebrate, teach and inspire, flourish and lead in 2014.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thank you for giving me the chance to do the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvah</i> (the sacred deed) of asking. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thank you for doing the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mitzvah</i>
of giving. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wishing you all good things in 2014.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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<br />
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-18728445114728337602013-12-06T16:58:00.000-08:002013-12-06T16:58:20.274-08:00Nelson Mandela<div class="MsoNormal">
He was a big talker, the driver who drove my husband and me
from the airport in Port Elizabeth, South Africa to an inland game reserve.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He told us that he was originally from Zimbabwe but moved to
South Africa many years prior when things got bad for whites under the Mugabe
regime. We exchanged a horrified glance at the prospect of a two-hour-drive
with a rambling racist at the wheel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But on our way out of the city, he pointed to a plot of land
and said the community planned to build the world’s largest statue of Nelson
Mandela right there, and he thought that was a fine idea. He proceeded to tell
us that Nelson Mandela was the reason South Africa was not in shambles. He
spoke with respect and affection for the first black president of his country,
the great fighter and martyr of apartheid. Our driver called him a hero, and
the rest of his commentary was that of a tour-guide, proud of the beauty of his
adopted country and of the progress it was making against great odds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
This was 2007 and we were visiting South Africa as guests of
the Cape Town Jewish community, where I had been invited to lecture. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It seemed that Nelson Mandela was everywhere; in
conversation, on billboards, on postcards, plaques, busts; all sorts of souvenirs
and merchandise bore his likeness. He was also present in conversations I had
with people of all descriptions – and they spoke of him lovingly -- not with
reverence for a distant leader, but with fondness as for a grandfather.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbKeYlZURPm2B_cB5-0qrrQv_Bjq7VU71cidboGLG_gl8KafrIsl_69wb6cTH-7DObDFSresi1tNiV0fdkLcSazPSIoMeWUSM8xIKG_qnDNf_DLRfYR4SNGaOdHxgV52FyNTw-xf3M4kL/s1600/photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbKeYlZURPm2B_cB5-0qrrQv_Bjq7VU71cidboGLG_gl8KafrIsl_69wb6cTH-7DObDFSresi1tNiV0fdkLcSazPSIoMeWUSM8xIKG_qnDNf_DLRfYR4SNGaOdHxgV52FyNTw-xf3M4kL/s200/photo.jpg" width="150" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jim and I made the pilgrimage to the prison on Robben
Island, where he persevered for 27 years and never lost hope. I remember the
quarry, where the glare of the white rock did permanent damage to Mandela’s
eyes. I looked out the window where the city of Cape Town was visible and cruelly
unattainable.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Feb 2, 1990, the date of his release from prison, I was
in my living room in Newton. It was early morning and I sat my five-year-old
daughter down to watch the live feed with me. She remembers me telling her that
this was important and the white haired man was a very good person who had been
locked up unfairly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nelson Mandela’s death is a global event, an opportunity to
honor and reflect on a great soul and -- I hope -- a source of inspiration and
rededication to his commitment to justice and reconciliation. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His death – at home, surrounded by family, of natural causes
-- is a kind of triumph in itself. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Thousands of candles will be lit in honor of Nelson Mandela
who leaves the world a brighter place. But you and I – all of us -- are simply bereft.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-49011254650605090632013-11-28T06:55:00.003-08:002013-11-30T05:16:40.849-08:00The words to say it <div style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
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<span style="color: #bf5300; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 21px;">Thanks</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">by <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0015kpPpL59kO25XjdttNHUMXuyYUVllh5u96G-QycEXJitEOUl0pJqKVo3i4d2V0J4S8vmx5q8dSjN9kfeVzQj4X4feEZ7xMxZt6lhWq_4M-ARm6yW9Uol2Fzmh045U40W4hi__qpu6Wakbuwz77xgh2uh3-RDl1L7Kxln-M3za46C4IxvyXmYJWA2eu6rAOILGBTIUYciMpJxcyomoHaweFhbd_7QI7S13JEpxSJyhLAygi6SocVto8flkGW-wGy96M4M_ayh9hDHkYB10e4GtLqqYFdNB-dwcLjkZbIOnqw=" linktype="1" shape="rect" style="color: black;" target="_blank" track="on">W. S. Merwin</a></span></div>
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Listen </div>
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with the night falling we are saying thank you </div>
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we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings </div>
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we are running out of the glass rooms </div>
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with our mouths full of food to look at the sky </div>
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and say thank you </div>
