KEN'S HOLIDAY PLAYLIST

 Cousin Ken sent me his holiday playlist. It's fabulous !

my holiday playlist -

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=K2eFbRzOIkg&list=PL1gwm2jMTnzyVrQB5sNCcBa4bKp6bYXCX

FELIZE NAVIDAD + HANUKKAH IN SANTA MONICA

Happy Holidays, Felize Navidad, Merry Christmas and Happy Winter Solstice

WINTER SOLSTICE 2020 3:45PM

 

Below is a picture from my friends Ron and Pam showing their Christmas tree and Wine Bottle Menorah. Very creative. Wishing everybody good health, good heart, good harmony and a way, way better year than 2020 - which is in the rear view mirror....

HSH HOLIDAYS 2020 Humboldt st. house

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cosmological events are playing out on the Solstice. Jupiter and Saturn can be seen near each other, an event last seen 400 hundred years ago. Read more here:

"As 2020 comes to a close, the solar system has decided to grace us with a cosmic Christmas miracle that hasn't been witnessed in nearly 800 years. On Dec. 21 (aka the December solstice), Jupiter and Saturn will align so closely in the night sky that they'll almost appear to collide from our vantage point here on Earth, creating a radiant point of light often referred to as the "Star of Bethlehem" or the "Christmas Star."  Yahoo.  

Ken sent me a rousing rendition of Hanukkah In Santa Monica sung by Sam Braverman:A Jewish Boys Christmas. In English and Yiddish ! Cool. I believe Adam Sandler wrote that song, I've heard him sing it. If I find that version I will post it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY CHANUKAH

 

HAPPY CHANUKAH

 

 

 

I lit my candles last night, the third night using the Chanukah menorah Bernice gave me. 

 

 

  the back of the photo has a handwritten note, "making latkes Chanukah, 1998, that's a fake frown"  :-)

 

ARCH OF TITUS, ROME, 70 AD

Bernice told me Roby really liked this image. You can go to Rome today and see it. It commemorates the Destruction of the Temple of Solomon and shows the plunder of ritual objects such as the golden menorah in the Temple. We are still here lighting our own menorahs or chanukiyyot in hebrew :-)

 

GUEST BLOGGER KEN

Happy Thanksgiving belated. We are now in the holiday season during the  still raging covid-19 virus. A lot has happened. We have a new President-elect, Joe Biden. Even though there will be lasting damage, it feels like a great weight has lifted - instead of government by tweet, we might get reason, science, knowledge, diplomacy, Competence and....Leadership ?!?! Of course we are still being subjected to the denial tweets coming from the current occupant who refuses to acknowledge the Biden win. So although Biden won, the prez is issuing denials and rants and wants to overturn the election. And his Republican enablers are allowing it. Most of them also deny Biden won. It's a vulnerable, dangerous time here in America until January 21st, and beyond. The strategy is to de-legitimize the Biden Harris win. Forever. They are not giving up.

Roby's yahrtzeit is coming up. December 17th is ten years in the english calendar. December 17th corresponds to 11 Tevet in the jewish calendar, December 26th. We light the candle at sundown the night before. His yahrtzeit is at sundown, Christmas Day, erev Shabbat....

Ken summed up the latest political theater probably better than I could although we both like to rant!

Guest blogger: Ken

dear C,

just because i have been out of touch w/ u does not mean that i have not not thought of u when every weirdness, injustice & hypocrisy i read about does not make me think u would be interested.

but - ladies & whomever - welcome to the rant:

1. Hanukkah - like the goyim say - miracles happen. & happy it to u.

2. Fla gov desantis was at the trump presser/ or as i think of it, a peacock display /where he was taking credit for the vaccine earlier this week when he had nothing do w/ it except for filling out the choir.

re: Rebekah Jones the Florida data scientist whose home was raided

desantis said "gee - i didn't know anything about it" - like when David duke endorsed trump &f he said "gee i never heard of him."  (totally believable).

3. re: the four battleground states the Texas attorney general is suing in the supreme court to overturn the results, if accepted would allow Massachusetts to complain about how Texas elects its senators.  (btw 100 republican house members endorse the Texas suit.) so we are going to unite as one country very soon.

madness.

re: trump & the retrumplicans are -

as the mayor of Munchkin City put it, morally, ethically, spiritually, physically, positively, absolutely, undeniably, and reliably dead.

enough.

be well - safe & such.

i am taking obsessive compulsive precautions &  will do so for the foreseeable future.

i can read, watch & listen to just so much of people who have to steal to feed their kids or evicted into the winter & then politics fade away.

this is the biggest shitstorm since the depression.

i left all this pain for last 'cause it's the hardest.

i cannot wait to read the histories of this time long after i die.

best, ken 

I LOVE the 'retrumplicans' and The Wizard of Oz reference - brilliant ! I 'bolded' the Wizard of Oz line. It's fabulous - so appropriate :-)

 

EREV YOM KIPPUR

I participated in several Yom Kippur services via Zoom. I started off with TBZ, the synagogue next door. Then I switched to the W + S Minyan in Cambridge, affiliated with Harvard Hillel. Now I am listening to a conservative service on JBS TV. Kol Nidrei was not the Sandler minhag. I remember sitting in Bubbe's house waiting for Zaidy to come home from shul. We women did not go. So the Sandler minhag was to attend Kol Nidrei and then come home and eat. 

