My daughter, the animal lover, has a father who isn\’t. A hamster is the biggest pet I\’ve gotten talked into so far. It lives in her room, and basically I wouldn\’t even know it was there except for one thing — it\’s nocturnal.
As the years have gone by, I realize I\’d just as soon be alone than continue to go through cycles of head-spinning effort with someone in exchange for a couple of moments of grace. So I don\’t do that anymore. And though this kind of spiritual honesty has created an ease in my nervous system (and a welcome death to that horrible intimate uncertainty of giving myself where it\’s not appreciated), I have to stop and wonder, have I become overworked and underplayed?
The benefits of the seven-year cycle are immeasurable. First, the land recovers the trace minerals it needs without using ammonium-nitrate-based fertilizers, which endangers the aquatic ecosystems. Second, the social structure is corrected every seven years; the differences between the classes are eroded and a sense of unity and togetherness takes over. Lastly, the seventh year provides an opportunity to stop the insane race for provisions, power and glory. It allows people to reconnect to the precious gifts of their family and their inner self.
For more than 30 years, the settlers\’ dream has choked the dream of free Israelis. The dream of the whole land of Israel and a messianic kingship drains daily the hope of being a people free to build a just society.
Generally taught once a year, with 10 to 20 girls enrolled per class, the program affords mothers and daughters special time together. It also introduces the girls to peers from other schools, allowing them to view bat mitzvah as a more universal experience.
Joyce Rabinowitz, 76, is a volunteer Braille transcriber. She takes the printed word and, using a special computer program called Braille 2000, transforms it letter by letter into a prescribed set of dots that she saves to disk and gives to the Braille Institute. Each disk, with the help of an embossing machine, is used to produce a book written in raised dot text that a blind person can read with his or her fingers.
OK, I\’ll be absolutely honest — I spent this past New Year\’s Eve alone. Sure, I could have salvaged the situation with a round of frantic last-minute calling, but I never got around to it because I had to go and get into a fight. Fortunately, I was the only one who got hurt. You see, I picked a fight with myself. And on New Year\’s Eve day, no less. Almost out of nowhere and with virtually no warning, I started in on myself.
It\’s that time again. With Pesach here, it\’s time for my annual wrestling match with my nemesis, the dreaded sponge cake.
It\’s a lot more than Kenn Phillips could have bargained for when he accepted this gig as principal. Lucky for him, he doesn\’t have to come back tomorrow.
That\’s because Phillips isn\’t the real principal, but merely principal for a day. Phillips is among more than 200 professionals who arranged to shadow principals as part of a Los Angeles Unified School District effort to create alliances between businesses and schools.
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