fauxklore

Here’s an attempt at getting all caught up before doing too many things again.

Celebrity Death Watch: Steve Lawrence was a pop singer and actor, best known for his collaboration with his wife, Eydie Gorme (who died in 2013). David E. Harris was the first African-American to be a commercial pilot (for American Airlines). Barbara Hilyer wrote about feminism and disability. Eric Carmen was the lead vocalist of The Raspberries. Bernard Schwartz was the CEO of Loral Space & Communications for 34 years and the largest donor to the Democratic Party from 1992 to 1996. Jim McAndrew pitched for the New York Mets from 1968 through 1973. Angela McCluskey was a Scottish singer, who performed both as a soloist and as part of The Wild Colonials. Air Force General Howell Estes III served as the commander of NORAD and the U.S. Space Command from 1996 to 1998. James D. Robinson III was the CEO of American Express for 16 years. Thomas P. Stafford was a Gemini and Apollo astronaut and one of the 24 astronauts who flew to the moon. Vernor Vinge was a science fiction author. Barry Silver was a lawyer, politician, rabbi, and abortion rights activist. Mike Thaler wrote and illustrated roughly 200 children’s books and was best known for his 37 books of riddles. George Abbey directed NASA’s Johnson Space Center from 1996 - 2001. Gerry Conway was a drummer for a number of bands, as well as a member of Pentangle and of Fairport Convention. Lou Gusset Jr. was an actor, probably best known for his role in An Officer and a Gentleman. Barbara Rush was an actress, best known for It Came From Outer Space and the television series Peyton Place.

Christopher Durang was a playwright, best known for Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. John Barth wrote post-modern fiction, notably Giles Goat-Boy. Lynn Reid Banks wrote the children’s book The Indian in the Cupboard. Lori and George Schappell were the first set of conjoined twins to identify as different genders. Clarence “Frogman” Henry was an R&B singer. Ken Holtzman pitched for the Chicago Cubs, including pitching two no-hitters. Ben Eldridge was a banjo player and a founding member of The Seldom Scene. Bob Graham was a U.S. Senator from Florida from 1987-2005 and had been the governor of Florida prior to that. Carl Erskine played for the Dodgers in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles and was the last surviving member of the “Boys of Summer” of the 1950’s. Dickey Betts was a guitarist and a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. Roman Gabriel played football for the L.A. Rams. Terry Anderson was a journalist, who was best known for being held hostage by Hezbollah for 6 years. Mike Pinder was a founding member and original keyboardist of The Moody Blues. Paul Auster was a prolific writer, who had over a dozen novels published and edited NPR’s National Story Project.

Laurent de Brunhoff wrote approximately 50 books in the Babar the elephant series, which had been created by his father, Jean de Brunhoff. He also wrote children’s books about other characters of his own creation.

Peter Angelos was the majority owner of the Baltimore Orioles from 1993 until his death in March. He strongly opposed the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington, D.C., which I’ve never forgiven him for.

Richard Serra was an artist, known primarily for large-scale abstract sculptures.

Daniel Kahneman was a psychologist and behavioral economist and won a Nobel prize for his work in the latter field. His book, Thinking Fast and Slow was an influential best seller.

Joe Lieberman was a U.S. senator from Connecticut and Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 Presidential election. His biggest political mistake, in my opinion, was his opposition to including a public option in the Affordable Care Act. I will note, however, that the influence of the insurance industry in Connecticut was probably the primary driver for that.

Larry Lucchino was a baseball executive for the Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres, and (most importantly, of course) the Boston Red Sox. He led the Orioles to one World Series championship and the Red Sox to three. He also played a major role in the construction of both Camden Yards and Petco Park, as well as initiating the renovation of Fenway Park.

Jerry Grote was a catcher for the Mets from 1966 - 1977. Notably, that includes 1969.

Peter Higgs was a physicist and got a boson named after himself. He also got a Nobel prize.

O. J. Simpson was a football player and got away with murder. But you didn’t need me to tell you that. Interestingly, Frank Olson, who cast O.J. in several Hertz commercials, died just a few days after he did.

Trina Robbins was a comic book artist and wrote extensively about women in comics.

Robert MacNeil was a journalist and television news anchor. He was best known for his public television collaboration with Jim Lehrer.

Faith Ringgold was one of my favorite artists and I feel privileged to have been able to see a couple of retrospectives of her work. I particularly liked her story quilts, such as The French Collection. She was on my ghoul pool list and earned me 13 points.

Whitey Herzog managed the Saint Louis Cardinals throughout the 1980’s.

Alex Hasilev was one of the founding members of The Limeliters. Their records were on frequent rotation in our house when I was growing up.

Non-celebrity Death Watch: Dick Plotz, whose NPL nom was Geneal, died in early March. In addition to being a puzzle constructor and having organized the NPL con in Providence, he was very involved in Jewish genealogy and offered me some helpful tips when I started my own research.

I knew Ed Gordon from Loserdom. He was part of the group that I play Code Names with frequently. And he attended Loserfests in both Niagara Falls and Philadelphia. He was also a Scrabble player and active in Mensa. I’m glad he was able to take a 20 day cruise and see the eclipse shortly before his death.

Nancy Schuster was a crossword constructor, editor, and tester. She competed in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament from its very beginning and, in fact, won the first ACPT. She also served as a mentor to a number of other puzzle people.

Leading Jewish Minds at MIT: Barry Posen gave a talk about Israel’s Response to October 7th. He attempted to summarize the range of choices in how to respond. Unfortunately, he essentially summarized the possible responses as bargaining vs. annihilation, which is a misleading choice of terms in my opinion. Most of the history between Israel and Hamas (between 2008 and 2021) was based on bargaining after some precipitating event. The result was something of an equilibrium, largely because nobody saw any acceptable alternative. The problem is that there is less and less reason to trust Hamas. A counter-terrorism strategy, which essentially means killing Hamas leadership, is complicated by the urban nature of Gaza. The other aspect is what political outcome is desirable. That essentially leads to a goal of destroying Hamas as a military entity, which is what he said he meant by annihilation but most people would not characterize it that way. Overall, I was left primarily with despair.