The next day Shirley and I walked to the Woodrow Avenue shul where we met up with Bubbe who was sitting in the women's section, the first row of the balcony.  There we chanted the Yom Kippur service which is the longest of the year. It takes a lot of time asking for forgiveness for the myriad number of sins listed in the prayerbook. After that we walked over to Bubbe's house and fasted until around 6:00 including me. 

Change is hard. Ken and I exchanged emails today and recently. It's been good being in touch during these strange, isolating, pandemic times. I heard from Ellen too and her recent move. Ellen took the time to send me some photos of Ken during the upheaval of moving and I am grateful for that. I hope things are going better with the new house and the old one ! 

The photo below shows Bubbe, the young and when I knew her. Roby sent me that photo of Bubbe with the lute. I thought I would never see it again. But we began corresponding while I was living in Berkeley and I wrote about it. He was so excited to tell me he had it and he had negatives and prints made that he sent to me. That meant a lot to me. I have Roby's baseball and Zaidy's glasses and also a watch.

I could not resist putting 'Yom Kippur and Bob Dylan' in the search box. This came up from an excerpt in Dylan & Me – 50 Years of Adventures, Louie Kemp chronicles how two Jewish boys from rural Minnesota met at Jewish summer camp in 1953.

"In one amusing story, Kemp recalls the time he and Dylan attended Yom Kippur services in Santa Monica, California:

We had been there before, and the rabbi recognized Bobby right away. But few if any of his fellow worshippers – all somberly dressed – realized he was standing at the back of the room. Having, as usual, missed the memo regarding the dress code, Bobby was wearing cowboy boots, torn jeans, a hoodie, a black leather jacket, and what looked like a long-lost pair of Jackie Kennedy's sunglasses.

Specifically, he was attending the closing service of the day, Neilah... The Ark housing the holy scrolls of the Torah remains open for the entire service, and it is considered a great honor to be chosen by the rabbi to open it. This carries with it many blessings for the new year. The honor customarily goes to the temple's most generous donor – but not this time.

With his ancient eyes, Rabbi Levitansky scoured the congregation. At last, his gaze came to rest upon a solitary figure standing in the back of the room. He motioned the casually dressed fellow up to the pulpit, and up he came. Bob Dylan opened the Ark on Yom Kippur. "

MR. TAMBOURINE MAN - 1990 LIVE

I found another live performance with Dylan, Roger McGuinn and David Crosby singing Mr. Tambourine Man, written by Bob Dylan. He comes on stage a few minutes into the song. A surprise...

I sent it to Ken and got the following comment:

"just got 'round to watching the video (never seen it b4) & had a couple of impressions.

1. great

2. David Crosby evidently lives forever/ McGuinn tried his best to harmonize with Bob (whose voice never would have made it out of Greenwich Village if not for his poetry) as in

"one hand waving free - silhouetted by the sea..."

3. whether it is by the sea or in yr backyard or in yr living room - the wave is joy & freedom incarnate.

i imagine a woman in a full skirt - her holding one side for movement's sake, twirling by seashore w/ the other arm waving free - obviously forgetting today's troubles until tomorrow.

thanks - i really enjoyed it."

 

Mr. Tambourine Man.

 

 

 

 

MASTERS OF WAR - LYRICS

MASTERS OF WAR

Sung by Eddie Vedder at the 30 Year Anniversary Show in Madison Square Garden.

October 16, 1992

Come you masters of war
You that build the big guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy

You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly 

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
 But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
While the young people's blood Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world

For threatening my baby Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood That runs in your veins
How much do I know To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
That even Jesus would never Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could?
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul  

And I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I'll follow your casket
By the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand over your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

These words ring true today. cm

HAPPY BIRTHDAY + HAPPY NEW YEAR

I am still rock and rolling my way through my birthday and onward to Rosh Hashanah which starts tomorrow night at sundown. My friend Laurie will come over. I am making chicken soup now. Laurie will bring the matzoh balls. I have the round challah and gefilte fish for Laurie. I never liked gefilte fish, even in Bubbe's house. 