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we are standing by the water thanking it </div>
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smiling by the windows looking out </div>
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in our directions </div>
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….. </div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<i>This is today's offering from the Poem-a-Day feature of the American Academy of Poets. </i></div>
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<i>Sign up to read the rest of Merwin's poem today.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Some days, the poem makes me shrug. </i></div>
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<i>Some days, it changes my whole day</i></div>
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<i>That's the point</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>Wishing you many reasons to give thanks.</i></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-70437777719964044532013-11-26T06:22:00.002-08:002013-11-26T06:34:17.040-08:00Gobble Tov<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-top: 18px;">
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Every autumn, as sure as the leaves change color, the Jews will be <i>kvetching</i> about the timing of our holidays: too early, with Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, hard on the heels of Labor Day; or too late, so that Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement, when synagogues are packed to the rafters — coincides with the World Series. It’s that damn lunar calendar.</div>
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To figure out your Thanksgiving travel plans, count four Thursdays in November and bingo! But if you want to find out when Hanukkah starts, you have to Google it. And this year, just to make everybody crazy, the first night of Hanukkah falls on erev (the eve of) Thanksgiving. Hence, Thanksgivukkah!</div>
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There have been a few dire screeds against the dangers of such a “syncretistic abomination.” According to <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielGordis/status/391056434269392896" style="color: #008bb9;" target="_blank">this line of thinking</a>, Hanukkah celebrates Jews who resisted assimilation whereas Thanksgiving demonstrates how American Jews are all too eager to go full pilgrim and pigskin.Is this a good thing or a bad thing? The answer is both.</div>
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On the other hand, some Jews are thrilled to have so much daylight, candlelight and twinkling light bulbs between Hanukkah and Christmas, which — if you have kids — always turns into a contest about who has more fun and who gets more presents. (Christmas always wins.)</div>
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On the third hand (Jewish arguments are complicated), some see this as a teachable moment about how distinctiveness and individuality are not antithetical to being part of a larger community. Rabbi Hillel’s most famous lines are getting a workout:</div>
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<i>If I am not for myself, who will be for me?</i></div>
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<i>But if I am only for myself, who am I?</i></div>
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Culturally, what Thanksgivukkah really boils down to is <i>chotchkes</i> (worthless baubles, to be polite), food and jokes.</div>
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<img alt="This image shows an American Gothic Thanksgivukkah Poster celebrating Thanksgiving and Hanukkah. (ModernTribe.com)" class="size-medium wp-image-13084" height="372" src="http://media.wbur.org/wordpress/16/files/2013/11/AP519719703703-288x372.jpg" style="border-style: none;" width="288" /><br />
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This image shows an American Gothic Thanksgivukkah Poster celebrating Thanksgiving and Hanukkah. (ModernTribe.com)</div>
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The <i>tchotchkes</i> include <i>yarmulkes</i> festooned with pilgrim buckles, t-shirts that mash up the Woodstock guitar with a turkey and the lame logo, “<a href="http://www.moderntribe.com/judaica/cool_jewish_t_shirts/thankgivukkah_shirts" style="color: #008bb9;" target="_blank">8 Days of Light, Liberty & Latkes</a>.” Dozens of circulating e-cards feature puns that already seem shopworn.</div>
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Among the worthless baubles, the most memorable is probably the <a href="http://menurkey.com/" style="color: #008bb9;" target="_blank">Menurkey</a>(trademarked) a turkey shaped menorah invented by a 9-year-old boy who <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/830273895/the-menurkey" style="color: #008bb9;" target="_blank">raised more than $48,000 on Kickstarter</a> to get it manufactured. In terms of tacky, the Menurkey is no guiltier than the Moose menorah, the plastic inflatable lawn menorah, and the entire Disney oeuvre, but I suspect this might be the pet rock of ritual items. You really want to hand one of those down as an heirloom to future generations?</div>
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The Thanksgivukkah table is set for indigestion: sweet potato latkes, <i>sufganiot</i> (fried donuts traditional in Israel) filed with pumpkin puree, challah and cranberry dressing with a pastrami brined turkey. Foodie blogs, Mommy blogs and Jewish blogs are stuffed with ideas even more, uh, appetizing.</div>