Book Clubs: I missed the Travelers’ Century Club book club meeting this month, since I was at the VASA Gathering. But I made it to both other book clubs. Crones & Tomes discussed Where the Crawdads Sing, which I thought was an enjoyable enough read, though I wasn’t convinced by the last third or so of it. (I had seen the movie previously, by the way, and thought it was pretty true to the book.)

READ had a discussion of Sounds Like Titanic, which I thought was brilliant. This is a memoir about working for an ensemble that is essentially faking their performances while a CD plays in the background. I think it does help to have some background in music. And a little knowledge of geography wouldn’t hurt. (One person thought that her family moving to Virginia meant that they left Appalachia!) I’m a little more sympathetic to the person who thought the author was whiny, but not to the person who didn’t understand why she took the job, apparently having failed to grasp that she needed money to pay for college. Anyway, it was definitely compatible with my sense of humor. How could I not love her description of her job as “Milli Violini”?

VASA Gathering: As I mentioned above, I went down to Richmond for the Virginia Storytelling Association Gathering. Thanks to Jessica for driving and Jennifer for coming along. We stopped in Careytown for dinner at a Thai restaurant and then headed to the hotel for the gathering. The Best Western was in a heavily industrial area, across from the Philip Morris plant and, while the room was okay, it was pretty basic and much of the staff was not particularly amiable.

Anyway, Friday night featured a story swap. There was enough time for everyone who wanted to tell and there was a wide mix of stories. I told a story from Afghanistan about an illiterate lion, which went over well. Some of us went to the bar to chat for a while. Maybe it’s a matter of being old, but how do people not have a go-to drink that they always order at a bar? (For what it’s worth, I’m a gin and tonic gal.)

My biggest annoyance with the hotel was that breakfast wasn’t included and the yogurt parfait and English muffin I got were overpriced. And they were slow to refill the coffee in the lobby.

The morning started with an inspirational talk by Clinton Atwater. That was followed by a talk by Jessica Robinson about the business aspects of storytelling, which covered a lot of ground and had a lot of lively discussion. Lunch was included with registration and the pasta they served was pretty good, as was the tiramisu for dessert. After the VASA business meeting, we returned to the meeting room for a workshop with Loren Niemi, who focused on reimagining how we tell traditional stories. That was interesting (and gave me a few ideas) but he needed a lot more time than he had. Finally, there was a story swap, including feedback, which also needed far more time.

Overall it was worth going to. Of course, the real highlight was getting to see some people who I don’t see very often. (And meeting some new people.) Anyway, the traffic coming back wasn’t too terrible andI got home at a reasonable hour.

A Few Story Swaps: Right after getting back from the VASA gathering, I went to the monthly Voices in the Glen zoom story swap. We had a fairly small group, but it was still fun. I told a very short story about what a clever man asked for when the prophet Elijah offered to grant him a wish to thank him for his hospitality.

The next day, I got together with a few other people from Voices in the Glen for an in-person story swap. With Pesach approaching, I told a story based on my father’s explanation of the crossing of the Red Sea. Since Dad was a civil engineer, Moses had to file an environmental impact statement.

And on Sunday, I went to a zoom swap put on by Community Storytellers in Los Angeles. I told a story I hadn’t told in a while, which mostly has to do with things my father used to say and what I really did and didn’t learn from them.

Grimm Keepers: This session’s discussion was of “The Pink,” also known as “The Carnation.” I think that every single time we meet, our discussion includes the phrase “what a strange story!” In this case, one of the strange aspects is how few things a boy who has the power of having anything he wishes for come true actually does wish for. There was also a lot of discussion about the significance of poodles in German folklore. At ay rate, the discussion left us with a lot of unanswered questions.

Board Games: I have mentioned before that I play board games (almost always Code Names) on-line with a few friends at least a few times a week. We recently realized that our first session of doing that was on 27 April 2020. It was a great way of getting us through the social isolation of the pandemic and it’s continued to be a great way to socialize.

Please Don’t Analyze This Dream: I had a dream the only detail of which I remember is that it involved a character named Tutsi Tu Bruskin. Bruskin is one of my ancestral names (specifically, my paternal grandfather’s mother’s family name) but that doesn’t provide any enlightenment.

Pesach: We’ve just now finished Pesach and I’ve had my traditional post-holiday pizza. I was fairly lazy about cooking this year and, hence, ended up having a lot of string cheese, grapes, matzoh with orange marmalade, and other monotonous foods. Oh, well, it’s only 8 days,

A Few Brief Comments About University Protesters: I think that the correct way for universities to deal with the protests is to focus on enforcing the community rules with respect to “time, place, and manner.” In particular, violence against anyone should be punished, as should blocking off access to particular places. For example, one of my particular concerns about what has happened at some campuses is protestors who have blocked access for disabled students, which is a violation of Title VI and can (and, in my opinion, should) result in the loss of federal funding if it is tolerated. The most difficult of the criteria is “manner of protest,” but I think any civilized person should agree that calls for murder is unacceptable. There are definitely some cases which have crossed that line, e.g. the Columbia student, Khymani James, who published a video in which he said, “Zionists don’t deserve to live.” Students holding up posters with slogans like “go back to Poland” are both anti-Semitic and ignorant. (Roughly 12% of the population of Israel has Polish-Jewish ancestry. And over 90% of Polish Jews were massacred during the Shoah.)

My other comment is that I wonder how many of the students pushing divestment from everything associated with Israel are using iPhones or used Waze to find routes to campuses, Do any of them use RSA public key encryption? How many of them eat cherry tomatoes or have websites using wix.com?

Elections: The Virginia elections went better than I expected. My area is not at all competitive so there were no surprises locally. (For example, our candidate for delegate was running unopposed.) And I can’t say that I was surprised that the candidate for county sheriff who had a long rant on his web page about why campaign contributions are unconstitutional, quoting from George Mason (who actually never mentioned campaign contributions since such a thing didn’t exist in his time) got nowhere. In the shooting yourself in the foot department, Democratic section, Susanna Gibson, the Henrico county candidate for delegate who live streamed sex videos with her husband, also lost.

But the important thing is that Democrats both kept the Senate and won the House of Delegates, which will keep Glen Youngkin’s more theocratic Christofascist tendencies at bay.