 "How terribly strange to be 70." Ken once called me and sang those lines to me, maybe on his 70th birthday.  

I just heard Eddie Vedder's version of Masters of War for the first time. Powerful. Anger. Dylan wrote that in 1963. Then Eddie Vedder sang it at the 30 Year Anniversary show with the appropriate anger the song needed.

The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, 1993 is new to me this week. Ok, I'm behind. What a line up ! Music royalty, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, The Band, Stevie Wonder, Tracy Chapman, Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders, Tom Petty with some Heartbreakers, Neil Young, Eric Clapton and more. Read more about it here. Read the liner notes. I'm still processing it. All to celebrate Bob Dylan's 30 years in the music business ! And he looks non-plussed throughout while all the other musicians look at him with reverence. It must have been very intense for him. 

I signed up for the Bob Dylan Newsletter on my 70th birthday. :-) They asked for your age range. I just made the cut...lol.

Per usual my thoughts go backwards on these holidays. Memories from being at Bubbe's house. My chicken soup is on the stove and is just like hers except I add fresh ginger along with the carrots and onions and garlic. More on that later.

Bubbe, 1962 (?) photo in the Sandler apartment on Stratton St. in Dorchester. The table is set, white tablecloth, in the living room. I think this was Passover. She died not too long after this picture was taken. 

FIRST DAY OF ROSH HASHANAH 9.19.20

TISHREI 5781

I just finished Rosh Hashanah services, via Zoom with the synagogue next door, TBZ, Temple Beth Zion. As a child I remember going to the Woodward Avenue shul with Shirley and sitting next to Bubbe, first row of the balcony where all the women sat. I loved it, I thought we had the best seat in the house :-) After services, we walked over to Bubbe's house for another delicious Rosh Hashanah lunch eating the food from the night before. The table groaned it was so full. Tzimmes, gefilte fish, chicken soup, brisket, chicken - I do not recall a green vegetable :-) For dessert, we had a choice of sponge cake or honey cake and rugulach. I still love rugulach. The cast of characters around the table: Bubbe, Zaidy, Shirley, me, Aunt Ruth and Ken. After eating, Ken and I played endless games of fish and war and ken always won. Somehow he always had the aces ! :-) And then we got sent home with lots of leftovers. Bubbe cooked enough for an army. Shirley once told me "there had to be enough food for leftovers because if all the food was eaten, Bubbe thought she didn't cook enough !"

1962-63

"Masters of War" is a song by Bob Dylan, written over the winter of 1962-63 and released on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in the spring of 1963. The song's melody was adapted from the traditional "Nottamun Town". Dylan's lyrics are a protest against the Cold War nuclear arms build-up of the early 1960s

VISIONS OF JOHANNA

I am rock and rolling my way into my seventh decade - the big 7 0.

With the help of Bob Dylan and poetry.....and with a little help from my friends. :-) (Joe Cocker) Ordinarily I would have gone out for lunch at Zaftigs for a spinach and goat cheese omelette, but not today with the virus. Small socially distanced gatherings......

 VISIONS OF JOHANNA

Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we're all doin' our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind

In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "D" train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's insane Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here

The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place
Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall
How can I explain? It's so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn

Inside the museums, infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, "Jeez, I can't find my knees" 

Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel

The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for him
Sayin', "Name me someone that's not a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him"
But like Louise always says "Ya can't look at much, can ya man?"
As she, herself, prepares for him
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain

Songwriters: Bob Dylan

Live Performance.

MEMORIES OF ZAIDYS

Ken and I have been talking about our Zaidys. We talked about the Zaidy from Bubbe and Zaidy in Dorchester. Years ago I remember talking to Roby about his father, my Zaidy. Somewhere I have some notes Roby sent me about growing up in 45 Harlem Street with Ruthie and Shirley. I will look for them. I posted the Sandler family geneology that Roby put together on my blog in 2009. I remember talking to him about them. I was taking notes and wrote a few things on the chart. Ken remembers Zaidy as a bitter man who passed the bitterness on to his daughters. Interesting, I did not see that when Shirley and I went there on friday nights. With one exception.

Zaidy sat at the head of the table. Every friday night we heard about how he went to school in Russia through snowdrifts six feet high. Sometimes, after he said the Kiddush he started talking very loud. The volume went up. I actually don't remember what he said. But I do remember what Bubbe said, "Morris, SHA !" And Morris did SHA ! He went silent. That was the only time I recall Bubbe raising her voice ! Ken reminded me that Zaidy's bitterness stemmed from the fact that when he was a child, he wanted to go further in school but was told no and he had to go to work instead. I do remember Zaidy talking about that. Shirley told me there was a belt on one of the kitchen chairs that was used to punish his children, i.e. Roby, Ruthie and Shirley.

ken said:

the man i spent many weekends with - Morris Josephs nee Josevovitz (sp) who every Friday after sundown put on his Tefillin at the kitchen table, alone as i watched from the other room & dovened & was kind, gentle, loving & all that stuff that follows.

he had a small deli in Chelsea that had old timers playing some old timey card games (a small fee for table rental) & sold 3 cigarettes for nickel when a pack cost 25 cents.

no wonder my father was a gambler.

my father was born to gamble & dance &

my mother loved to dance with gamblers.