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Thanksgivukkah humor runs the gamut from Stephen <a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/429620/october-08-2013/thanksgiving-under-attack---hanukkah" style="color: #008bb9;" target="_blank">Colbert trying to draw</a> a “hand” Menurkey by tracing both of his hands with a marker in his mouth (genius) to unfunny, overwritten parody songs [<em>see below</em>].</div>
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However, in this season of Boston exceptionalism (<em>Papi for president!</em>), I direct your attention to another video created by JewishBoston.com, in which people on the street are asked if they know what Thanksgivukkah is, the word is translated into Chinese, and Mayor Tom Menino promises to proclaim Thanksgivukkah an official celebration in the city of Boston.</div>
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Thanksgivukkah is a tempest in a teapot, much ado about latkes. So I say do your big Hanukkah thing on the day after Thanksgiving. The convergence of these holidays is not going to happen for another 79,000 years -- although the number is up for debate. (You're surprised?) So what the hell? Why not do it up?</div>
<span style="background-color: white;">I</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">n the words of Rabbi Hillel, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">If not now, when? #passthegravy</i><br />
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As seen on: <u><a href="http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/">cognoscenti.wbur.org</a></u></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-79840032702400712842013-11-02T09:17:00.001-07:002013-11-02T09:17:20.791-07:00October 17th I was roasted. So I said … <span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></b></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></b></span>
<i><span style="line-height: 200%;">On October 17, I was "Roasted and Toasted" by Mayyim Hayyim at joyful, silly fundraiser held at a nightclub called </span><u style="line-height: 200%;">Guilt. </u><span style="line-height: 200%;">(A roomful of Jewish mothers at Guilt? Can't make that up.) It was one of the best nights of my life and there is no way I'll ever thank </span><span style="line-height: 32px;">everyone</span><span style="line-height: 200%;"> who worked </span><span style="line-height: 32px;">and donated on behalf of Boston's community mikveh, which has made one of Judaism's most ancient rituals into an expression of contemporary Jewish life, which is alive and singing a new song. (Check it out at </span><a href="http://www.mayyimhayyim.org/">www.mayyimhayyim.org</a>)</i><br />
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A funny thing
happened on my way to the mikveh; I became a president and the chair of a board
of directors. For years, I had begged off serving on committees and especially
boards. I told people “I lack the meeting gene.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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It wasn’t easy for
me at the beginning. For a person used to working alone,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“the process” drove me nuts until I learned
to respect it. Twelve years later, I love the push-pull of collaboration and I
know that if we’re arguing for “the sake of heaven” as it says in the Talmud,
meetings can even feel like sacred work. Sometimes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I wanted to make a
list of the top ten things I love about Mayyim Hayyim, but Emilia to told me to
keep it short. (Okay, I asked her to do that, but I didn’t think she’d be so
strict with me.) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve only got three minutes.
But after working with Aliza Kline for 10 years, I can talk fast, too.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I love the Torah of
Mayyim Hayyim. In the Book of Guests on the front desk, there are many gems,
but I’m especially partial to the ones written by bar/bat mitzvah kids. There
are some phrases that recur over and over; “I felt connected to God.” “I felt
connected to my mother, to my family.” “I’m proud to be Jewish.” I’m ready.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I’m ready.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Mayyim Hayyim gives 13-year-olds a private moment
of self-reflection – away from nudgy parents, demanding tutors, and even worry
about pimples. The mikveh gives them quiet time to think, “Hey, this is a big
deal in my life as a Jewish person.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
moment wasn’t possible before we opened our doors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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The Torah of
Mayyim Hayyim also includes our kick-ass blog, which is called “The Mikveh Lady
has Left the Building” iand s a chorus of voices from every corner of the
Jewish world, its diversity a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>testament
to the radical hospitality of Mayyim Hayyim, where we let people know, whoever
they are, we’re glad to see them and we will do whatever we can to say yes.</div>
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<span style="color: #262626; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">In our blog, there's an entry from “the atheist in
the mikveh:"</span><i style="color: #262626; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">“I have existed quite
happily as a non-believer so no one could be more surprised than me to report that
I decided to immerse two months after my mother’s death and one day before my
birthday. At first, I obsessed a bit; did I really belong at that place?