By the way, it was only on Friday (i.e. three days after election day) that I realized I slightly know the (losing) Republican candidate for state senator in my district.

Pandas: The National Zoo pandas are gone. They had special crates for their transportation to China, along with a FedEx truck with a panda picture painted on its side. (I’m not sure if their plane had a panda livery). The cuteness factor at the National Zoo is down by at least 50%.

Major Disappointment: Michael Tilson Thomas has withdrawn from the National Symphony Orchestra concert next weekend on his doctor’s advice. I can’t say I’m totally surprised, since he isn’t expected to live much longer. (Glioblastoma is really nasty.) There was the option to go to the concert with the replacement conductor, but the whole point of buying tickets was to see MTT. I’ve requested a refund from Goldstar, who are not great at customer service.

At least I got to see him conduct the New York Philharmonic in March.

Deli Food: This afternoon we had a Chavurah luncheon at Chutzpah deli. The tongue sandwich I got was fine. Their cole slaw is just okay, since I prefer mine more vinegary. And their potato salad is also a bit bland. In other words, it’s fine for deli food in Virginia (though Perly’s in Richmond is better), but my answer to the best Jewish deli food in this area is still to go to Union Station and take a train to New York.

Still, I was really there for the camaraderie and conversation and that was excellent.

Grimm Discussion Groups: This week’s Brother’s Grimm discussion was on Briar Rose, aka Sleeping Beauty. We had a wide ranging and interesting discussion. At the end, we were discussing spindles and, as a result of a comment someone made about the phrase “spindle, fold, or mutilate,” I have an interesting idea for a twist on the story, involving her fate depending on a spindle file, i.e. the spike used to store receipts at a diner.

My Animal Obsessed Neighbors: Today on next-door, somebody claims to have seen a hawk swoop down and grab a black cat. They wanted to know what kind of hawk it was.

Shameless Self Promotion: I will be telling stories at the Washington Folk Festival on Sunday June 4th at 5:30 p.m. The festival is at Glen Echo Park and is free. There’s going to be plenty of other things to go to there - storytelling, yes, but also music and dance and crafts. And, of course, the famous Glen Echo Carousel.

Celebrity Death Watch: Hodding Carter III was the spokesperson for the State Department during the Carter administration. Harry Bentley Bradley designed cars for Hot Wheels. Gloria Molina was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Garoar Cortes founded The Icelandic Opera. Doyle Brunson was a Hall of Fame poker player. Robert Lucas got a Nobel Prize in Economics. Marlin Hagge co-founded the LPGA. “Superstar” Billy Graham was a professional wrestler. Andy Rourke was the bassist for The Smiths. Nicholas Gray owned Gray’s Papaya, a famous hot dog place in New York City. Pete Brown was a lyricist, whose work included lyrics for “Sunshine of Your Love” and “White Room.” Martin Amis was a novelist, best known for Time’s Arrow. Ed Ames was a singer and actor, known for playing Mingo on Daniel Boone. Chas Newby briefly played bass with The Beatles. James Lewis sang with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Robert Zimmer was a mathematician and president of the University of Chicago for 15 years. Sheldon Reynolds played guitar for Commodors and for Earth, Wind, & Fire. George Maharis played Buz Murdock on the TV series Route 66, as well as modeling nude in the second issue of Playgirl magazine. Bill Lee was a jazz musician and film composer, as well as the father of Spike Lee. Claudia Rosett was a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the only print journalist to witness the Tiananmen Square massacre. Milt Larsen created The Magic Castle. Alexander Dreyfoos, Jr. was a businessman and philanthropist who donated the money to MIT to build the Stata Center, aka the ugliest building in Cambridge. Mike Young was an outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles. Robin Wagner won three Tony Awards for set design. Harvey Pitt chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission in the early 2000’s. Gershon Edelsten headed the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Beni Brak, and was, thus, a major leader in Lithuanian Jewish Orthodoxy.

John Dunning was a writer, primarily of mysteries, though he also wrote a couple of books about old-time radio. His mystery series featuring Cliff Laneway, a bookseller, was quite entertaining. Check out Booked to Die and/or The Bookman’s Wake if you like detective fiction and have ever wanted to own a used bookstore.

Tina Turner was an eight-time Grammy winner. She overcame an abusive relationship with her first husband, Ike Turner, and went on to a very successful solo career.

Non-Celebrity Death Watch: Laura Beasley was a wonderful storyteller and a dear friend. I first met her in the 1990’s at the Southern California Story Swapping Festival, which she came to regularly with her son, Theo, and we saw each other every now and then through the years. I’ll miss her.

Don’t Analyze This Dream: I had a postcard from some organization (possibly google) saying they wouldn’t spam me. But, in the same batch of mail, I had the same postcard, only in Spanish.

You May Analyze This Dream: I was in some sort of competition (maybe writing>) I lost to a woman named Ella Siempre.

My interpretation is that I probably need to scale back on how much time I spend studying Spanish on Duolingo.


Alex Padilla: I went to a dinner with Senator Alex Padilla on Tuesday night, put on by the MIT Club of DC. It is always good to have intelligent conversation (with other attendees). His talk was mostly about his path from a mechanical engineering degree and a short career in the aerospace industry to a political career. He was entertaining and articulate. His major focus was on problem-solving in both contexts.

Travel Planning: I have three international trips coming up in the near-term, as well as one later in the year. I also have plans for two domestic trips. And I have plans for a few more things. None of this helps with my household decluttering activities.

Here is a quick final catch-up before I leave on vacation. American Airlines has already pissed me off, by the way, but that’s hardly news. Since I saved a ton of money by burning up some Advantage miles, I will kvetch only in an undertone.

Election: I was relatively satisfied with the election results. My district was no surprise at all. As I have said before, we are so blue that we are practically indigo, and the incumbent Gerry Connelly was re-elected by a large margin. The more important races in Virginia resulted in Jennifer Wexton and Abigail Spanberger retaining their seats. Alas, Elaine Luria lost her seat, largely due to redistricting, with much of the Eastern shore moved into VA 2 and large swaths of the Hampton Roads area moved out.

