women usa connect

Today, I am thankful to have seen this article by James Delingpole of the Spectator (UK): I Have Seen Your Future, America, and it Doesn’t Work Because, in it, he says everything I believe about what will happen during President Obama's term(s) of office. At which point, it all made such perfect sense that the write-in-a-month part ceased to be a problem. ‘But of course!’ I realised. ‘It’s like May 1997 all over again. Same euphoria. Same sense — even among many Conservatives — that this time it’s different, that this guy’s The One who’s going to change everything. Same subtly bullying, post-Diana’s-death-style atmosphere where if you don’t subscribe to the popular consensus you’re a freak and a cynic and you’re wrong and you should probably be shot.’ Crikey, they were scary times for those few of us who, right from day one, refused to give any credence to the Blair project. It was like the second half of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, where pretty much every human alive has been...

Menachem Wecker has posted a fabulous interview of the artist Orit Arfa , on his Iconia blog . Orit Arfa seems, in many ways, to be a kindred spirit for me. It is partially her wonderful paintings (see below), but also how she thinks and talks about her paintings, and the fact that she explores so many other creative outlets in addition to painting. Here I will not try to capture all of the greatness of the interview with Orit (for which, please click the link above), but just to give you a small taste, to tempt you to go over there and read it. MW: In your painting of Rebecca, you show the matriarch with bare elbows. Aren’t you worried about being criticized for not portraying her more modestly? OA: I’d be worried if I’m not criticized for not portraying her modestly. That is the point. I painted Rebecca at a time when I was seriously questions Jewish modesty norms, having worn only skirts for several years. In religious schools the foremothers are portrayed as virtuous, modest wom...

One of my favourite passages in literature is this bit from the end of Jack Kerouac's classic, The Dharma Bums : "... Now comes the sadness of coming back to cities and I've grown two months older and there's all that humanity of bars and burlesque shows and gritty love, all upsidedown in the void God bless them, but Japhy you and me forever we know, O ever youthful, O ever weeping." Down on the lake rosy reflections of celestial vapor appeared, and I said "God, I love you" and looked up to the sky and really meant it. "I have fallen in love with you, God. Take care of us all, one way or the other." My wife recently asked me to comment about my view of the city as Kerouac describes it here ( all that humanity of bars and burlesque shows and gritty love, all upsidedown in the void ). I tend to be drawn to that sort of gritty humanity, with all of its particolored enthusiasms, its misspent energies, it "raging glory" (to borrow a phras...

Sometimes, the advice of John Lee Hooker's mama seems to apply: ' Cause it's in him, and it got to come out! When this happens to me, I descend upon some local coffee house Open Mic night. This Mudcrutch song, Scare Easy , is so well written and so naturally playable that even amateurs sound good playing it. For comparison (and for your listening pleasure) here is how the Pros do it!

I kept waiting for Baby Blue to post this Dylan video, because of what is happening about Israel these days. If BB posted it, I missed it, so I guess it must be Up To Me ... Not only does this 25-year-old gem rock incredibly hard (even for Mr. Dylan), but it has never been more timely. I myself am not rabidly pro-Israel, but I cried a little when I played this song tonight.