Wasn’t it a bit disingenuous? In ways I find hard to describe, something very
powerful happened. Something resonated within me. We were able to create a
ritual in which I could honor my grief and come out the other side.” </i></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">An entry from last summer: “<i>I
stand in front of the mikveh with my rabbi’s arm around me. He has brought me
here in my final moments as a non-Jew to give me a bracha, a blessing
with which to begin my new Jewish life. My rabbi wishes me a life filled with
the beauty and love of Torah, of Judaism and my fellow Jews. … Without
realizing it, I begin to cry. I’ve wanted to be Jewish since I was twelve years
old, but a part of me never believed it would actually happen. And yet,
here I am. The magnitude of this moment seems too great to put into
words." </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;">Last</span><span style="color: #262626; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> week, we welcomed
the 2,000</span><sup style="color: #262626; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">th</sup><span style="color: #262626; line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> person to convert to Judaism at Mayyim Hayyim.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">You
know the Pew survey about American Jewish life that everyone is wringing their
hands about? </span><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Don’t worry. I realize
telling a bunch of Jewish women to stop worrying is like telling your dog to
stop barking at the mailman. But honestly, I can assure you that we are not
disappearing.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Just
come to Mayyim Hayyim when it’s mobbed with 25 fifth graders learning and
laughing with Lisa Berman, while there’s a conversion going on with three
rabbis, a family of four plus various relatives, and at least one mikveh guide warming
up to sing </span><i style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Siman Tov u Mazal tov</i><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">. Upstairs,
there’s a meeting of the ritual committee writing a new ceremony, Executive
Director Carrie Bornstein is on the phone talking to someone from San Diego or Baltimore
who wants to learn how to do what Mayyim Hayyim does. Sherry Goldman is paying
the bills and keeping our house in order. Jody Comins is working on the next
art show and on our tenth anniversary celebration this spring. Leah Hart Tannen
is lining up mikveh guides for a woman coming for her monthly immersion and for
a man marking his 75</span><sup style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">th</sup><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> birthday. My favorite time to be at Mayyim
Hayyim is when it’s a zoo, bursting at the seams, full of life.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">But it’s also
wonderful to be there when it’s so quiet you feel physically embraced by a kind
of peace. Involuntarily, the mind clears and the body relaxes. It’s very quiet
but it’s never entirely silent. And I’m not just talking about the dishwasher
and the telephone.</span><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">There’s a vibe: an
echo of a joyful song and of the splash of a tear. It’s the vibe created by all
of the ladies here tonight and many more women and righteous men who believed in
and built Mayyim Hayyim. With your support – and theirs -- we will continue to
set a high bar for inclusivity and creativity and really great celebrations</span><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">like this one.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">On our way to the mikveh
the motto was, “If you build it they will come. “We built it and they not only
came, they taught us </span><u style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">why</u><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> and taught us what else we needed to do. That
still happens and that’s why Mayyim Hayyim won’t get stuck in the mud, why
we’ll stay flexible and fluid, able to respond and create what’s needed next.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">I’m out of time
and couldn’t begin to thank everyone I should, even if Emilia wasn’t getting
the hook ready. But as I look around this room, face by face, please know that even
if takes me a minute to retrieve your name, I remember our conversation, a
shared smile, your generosity, and your hug.</span><span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">The best thing
about being president of Mayyim Hayyim has been your hugs.</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Whew. I am
thoroughly toasted and roasted. Stick a fork in me; I’m done. To close in the
Mayyim Hayyim tradition of hitting every possible reference to things liquid … <b><i>My
cup runneth over. </i></b></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-29256597231923159752013-08-25T14:11:00.001-07:002013-08-25T14:11:14.684-07:00Children and Art<br />
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Turning my kid into a theater nerd was not planned but
probably inevitable.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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I remember <u>Showboat</u>, too, and the out–of-town
gentleman who took such pleasure in Emilia’s delight. She walked out of the
theater gob-smacked and hooked. <o:p></o:p></div>
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My first non-work-related overnight away from my
one-and-only child occurred in 1993 when Jim and I went to see <u>Angels in
America/Millennium Approaches</u>. After reading the reviews, I knew I had to
see it with the original Broadway cast, set and staging. It lived up to the
hype and it was a life-changing experience. That’s what live theater can do, Emilia
learned. That’s why we go to the theater.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jim and I took her to see a lot of terrific productions on
and around Broadway: <u>As</u> <u>You Like It</u>. <u>Kiss Me Kate</u>. <u>Bring
in da Noise, Bring in da Funk</u> and <u>Gypsy</u> starring Bernadette (we love
you) Peters. Grown up fare. Sometimes, too grown up.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u>The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told</u> had great reviews
and it sounded like a hoot, so I got us tickets, good seats, stage left. The
curtain rises in The Garden of Eden, revealing Adam and Steve, buck naked. The three of us sat, eyes straight ahead, frozen.
Most embarrassing parenting moment ever. The rest of the show was clothed and
we didn’t mention the, uh, incident until we were in the car. Emilia reassured
us that she would not be scarred for life. She had known about the existence of
penises going in, even seen baby boys in the altogether. Or maybe I’m making
that up and she said the evening would be something to discuss with a therapist
when she grew up.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I didn’t mean for this to happen, but nudity turned into a
theater-going theme for us. A few years later, we saw <u>Wit</u>, another
well-reviewed show that ends (unbeknown to me) with the heroine facing into the
bright light of her own death, fully, frontally nude. We were all surprised but
it was a beautiful kind of shock and we talked about what it meant on the way
out. <u>Take me Out </u>features scenes
of a locker room full of naked, gorgeous men – she was in high school and I’d
already seen it so she/we were braced. When we she was a freshman at NYU (no
surprise there) we took her to <u>Avenue Q</u>, unprepared for the graphic puppet
sex, by far the raunchiest, I-wish-I-wasn’t-next-to-my-parents moment of all. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Taking Emilia to plays and musicals was not a sex education strategy.