Pierre Bensusan: Some time in the early 1980’s I was randomly flipping radio dials and heard an NPR program playing “La Bistrangue,” a French-Canadian dance I know from my years of folk dancing. So I started listening to that show and a couple of other Celtic music shows, resulting in my hearing some music by a French guitarist named Pierre Bensusan. It turned out that he was going to be performing at the Julia Morgan Theatre, which was quite close to where I lived in Berkeley. In short, between his records and seeing him live, he became pretty much my favorite living musician. I’ve seen him perform at least 20 times, probably more.

Well, obviously, he wasn’t touring during the pandemic. (And it turned out that he had a health crisis of his own in there, though he didn’t provide any details about that.) But he went back on the road recently and one of his last concerts on his America tour was at Jammin’ Java, which is just up the road from where I live. Astonishingly, I had no schedule conflicts, so of course I was there. And, of course, he was brilliant. (And, of course, I bought his latest CD.) His English is so much better than it was 40 years ago, too. The best story he told had to do with how he ended up playing guitar on a song recorded by Donny Osmond, who I had a brief crush on somewhere around the Partridge Family days.

I always feel privileged to have access to so much great live music nearby.

Stereo Mystery: Thinking about listening to records in that apartment in Berkeley reminds me that somebody had given me a stereo system. I can’t for the life of me remember the circumstances behind that. It’s possible that it was left behind by the first housemate I had there. I’m fairly sure that stereo system did not come with me when I moved to Los Angeles, however, and I have no idea what became of it.

Thanksgiving: Because I am overwhelmed and life is chaotic, I just did Thanksgiving dinner for myself. I made roasted turkey breast, wild rice with onions and mushrooms (I was going to add pecans, but forgot to), tahini-glazed carrots, and succotash. I had salad with lemon-basil vinaigrette as a starter and apple-cranberry crumble for dessert. I have a lot of leftovers in the freezer. (Well, not any salad. And the succotash started out from frozen to begin with.) Among the many things I am thankful for is having a decent-sized freezer!


Duolingo: I started doing Duollngo in an attempt to learn a bit more Spanish before my upcoming trip. Their way of gamifying language learning certainly makes it easier to study. I’m currently in the middle of Unit 22, out of 207. I will note that their explanations of a few things don’t quite work for me, some of which reflects on problems with the English language, e.g. the dozens of different meanings of “excuse me,” making me unsure when to use “perdon” vs. “disculpe.” I also find that they have some inconsistency in identifying typos vs. actual mistakes, though that probably works in my favor as often as it works against me. Finally, I’m noticing that I am way more competitive than I realized, as I end up spending a lot of time making sure I stay at the top of my current league. That will probably taper off once I make it through all of the achievement levels. Anyway, I’m having fun with it.


Story Swaps: Last Saturday night was the monthly Voices in the Glen swap. I told my story “Dites-la en Huit Langues,” which has to do with how a universal phrasebook I bought at a used book stall at a fair in New Hampshire ruined my life by leading me to attempt to learn several languages. And just now I went to a zoom story swap put on by Community Storytellers in Los Angeles, where I told a folktale from Afghanistan about a lion who didn’t know how to read.

One quick follow-up. It turns out that the experience of starting to dream before falling asleep is not actually uncommon. It’s called hypnagogic hallucination and about 70% of people experience it. I am less unique than I thought.


Celebrity Death Watch: Steve Wilhite invented the GIF (and still managed to pronounce it incorrectly). Ralph Terry was a pitcher who spent several seasons with the Source of All Evil in the Universe. Peter Bowles played Guthrie Featherstone in the Rumpole of the Bailey TV series. Scotty Mitchell was a television actor, who often appeared on game shows, as well as having recurring roles on a couple of sitcoms. Winfield Scott Jr. was an Air Force general and superintendent of the Air Force Academy in the mid-1980’s. John Roach led the development of the TRS-80 microcomputer. Kip Hawley directed the TSA from 2005 to 2009. Charles Boyd was a combat pilot in the Air Force and was the only Vietnam War POW to reach 4-star rank in the military. Edward Johnson III ran Fidelity Investments from the 1970’s on. Taylor Hawkins was the drummer of the Foo Fighters. Kathryn Hays was an actress, best known for appearing in As the World Turns for almost 40 years. Bobby Hendricks sang with The Drifters. Cat Pause was a fat studies activist. Bethany Campbell wrote romance novels. Patricia MacLachlan wrote Sarah, Plain and Tall.

C.W. McCall was a country singer, best known for the song, “Convoy.” Estelle Harris played George Constanza’s mother on Seinfeld and voiced Mrs. Potato Head in the Toy Story movies. Sidney Altman won a Nobel Prize in chemistry for his studies of RNA. Nehemiah Persoff was an actor whose roles included the father in Yentl. Bobby Rydell was a pop singer who played the role of Hugo in the movie version of Bye Bye Birdie. Mimi Reinhardt was Oskar Schindler’s secretary. Gilbert Gottfried was a comedian whose shtick included a really annoying voice. Mike Bossy played hockey for the New York Islanders. Liz Sheridan played Jerry’s mother on Seinfeld. Wendy Rieger was a news anchor in D.C. Barbara Hall was a British crossword constructor and puzzles editor for the Sunday Times. Cynthia Plaster Caster was a groupie who went on to create plaster casts of famous men’s erect penises. Guy Lafleur was a Hall of Fame hockey player. Mike Summer played football for the Washington Redskins. Susan Jacks sang the song “Which Way You Goin’ Billy?” Andrew Woolfolk played saxoophone with Earth, Wind & Fire. David Birney was an actor who is probably best known for the TV series Bridget Loves Bernie but also performed in a lot of serious theatre on Broadway. David Walden contributed to the development of ARPANET. Neal Adams was a comic book artist. Joanna Barnes was an actress whose movie credits included Auntie Mame and The Parent Trap. Naomi Judd was a country singer/songwriter.

Regine was a singer and nightclub owner. Jerry verDorn was a soap opera actor. Rick Parnell was the drummer for Spinal Tap. Norman Mineta was the Secretary of Transportation in the 2000’s. Mary Fuller was a sculptor. Midge Decter was a neoconservative, probably best known as the wife of Norman Podhoretz. Randy Weaver was a survivalist and the key figure in the Ruby Ridge siege. Robert McFarlane was the National Security Advisor under Ronald Reagan and a key figure in the Iran-Contra Affair. Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan was the president of the United Arab Emirates. Ben Roy Mottelson won the Nobel prize in physics for his work on the geometry of atomic nuclei. Vangelis was a musician and composer, whose work for films included Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner. Bob Neuwirth wrote the song “Mercedes Benz.” Rosmarie Trapp was one of the Von Trapp Family Singers.

Madeleine Albright was the first woman to be the U.S. Secretary of State. She was also famous for her collection of brooches, which I once saw at the Smithsonian.

Ann Hutchinson Guest was an expert on dance notation. She lived to the age of 103 and earned me 29 ghoul pool points.

Robert Morse was an actor. He won a Tonyin 1962 for playing J. Pierrepont Finch in How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and another in 1989 for the one-man play Tru about Truman Capote. He later appeared in the TV series Mad Men. I believed in him.

Orrin Hatch was a Republican Senator from Utah for 42 years. He also wrote and recorded Christian music.

Roger Angell wrote about baseball, primarily for the New Yorker, for about 75 years. Saying that is like saying that Herman Melville wrote about whaling. He was eloquent and insightful, a true poet laureate of the sport. He earned me 21 ghoul pool points.


Non-celebrity Death Watch: Ernest Cravalho was an MIT professor of Mechanical Engineering. I don’t remember if I had him for Thermodynamics, but I am fairly sure we used a textbook he had co-written. He died in April 2021 but I only just learned of his death a couple of weeks ago.

Suzy Pietras-Smith kept an on-line journal at https://www.mutteringfool.com. I met her only once and briefly (at Journalcon several years ago.) She wrote well - not surprisingly, as she was a professional journalist. She had been in the hospital for well over a year, so her death was not a total surprise, but still sad.

I knew Patricia Hansen from FlyerTalk (where she went by the handle, Lili). She was a lively person and a good traveler and I always enjoyed seeing her at FT Dos.

Don’t Analyze This Dream: I worked in the offices of a large corporation. There was some sort of invasion by armed intruders. I locked myself in my office, but somehow I could see what was going on. Several people ran down a hallway to try to escape, but even though they were wearing hazmat suits, they got trapped in a hallway and mowed down. Two women started running in that direction but got away and ran into an office catty corner from mine and, like me, were able to see things happening. The intruders were mostly in a big open room downstairs and were trapped there, where they were killed, so all three of us survived.

Yemandja: I saw this show (play? opera?) at the Kennedy Center a couple of weeks ago. I went to see it largely because of Angelique Kiddo’s involvement. In addition to co-writing the music (with Jean Hebrail), she played the title role. Yemandja is the Yoruba goddess of water and healing. She has a running conflict with Oro, the god of wind. The story involves the influence of these spirits on a girl named Omulola as she tries to rescue her uncle from the slave trade. This is made more complicated because her fiancé , Olajuwon, is the son of the slave trader, De Salta. Throughout all of this, music is used to influence events and, eventually, provide healing. Overall, it was an interesting show and worth seeing.

Maryland Sheep ad Wool Festival: The first weekend of May brought the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, which is, essentially, a cross between a county fair and the world’s largest yarn shop. I met up with a few friends there, but mostly shopped on my own. I did not buy any sheep and confined my purchases to two books - one on sock architecture and one called What Would Madame DeFarge Knit? because how could I resist that title? I also bought a gradient yarn kit - several skeins in a blue, green, and purple color way called “They’ll Be Writing Songs About This.” That will eventually get turned into a shawlette.

Re-Boosted: I got my second COVID booster last Monday, I had gotten Pfizer previously and opted for Moderna this time because there is some evidence that mixing the vaccines might give more protection. I did have more side effects (arm soreness, headache, fatigue, mild nausea) but nothing intolerable.

Leading Jewish Minds - Daniel Jackson on Software: MIT Hillel has a series called Leading Jewish Minds at MIT and the most recent speaker was Daniel Jackson. His talk was on software and why it does and does’t work well. A lot of what he said had to do with user interfaces. But the broader question was what the key concept is that makes a technology useful. He was worth interesting and entertaining and I plan to check out his blog in the future.

Story Swap: The monthly Voices in the Glen story swap was last Saturday night. I told a story from Azerbaijan that I had heard from my guide when I was in Sheki. There was also a story about - and a lot of discussion about - pigeons.

Genealogy Meetings: I went to two genealogy talks over the past week. One was on Immigration and Naturalization correspondence files, which had a lot of information, but I need to go back through the slides to see how useful it is. The other was on tracing ancestors before they had surnames. That one seemed less useful, because almost all of the sources the speaker talked about were from southern Germany and Galicia.

Lunar Eclipse: I had looked forward to the lunar eclipse / blood moon of Sunday night. But, alas, the weather here in Northern Virginia did not cooperate. Damn clouds.

White House Webinar on Jews and Baseball: This was, apparently, an event for Jewish Ameriican Heritage Month. The moderator was Chanan Weissman, who is the White House liaison to the Jewish community. The speakers were baseball historian John Thorn, former player Shawn Green, Justine Siegal (the first woman to coach a professional baseball team), and Misha Halperin from the Museum of American Jewish History. Overall, this was entertaining, but I can’t say that I learned anything new out of it. Well, one thing - Shawn Green is still astonishingly good-looking I suspect that wasn’t the message the event was intended to get out. (The real subtext was that baseball was viewed by Jewish immigrants as a means to Americanization. In fact, Thorn said he learned to read English from the backs of baseball cards.)

Abortion Rights Rally: I went to the Jewish Rally for Abortion Justice on Tuesday. That deserves its own post, which I will try to write in the next couple of days.

I have a lot of catching up to do, but let’s start with a couple of items of shameless self-promotion.


Shameless Self-Promotion - Storytelling Edition: There are still a few days left for you to get tickets to my next storytelling show. This is Saturday night, November 27th at 7 pm EST and is both live at The Auld Shebeen in Fairfax, VA and being live streamed, so is watchable from anywhere. The theme is Thanksgiving: Stories of Gratitude, Grace, and Gravy and my story, which is up first, has to do with what I really learned in ballet class. Tickets are available at the Better Said Than Done website.