If there was a lesson in taking her to the theater it was that anything can
happen: actors forget lines, lights go out, audience members misbehave, minds
are blown, hearts are opened, clothing might be shed. You never know. You open
the program and you could be transported, you could be bored. We’re all in the dark when the curtain rises,
parents and children, going on the ride, in the same boat. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In <i>Sunday in the Park
with George</i>, Stephen Sondheim wrote a song in which an old woman names the
two most important things in her life. The song is called “Children and Art.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>This post appears in Mother-Daughter Mashup, the blog I write, ping-pong style, with my 27 year old daughter, Emilia. motherdaughermashup@wordpress.com</i></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-47272892500859707052013-07-18T12:53:00.001-07:002013-07-18T12:53:34.357-07:00Love that not-so-dirty Water<br />
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When I told people I was going swimming in the Charles, the response was either “Ewww,” or, “Can I come too?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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When an email from Charles River Conservancy offered me the chance to take part in the first community swim in 50 years, I didn’t hesitate.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have been crazy in love with the Charles since I moved to Boston in 1975. I walk its banks almost daily, grateful for birdsong and shade in summer, silence and open sky in winter. When I’m driving and catch a glimpse of the water -- blue or grey depending on the sky -- I say, “Look at that! Isn’t it beautiful?” -- whether or not anyone else is in the car.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve traveled the river on a tour boat, a powerboat, a duck boat, a sailboat, and a canoe. If you’ve never seen the city from the middle of the Charles, you should. The perspective and maybe the buoyancy let you see even the most familiar landmarks with new eyes. The bridges you’ve crossed a thousand thoughtless times may become favorite works of public art.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I had also been underwater in the Charles. Many years ago, the sailboat I was in capsized. The rescue (thanks to Community Boating) was quick, but the mast got stuck in the mud, which is where the century-old toxins and smelly sludge still lodge, so I got a nose full of what ails our river. I took an epic hot shower when I got home, but even back then, no tetanus shot was required.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Today, the Charles is one of the cleanest rivers in the United States and most days meets the standards for safe swimming. So it was with little trepidation that I arrived at the River Dock on the Esplanade, not far from the Hatch Shell, on July 13.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This was not a distance event -- no swimming from Boston to Cambridge, which is what I had imagined. This was a carefully monitored and symbolic event, with 150 participants -- ages 12 and way up -- paddling around in groups of 30. We were limited to a roped-off area the size of a large swimming pool, with lifeguards paddling in kayaks nearby. There was barely enough room for the few intrepid lap swimmers to cross without bumping into the rest of us, who were treading water, grinning and chatting about how cool it was to be there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Before I went in and saw that most folks were happily bareheaded, I left my cap and goggles on shore and jumped in, feet first. The water was cool and silky. The yellow-brown color is what inspired the Standell’s song, “Love that Dirty Water,” but it’s just a natural organic stain, common in slow moving rivers and lakes. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I did the breaststroke for a while, but mostly I floated on my back, like an otter, noticing the top of the Citgo sign peeking from behind trees in full leaf, the squat MIT dome on the far shore, the skylines of two cities, and the parade of joggers and walkers staring at the maniacs in the water.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I chatted with strangers, several of whom remembered swimming in the Charles as children -- from Magazine Beach in Cambridge, along the Esplanade and downstream from the Longfellow Bridge. “I never thought I’d be able to do this,” one woman said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was a little slice of Boston heaven. Plans for next year are already afloat. I can’t wait.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For more about the swim and the reclamation of the river see <u>www.thecharles.org</u><br />
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-64050056288592622962013-06-11T06:30:00.000-07:002013-06-11T06:30:49.808-07:00Jon Stewart, Come Back<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Woe is me. Jon Stewart is on sabbatical for the summer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I ought to be used to his absence. The Daily Show disappears for a full week every time the rest of us have a three-day-weekend: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day ... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The hardest working man in show business Jon is not. Even when he’s there, it’s a mere four-day work week and, as much as I adore him, the last third of every show is usually pretty weak: His guest interviews range from so-so to hand-me-the-remote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But so what.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ten good minutes of Jon Stewart is really all I need. It’s a concentrated dose of truth-telling that cuts through the spinjaggers and blabispherists who dominate the airwaves for the rest of the day/week. He provides a probiotic for the nervous system that helps people like me sleep at night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">What am I supposed to do for the next three months on days when the “real” news is so distressing/outrageous/stupid that I find it impossible to face the newspaper; when I lunge for the “off” button so I won’t have to hear John Boehner or Eric Holder on All Things Considered? (Will they let me say that on the WBUR blog? Gotta love the First Amendment.) When I learned that a good many of my fellow Americans get their news from The Daily Show, I felt reassured about the future of our republic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Jon Stewart is the chief rabbi of the United States, and I watch him religiously. This has nothing to do with the man’s observance or belief. He is just flagrantly Jewish, dropping references to his own J<u>ewy-ness</u> and running stories about minor Jewish holidays (Purim) that really should have subtitles. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sometimes I think he’s showing off Jewish cool; Sometimes I think he’s daring the anti-Semites of the world to reveal themselves as assholes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">But no one delivers a righteous, well-argued sermon like Stewart, who excels at telling truth to power. He blasts through the conventional “wisdom” that there are two sides to every news story. So when the NRA says it is tyranny for people to fill out a form before they buy a semi-automatic weapon and gigantic ammunition clips, Jon says, “Stop pretending that background checks are the last barrier standing between a free America and Obama-sponsored government mom rape.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Jon Stewart got me through the presidency of George W. Bush, many election cycles, Michelle Bachman and the rise of the Tea Party (sounds like a band), and now he’s leaving me just as the Obama administration’s credibility seems to be circling the drain. Jon, don’t you get it? I need to laugh about that, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Stewart announced details of his summer plans on June 6, his last show until September 3. He will </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">be directing a movie based on the experiences of Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari, who was interviewed on a 2009 Daily Show segment and arrested one week after the piece aired.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It sounds interesting and worthwhile and a great challenge and all that -- but the professional stakes for Stewart are massive. If the movie turns out to be a dud or even just a modest success, the long knives will be out. I will be rooting for him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Of course, he leaves us in the capable hands of a strong writing team and the smart, dimpled John Oliver. I will continue to depend upon Stephen Colbert, the most important Catholic on television, as he likes to remind us, a Merry Andrew who exposes social and governmental follies with wide-eyed, indignation-free wit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Even so, I can’t help but worry that Jon’s excellent summer adventure is a harbinger. A few weeks ago, my primary care doctor informed her patients that she is leaving the practice of internal medicine after 31 years to do research on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, devote more time to a local nonprofit organization that helps women get out of poverty, and spend time with family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Jon Stewart has been behind the Daily Show desk for 14 years and since turning 50, he’s been kvetching about his advanced age. John Oliver is 36 and I suspect we’re being primed for succession.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Oh, well. At least we’ll always have YouTube.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Anita Diamant<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-48944065016784639212013-06-02T11:18:00.002-07:002013-10-01T09:27:17.818-07:00TEACH EVERYONE<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><i>Today, I was given two great honors by Hebrew College in Newton, MA: awarded an honorary doctorate and asked to address the graduating class of educators, cantors and rabbis. Here's what I said:</i></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Hebrew College Commencement Address<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">June 2, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">According to that
famous Chinese proverb, “it is a curse to live in interesting times.” So we’re
good, because “interesting” doesn’t begin to describe what we’re living in. These
are extraordinary times for lots of reasons, but chief among them is the dizzying
rate of change that is taking us, well, we have no idea where. And we all know
it isn’t likely to slow down. This can be disorienting. But a curse? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">No. There has
never been a better time to be Jewish. Not for me and not for my daughter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Not everyone
agrees that these are the good times. There are Jews who see nothing but
threats on the horizon. They advise us to circle the wagons and they presume that
survival depends upon our elites, like Rabbi Shammai, who said, “One should
teach only one who is wise and humble of good family and rich.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">If I quote
Shammai you know what’s coming next: Rabbi
Hillel said, “Teach everyone.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Hillel rejected
litmus tests for wealth, family name, and wisdom, even humility. In other
words, even the dull and arrogant had a place in his classroom. “Teach everyone,” Hillel said, “because there
were many sinners in Israel who were brought near to God by studying Torah and
from whom descended righteous, pious and honorable people.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Rabbi Joseph
Telushkin, in his wonderful short biography of <u>Hillel: If Not Now, When</u>,
says that not only was Hillel arguably Judaism’s greatest rabbinic sage, he was
also its <i>most fearlessly inclusive</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Telushkin writes,
“What shines through the teachings of Hillel and his disciples is a fundamental
optimism about human nature and the capacity of Torah to affect people
positively<i>.</i>... If Torah has something
to teach the world, its message shouldn’t be restricted.”<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Rabbi Hillel also
said, “The highly impatient person cannot teach.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%;">He
believed that, as important as it is for teachers to know their material, it is
even more important to love what they teach and to love their students.