Shameless Self-Promotion - Podcast Edition: I am (again) on the Style Invitational podcast that Mike Gips produces. Six of us played a game show, which was tremendous fun. Theres an audio only version up right now at the You’re Invited website and a video version is in the works.


Celebrity Death Watch: Eddie Robinson played first base for the Cleveland Indians and later managed the Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves. Joy Watson wrote children’s books. Gerald Home was an actor and puppeteer who, among other things, operated Audrey II in the 1986 film version of Little Shop of Horrors. Pauline Bart was a sociologist who studied women’s issues, including rape. Granville Adams was an actor who was notorious for pushing somebody into an elevator shaft in a nightclub brawl. Ruthie Thompson was an animator for Disney and was 111 years old at her death. Paddy Moloney co-founded the Irish band The Chieftains. Marcus Malone was a percussionist who was one of the founding members of Santana. Ray Fosse was a catcher for the Cleveland Indians and Oakland A’s. Gary Paulsen wrote children’s and young adult fiction. Madame Nguyen Van Thieu was the first lady of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. Betty Lynn was an actress who was best known for playing Thelma Lou on The Andy Griffith Show. George Butler made documentary films including Pumping Iron and a trilogy about Ernest Shackleton. Robin McNamara was a singer-songwriter, best known for “Lay a Little Loving’ On Me.” Jay Black headed up Jay and the Americans. Peter Scolari was a sitcom actor in Newhart and Bosom Buddies. Linwood Holton was governor of Virginia in the early 1970’s. Jerry Remy was a baseball player and long-time color commentator for the Red Sox. Justus Rosenberg was a member of the French resistance during World War II. Pat Martino was a jazz guitarist and composer. Aaron Beck was a psychiatrist who developed cognitive behavior therapy. Declan Mulligan was the guitarist for The Beau Brummells. Bettina Grossman was a conceptual artist. Ruth Ann Miner was the governor of Delaware from 2001 to 2009. Dean Stockwell was an actor who appeared in the TV show Quantum Leap as well as numerous movies. Max Cleland was a disabled Vietnam veteran (triple amputee) who served a term as a U.S. senator from Georgia. Graeme Edge was the drummer for the Moody Blues. Petra Nayer was a book reviewer for NPR. Sam Huff was a linebacker for the Washington Redskins. Julio Lugo played shortstop for the Red Sox. Clarissa Eden was the widow of former British prime minister Anthony Eden. Art Lafleur was a character actor who appeared in The Sandlot and Field of Dreams. Dave Frishberg wrote comic songs, including “My Attorney, Berne,” as well as a few songs for Schoolhouse Rock. Keith Allison was a singer and bassist for Paul Revere and the Raiders. Peter Buck co-founded Subway. Bill Virton was an outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates and later managed several teams, notably the Houston Astros. Robert Ellis was an artist whose work included what was at one time the largest tapestry in the world. Jay Last was one of the founders of Fairchild Semiconductor. Ron Shaffer originated the Dr. Gridlock transportation column in the Washington Post.


Arthur Mattock was a professor of mathematics at MIT. I am reasonably sure that I had him for 18.03 (Differential Equations) back in spring semester 1977. I have a vague memory of him assigning a problem set the day before it was due on the grounds that everyone does them last minute anyway.


Colin Powell was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993 and the Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He formulated a doctrine that said the U.S. should not intervene militarily unless American national security interests are at stake and there is overwhelming public support, but also gave a speech to the United Nations on the rationale for the Iraq War that did not meet those criteria. He had the integrity to leave the Republican party after the January 6th insurrection.


Leslie Bricusse was a composer and lyricist, His movie work included Dr. Doolittle and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. His most prominent musical theatre works were his collaborations with Anthony Newly on Stop the World - I Want to Get Off and The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd.

Mort Sahl was a comedian and broke new ground as a social satirist.

Neal Edward Smith was the longest serving U.S. representative from Iowa. He earned me 25 ghoul pool points.

F. W. de Klerk was the last apartheid era president of South Africa. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for dismantling apartheid but was controversial for the inadequacy of his apologies for the racist system.

Robert Bly was poet. His book Iron John is widely credited with starting the mythopoetic men’s movement.


Malaise: I’ve been in a bit of a funk for the past couple of weeks, for no obvious reason. I think it is most likely a combination of lack of sunlight and chilly temperatures. I am trying to counter it by doing things and planning more things.


Politics - Virginia: Another factor in my malaise was the outcome of the elections. There has been a lot of analysis about what went wrong in the Virginia gubernatorial race, but I think it’s really a lot simpler than the way the pundits have portrayed it. Namely, Terry McAuliffe ran a completely incompetent campaign. I got lots of mailers from him early in the race but nothing in the last two months. Youngkin had ads on the radio about every 5 minutes, while McAuliffe had none. He needed to get out beyond his supporters who went to rallies to counter the lies (primarily about education) that Youngkin was spouting.


Politics - Rittenhouse: While I am disappointed that Rittenhouse was acquitted on all charges, I’ve read a couple of pieces that provide a rational explanation. Namely, once the judge limited the case by removing the illegal possession of firearms charges, the only issue was whether or not he could claim self-defense. And, in Wisconsin, the burden of proof is on the State to prove he did not have grounds for that claim. Interestingly, the same is true in most states now. In fact, Virginia may be the last exception.


Broadway’s One Hit Wonders: Just before my vacation I went to a virtual One Day University lecture by Sean Hartley about Broadway’s One Hit Wonders. When I’d seen the description, I had some objections. Sure The Music Man was much more successful, but Meredith Willson also wrote The Unsinkable Molly Brown which did respectably. And Galt McDermott (who wrote the music for Hair) won a Tony for Two Gentlemen of Verona, a show I was surprised to like as much as I did. Hartley did talk about both of those and admit he was stretching the definition. At any rate, the talk was quite entertaining and informative. I’d say the gist of it is that the creative teams did not want to work together for various reasons. In addition, several of the people involved preferred to concentrate on other projects, e.g. pop music. Of course, there is also the tragedy of Rent with Jonathan Larson’s death the night before the off-Broadway premiere. (Which reminds me - I need to find time to see the movie version of Tick Tick Boom.) Perhaps it is more surprising that there are so many people who did have a string of Broadway hits.