Teachers should embody the Golden Rule. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">What is hateful to you, do not do to your
student: no showboating for the sake of demonstrating how learned you are. Show
respect by teaching to the level of your students. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Hillel said,
“Teach everyone.” I would add, “Teach for the beginner. Also, teach with a
beginner’s mind.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">This does not
mean dumbing down; it means staying in touch with the amazement and awe of
learning Torah for the first time. It means thinking outside the <i>bimah</i>, moving outside the comfort zone
of the <i>yeshiva</i>. It
means remembering that someone in your classroom doesn’t know the meaning of
the words “<i>bimah</i>” or “<i>yeshiva</i>.’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">When you don’t
translate <i>bimah</i>, which means pulpit, you
close a door just a little bit. When you don’t explain that <i>yeshiva</i> refers to a place of serious
Jewish learning, you add a few more grains of sand to a stumbling block you
can’t see. This is understandable; after years of hard work to earn your
degree, you may well have forgotten what it’s like to be a beginner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Translate
everything. This is not just for the benefit of new Jews or non-Jewish spouses
and in-laws, friends and guests. This is for the benefit of Jews you think
understand. It’s taken me 35 years as an adult Jewish learner to ask for translations
without being ashamed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Everyone is a
beginner in some area of Torah, a word with onion-like layers of meaning. The
dictionary definition of <i>torah</i> is:
instruction or teaching. The Torah is the first five books of the Hebrew bible,
but Torah also refers to all sacred and religious literature: the whole bible,
Talmud and all of the commentaries, the writings of the mystics, Jewish
philosophy, and liturgy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">And Torah is even
more expansive than that, encompassing all Jewish thought. Including Purim Torah, which includes equal
parts terrible jokes, pun-filled plays, song parodies and silly sermons. We can
speak with urgency about a Torah of the planet. Physics has given us a Torah of
unified field theory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">A Torah of social
justice includes the biblical prophets and the history of Jewish involvement in
the American labor and civil rights movements. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">There is the
Torah of Kushner, not just Rabbi Harold and Rabbi Lawrence, my teacher. But also
Tony Kushner, the playwright, who put the entire Kaddish prayer, which is recited
in memory of the dead, in Aramaic, smack in the middle of <u>Angels in America</u>,
a Pulitzer Prize winning classic of the contemporary American stage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">There is the
Torah of Jon Stewart, who I consider the chief rabbi of the United States. Or,
if you prefer, our leading prophet, speaking truth to power with a punch line. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Too far out? Too fringy?
Hey, if you don’t have fringes on the corners of your <i>tallis</i>, your prayer shawl, you’re wearing a tablecloth. It’s all
about the fringe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Our Torah is
oceanic, with room for Hillel and Shammai, physics and physical comedy. We are
all beginners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">So, dear
graduates, teach Torah to everyone. Teach to beginners and cultivate a
beginners mind as you teach the Torah of <i>menschlichkeit</i>,
of being a good person; the Torah of <i>b’ztelem
elohim</i>, of the radical equality of all human beings fashioned in the image of
the divine; the Torah of <i>tikkun olam</i>,
of responsibility and politics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">I share Hillel’s fundamental
optimism about human nature and about the vitality of our vast and elastic tradition
that can infuse daily life with meaning, beauty and holiness when we sit in the
classroom and when we meet at Starbucks; when we stand up for what we believe
in and when we bend low to comfort the fallen; when we walk down Boylston Street,
and when we’re watching television; when we study together and, I pray, whenever
you teach your Torah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Mazal tov.
Congratulations. Now, go change the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-55947084577465324432013-05-10T13:43:00.003-07:002013-05-10T13:43:43.503-07:00FEMINISM AND JUDAISM, OH MY<br />
So last year, I was invited to be on a panel at an event celebrating the 35th anniversary of MOMENT MAGAZINE. It was a real honor to be on the dais with such luminaries as Bob Mankoff, Kenneth Feinberg, Robert Seigel, Judea Pearl and Stephen Trachtenberg.<br />
<br />
The moderator was Moment's terrific editor Nadine Epstein. And yeah, I was the only girl on the panel.<br />
<br />
Geez.<br />
<br />
<br />
For some reason, Moment posted this video clip the other day. I regret those eyeglasses.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1711055616"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHD-cilSE9Q">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHD-cilSE9Q</a><br />
<br />
(There's another one up there about why Jon Stewart is the chief rabbi of the US)<br />
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-84392249900057767162013-04-20T14:26:00.000-07:002013-04-20T14:29:15.226-07:00A SONG OF HOPE IN THE AFTERMATH<br />
A few years ago, I had the great joy of writing lyrics to and for the beautiful melodies of my friend, the jazz composer and pianist Bert Seager.<br />
<br />
This one seems heart-breakingly appropriate in the current moment.<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">ANTHEM</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Last
night I heard the music<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Songs
from a broken heart<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Out
of a ravaged city<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Where
the reasons fell apart<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Melodies
sung by mourners <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">How
does the soul survive<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">How
can we bear not knowing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Will
the promise stay alive?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">But
if someone’s writing music<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">In
the darkness, in the ruins<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There
a hope of turning anger<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Into
solace, in a tune <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">On
a piano, with a banjo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Or
a lone voice in a room<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Morning’s
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Into
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Someone’s
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Morning’s
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<!--EndFragment--></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To hear ANTHEM sung by Rebecca Shrimpton </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
to go:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<u>http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bertseager3</u></div>
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-52225537149037560842013-04-19T15:24:00.000-07:002013-04-19T15:29:22.871-07:00Emilia's Take on Boston's Pain<br />
My daughter and I trade posts in our <b>Mother Daughter Mashup</b> blog.<br />
<br />
She gave her feelings voice in a poem. I think it's beautiful. But then, I'm her mother<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<u>motherdaughtermashup.wordpress.com </u></div>
<br />
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-77107111056971925282013-04-19T07:12:00.000-07:002013-04-19T07:14:57.879-07:00POP UP MEMORIALS IN BOSTON<!--[if !mso]>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">I’ve been walking into walls the past few days, trying to make
myself believe that Boston was a target of terrorism — is a target of
terrorism. I had to watch that video 20 times for it to sink in: The plume of
white smoke, the screams, the second explosion, the heroic rush to rescue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">Two days later, Commonwealth Avenue in Newton was swept clean of
paper cups and orange peels. The trees are budding. The beauty of this spring
feels like an affront to the dead, the wounded, the mourners, and all the rest
of us who find ourselves walking into walls as we put one foot in front of the
other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">On Wednesday night, I took my “little” girl to the Big Apple
Circus. Emilia is 27-years-old and has two inches on me but this was our family
tradition throughout her childhood and it was planned as a celebration of her
move back to Boston after five years in the diaspora. I bought the tickets in
February.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">On her way downtown on the T, she was reminded at every stop to
be vigilant. Passing Massachusetts General Hospital, my husband and I thought
about lost limbs and broken hearts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">We were reassured by the K-9 patrol and state troopers posted
outside the big top. We were happy to be part of a big crowd of families and
children, gasping and giggling at the performance, terror-free for a couple of
hours. After the show, we passed a local camera crew interviewing a dad who
said something about how we can’t stop living and that’s what we were doing at
the circus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">Not that we’re going to forget. There will be vigils and prayer
services and moments of silence; plaques and bronze statues <i>in memorium</i>;
charities and foundations funded to help and heal. All good. But it’s all still
raw.</span><span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">Before the circus, we took a walk around Boston Common. I wanted
to see the gazebo and one of the temporary, do-it-yourself, shrines that now
dot our city. Made of candle wax, roses, notes and posters, they serve as
temporary memorials to the dead. And though God’s name is invoked, along with
quotes from sermons and scripture, these offerings are more civic than
religious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">Pop-up memorials owe their meaning and their random beauty to
the efforts of a community of neighbors — and strangers. They express the
emotional connection and commitment that comes with being a citizen — of
Boston, the USA, the human race. They affirm the consolation of solidarity. All
are welcome.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">We are much too familiar with these heart-breaking shrines.
Oklahoma City, 9/11, Tucson, Sandy Hook; I hate seeing Boston added to the
list. I hate the list.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #262626; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15.0pt;">But it can’t end with hate. I add a few words to the local
colloquy about who we are, I sign up to give blood, and I promise not to
surrender to the lie that we are helpless to stop this madness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment--><br />
This post also appears on WBUR's Cognoscenti<br />
<br />
<u>http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2013/04/19/new-landmarks-of-consolation-and-solidarity</u><br />
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Anita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3026888608309682396.post-79187279187279874002013-03-28T11:11:00.000-07:002013-03-28T11:11:30.347-07:00Mother Daughter Passover<br />
Passing the Torch<br />
New blog post on Mother-Daughter Mashup<br />
<br />
https://motherdaughtermashup.wordpress.comAnita Diamanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16383033423955397853noreply@blogger.com0