Travel Talk: There was a (virtual) Travelers’ Century Club talk by John Gimlette about the Guianas this past weekend. This is a part of the world I’ve been interested in for a while. The talk was excellent - entertaining and informative, with a lot of practical information. I need to look up Gimlette’s book, Wild Coast (and, probably, his other travel books).


Criminal relatives: Today there was a JewishGen webinar about researching criminal ancestors. Ron Arons has written a couple of books on the subject and was fairly informative, but he needed way more than the one hour he had. And, yes, genealogy research is something else I am way way way behind on.


Another Genealogy Talk: There was a JGSGW meeting on Sunday with a talk on the topic of planning for what will happen to your research after you die. I’ll say the most useful part of that was the suggestion to just devote 30 minutes a day for 30 days to working on an action plan. I think I will wait until January, however.

I was going to work on some catching up here, but I was reminded that not everybody understands our local geography.

I live roughly 15 miles west of the Capitol. I have been in D.C. itself for roughly 4 hours (to go to a medical appointment in Foggy Bottom) since March. In short, I was in no danger from today'violence, Well, other than the effects of: 1) being unable to take my afternoon nap and 2) more than the usual news overload.

I still have one more entry to write regarding the IAJGS Conference, but I want to catch up on a couple of other things while they still have some relevance. I will also answer questions readers asked at some point this month.


Celebrity Death Watch - September and October 2020: I am so far behind on this that I decided I need to separate things out by somewhat more manageable chunks of time. I’ll do the rest of the catch-up in another entry.


Moshe Efrati was a choreographer, most notable for founding Kol Demama, a dance company including hearing-impaired dancers. Kevin Burns produced television documentaries. Mac Davis was a singer-songwriter, whose notable songs included “It’s Hard to Be Humble.” Helen Reddy sang the feminist anthem “I Am Woman.”

Bob Gibson pitched for the Saint Louis Cardinals. Betty Greene was a novelist, best known for Summer of My German Soldier. Mike Foster was the governor of Louisiana in the late 1990’s. Margaret Nolan was a model and actress / Bond girl. Monica Roberts was a transgender rights activist. Bunny Lee was a producer of reggae music. Johnny Nash was a singer-songwriter, best known for “I Can See Clearly Now” and “Tears on My Pillow.” Eddie Van Halen was a musician. Jim Dwyer was a columnist for Newsday and The New York Times. Conchata Ferrell was an actress, best known for her role on Two and a Half Men. Roberta McCain was a socialite and the mother of former senator, John McCain. Rhonda Fleming was an actress in the glamour queen era of the 1940’s and 1950’s. Herbert Kretzmer wrote the lyrics for Les Miserables. Paul Matters played bass for AC/DC. Ed Benguiat designed over 600 typefaces. Tom Maschler co-founded the Booker Prize. Jill Paton Walsh was a novelist. Spencer Davis was a singer and guitarist. Viola Smith was one of the first women to be a professional drummer. Jerry Jeff Walker was a singer-songwriter, well-known for Mr. Bojangles. Diane di Prima was a beat poet. Lee Kun-hee was the chairman of the Samsung Group. Travis Roy did philanthropic work after being paralyzed during his first college hockey game. Herb Adderley was a Hall of Fame football player for the Green Bay Packers. Nobby Stiles played for Manchester United. Debra Doye co-wrote a number of novels (primarily fantasy) with her husband, James D. MacDonald.

Tom Kennedy was a game show host, notable for Name That Tune.


Whitey Ford pitched for the Source of All Evil in the Universe, and won 6 World Series championships during his 16 years with them.

Joe Morgan played second base for several teams, with World Series championships with the Reds.

Bernard S. Cohen was the attorney who argued Loving vs. Virginia, the court case that struck down the Virginia law against interracial marriage.

James Randi was a magician and debunker of paranormal claims.

Marge Champion was a dancer and choreographer, probably best remembered for her extensive work with her husband, Gower.

Sean Connery was the first James Bond on film, as well as acting in a number of other movie roles.

Betty Dodson taught a lot of women how to have orgasms. She also earned me 31 ghoul pool points, because I had used a trade to put her on my list after seeing an article that she was near death.



Early Voting: I took advantage of early in-person voting and nice weather and walked over to the Providence Community Center, just under a mile from my house, to vote in late October. I had about a 40 minute wait,, which was okay. They seemed to be doing a pretty good job of social distancing and sanitizing. More importantly, there were no issues with protesters or other disrupters while I was there.


Virginia Results: I think most of my readers can figure out that I was happy that Biden and Harris won, which was never really in doubt here in Virginia. I was slightly worried about the Senatorial race, largely because the Virginia Republican Party broke with tradition and had a candidate who wasn’t completely batshit crazy. But, fortunately, Mark Warner won handily. By the way, my favorite Virginia Republican is Representative Denver Riggleman, whose name will always be unfairly associated with the phrase “Bigfoot erotica.” Actually, he is doing a good job of pushing back on the QAnon crowd, but he lost his primary so will be out of office.


I should note that my Congressional district is not competitive and Gerry Connelly won with over 71% of the votes. I was relieved that Abigail Spanberger retained her seat in a district near Richmond that is competitive.




What was disappointing is that 6 Virginia counties voted against relocating Confederate monuments that are on County Courthouse property. I can’t say I’m surprised, however.

Also, there were 4 cities / counties that approved casino gambling (subject to the Virginia Lottery Board). I’m pretty sure that the logic is that Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania all get gambling revenue from Virginias, so let’s keep the money here. I kind of miss the days when gambling was only legal in Nevada, but there’s really no going back.


By the way , most of our state elections are next year, because we have a weird election cycle. I expect the gubernatorial race to be particularly interesting.

Celebrity Death Watch: Charles Evers was the mayor of Fayette, Mississippi and brother of Medgar. Joan Feynman was an astrophysicist who did a lot of work re: space weather, including auroras. Bo Black directed Summerfest, a major music festival in Milwaukee. Rene Carpenter was the ex-wife of astronaut Scott Carpenter who became a columnist and television personality. Zheng Shouren was the chief designer of the Three Rivers Dam. Peter Green founded Fleetwood Mac and wrote songs, including “Black Magic Woman.” John Saxon appeared in a number of Westerns and horror movies. Bill English was a co-developer of the computer mouse. Bent Fabric wrote the song “Alley Cat,” which we used to dance to when I was a child. Irene Pollin co-owned the Washington Capitals and the Washington Wizards. Reese Sconfeld was the president of CNN in the early 1980’s and founded the Food Network. Andre Ptaszynski was a British theatre producer. Lou Schwechheimer was an executive for the Pawtucket Red Sox. Balla Sidibe founded Orchestra Baobab, an influential Senegalese band. Karen Berg co-founded the Kabbalah Centre. Herman Cain was the CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and a tea party politician. Sir Alan Parker was an English film director, known for such movies as Midnight Express. Ruth Weiss was a beat poet.

Wilford Brimley was a character actor, best known as the spokesman for Quaker Oats. Leon Fleisher was a pianist, best known for playing one-handed for many years, due to a neurological injury. Michael Peter Smith wrote the song “The Dutchman,” best known for Steve Goodman’s cover of it. Doris Buffett was a philanthropist (and the sister of Warren). Frances Allen was the first woman to become an IBM Fellow and to win the Turing Award. Elmer Petersen sculpted the World’s Largest Buffalo. Pete Hamill was a journalist, who wrote numerous pieces about New York City. Horace Clark played for The Source of All Evil in the Universe. James “Kamala” Harris was a wrestler. Carroll Hardy was the only person ever to pinch hit for Ted Williams. Trini Lopez was a singer, best known for his performances of “If I Had a Hammer” and “Lemon Tree.” Russell Kirsch was a developer of the scanner. Belle du Berry was the lead singer of Paris Combo. James R. Thompson was the longest serving governor of Illinois. Howell Binkley was a Tony-winning lighting designer. Robert Trump was the younger brother of His Orangeness. Claire Shulman was the first woman to serve as Queens borough president. Ben Cross was an actor, best known for playing Harold Abrahams in the movie Chariots of Fire. Marvin Creamer was the first person to sail around the world without aid from navigational instruments.

Regis Philbin was a talk show host and game show host. He held the record for most hours on U.S. television.

Olivia de Haviland was an actress, most famous for playing Melanie in Gone With the Wind. She earned me 17 ghoul pool points.

John McNamara managed the Red Sox from 1985 through 1988. That includes 1986, when he made a few dubious decisions in the World Series, resulting in Bill Buckner’s fielding error in Game 6 and the disaster of Calvin Schiraldi ‘s relief pitching in Game 7.

Brent Carver was a musical theatre actor. He originated the role of Leo Frank in Parade and won a Tony for his performance as Molina in The Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Eric Bentley was a theatre critic. He was primarily an advocate for European plays and his reviews of, say, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, were generally negative. He earned me 16 ghoul pool points.

Brent Scowcroft was the National Security Advisor under Presidents Ford and Bush 43. While I may not have agreed with his actual recommendations, I thought he was well-qualified and thoughtful. Comparisons to recent incumbents in the position are too depressing to write about.

Adin Steinsaltz translated the Talmud into modern Hebrew and English. His edition is almost certainly the most widely used one and is widely praised for its accessibility.

Quick Political Note: She wasn’t my first choice, but I am comfortable with Kamala Harris as Biden’s running mate.

Placeholders: Among the things I still need to write about are the storytelling conference I went to in early June and the genealogy conference I went to last week. Also, Saturday was Lollapuzzoola , my favorite crossword tournament.

Virtual Visit to Armenia: I have been to Armenia (back in 2003). Last night, my alumni association had an on-line event with the Armenian ambassador. It would have been nicer to have been able to actually go to the embassy and enjoy Armenian food and wine (and, especially, cognac). But it was still a good event. He started with three things people should know about Armenia. Those were unsurprisingly: 1) Christianity, 2) Mount Ararat, and 3) the Velvet Revolution. He talked a lot about wine, economic improvements, and relations with other countries. Over all, he was a good speaker and it was worth zooming into.

I am clearing out various clippings that have been cluttering up my desk.

How My Governor Thinks: I generally like him, but Ralph Northam isn’t always the most articulate or decisive politician around. Since he is a physician by trade, it is particularly distressing that he dithered for a while re: Covid-19. His staff apparently circulated the following gem:

We have a 6 phase plan to reopen the state. The plan will be a phased plan that we will plan to utilize in phases. The phases will be planned and the planning will be phased. We will move quickly and slowly to open but will remain closed. I have created a staff of staffers who will plan the phase and planning while phasing their phases.


From the Mixed Metaphor Department: The Washington Post had an article on how zoo animals are reacting to the absence of people visiting zoos. Anna Peele wrote, "The blue crowned pigeon approaches his mate and begins davening, twerking his tail toward the skylight of the Cape Mazy County Zoo aviary as his beak dips towards the earth."

First of all, "davening" just means "praying." The back and forth movement associated with Jewish prayer is called "shuckling." Secondly, I can’t imagine how one would shuckle and twerk at the same time. Oy.

On a More Serious Note: The WaPo also quoted a poll that described the racial breakdown of Democrats outside of the South as 60 percent white, 17 percent African American and 23% Latino. Obviously the statistics vary from place to place, but I know that my neck of the woods is at least 14% Asian American. The Asian American percentages in several other cities are also quite significant – 23-30% in the Bay Area, 44% in Honolulu, 14% in Los Angeles. Another problem is that the Census counts Latinx people independent of race. That is, they can be considered black or white, but not as a separate racial category. Pollsters don’t have to do it the way the Census does, of course. But I thought that the reporting here was fishy.

Frozen Delight: Susan Dennis was talking not long ago about community cookbooks. That reminded me of a favorite recipe, out of the Appetizers & Beverages section of a church cookbook that my mother was given by one of her neighbors.



Hmm, maybe I will make some frozen delight tonight.