This is the first time I heard about the name change from Josevovitz to Josephs. (which was a common thing when jewish immigrants landed in Ellis Island) And the first time I ever heard of Ken's paternal grandfather. Slowly, slowly, the pieces fall into place.

MALDEN YEARS: 1965-1975

OVERVIEW

It's time to write about The Malden Years. Shirley re-married. She married Julius Silverman, Bookmaker from Malden. So we moved to Malden. I like to call it "schlepped along for the ride." From 104 American Legion Highway we moved to 55 Wigglesworth street into a two family house. We had the bottom floor. I liked it. Instead of a two bedroom apartment we moved into a House ! With porches, front and back. We lived there while Shirley and Julius built a new house on 45 Lillian Road.

Shirley and Julius went to Hawaii on their honeymoon. Looking back, that was the happiest I ever saw Shirley. When they came back she put all the Hawaii pictures into a photo album. She did not say one negative thing about the trip. Vintage Shirley - happy.

That photo album must have gotten thrown away after the divorce. Barry told me she called him one night when he was living in Revere. I think she was drinking and she said, "If you want the pictures and family movies, come and get them." He did not. So she threw the history of our lives into the trash.

Shirley got pregnant with Barry while we lived on Wigglesworth Street. When I asked her many years later why she had a baby so quickly she said "I didn't think I could get pregnant at my age." Ok. She was in her 30's. Another question: another 'strange' answer. 

I'M YOUNGER THAN THAT NOW

Leaving one decade

into another..

My Back Pages

Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn

Crimson flames tied through my ears, rollin' high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads using ideas as my maps
"We'll meet on edges, soon, " said I, proud 'neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth, "rip down all hate, " I screamed
Lies that life is black and white spoke from my skull, I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers foundationed deep, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

Girls' faces formed the forward path from phony jealousy
To memorizing politics of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists, unthought of, though somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now

A self-ordained professor's tongue too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty is just equality in school
"Equality, " I spoke the word as if a wedding vow
Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand at the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I'd become my enemy in the instant that I preach
My existence led by confusion boats, mutiny from stern to bow
Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then I'm younger than that now

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Bob Dylan

Live with Bob Dylan, Roger McGuin, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Neil Young. 

Rock and Roll gold !

OLD FRIENDS/BOOKENDS 7 0

old friends

old friends

sat on their park bench like bookends 

a newspaper blowin' through the grass 

falls on the round toes 

of the high shoes

of the old friends

 

old friends 

winter companions, the old men 

lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sunset 

the sounds of the city sifting through trees 

settle like dust 

on the shoulders of the old friends

 

can you imagine us years from today 

sharing a park bench quietly?

"how terribly strange to be seventy" *

 

old friends 

memory brushes the same years 

silently sharing the same fear

 

time it was, and what a time it was, it was 

a time of innocence 

a time of confidences

long ago it must be 

i have a photograph 

preserve your memories 

they're all that's left you

simon and garfunkel, 1968, from the album, bookends.

kudos to ken, musicologist, for my remembering this song.... 

* riffing off of Shirley's chorus line, "isn't that strange ?"

listen to it here.

live from central park, 1981

CLASH OF THE TITANS

Last night I watched Clash of the Titans on TCM. (Turner Classic Movies). I love that movie starring Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Clare Bloom, Burgess Meredith and a young Harry Hamlin as Perseus who has to capture the head of Medusa in order to rescue Andromeda who is chained to a rock cliff. And he does rescue her in the grand style of Greek myths by swooping in riding the winged horse Pegasus causing the monster, the Kraken, to turn to stone - all special effects by Ray Harryhausen using stop-motion camera effects before CGI.

I watched it last night thinking of Shirley. The good Shirley. In Dorchester we would snuggle up and watch countless 'B' science fiction movies. She loved them and I did too. Them, Day of the Trifids, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Creature From the Black Lagoon, etc.

klaatu berada nikto

NEWTON MEMORIAL ARTS: CINDY SPITTEL

Below is the letter I sent to Cindy Spittel, Newton Memorial Arts and cc.'d Barry on it.


CAROL S. M.            architecture + design
1550 Beacon Street       #8L        617.734.5075    chanelkline@gmail.com

NEWTON MEMORIAL ART COMPANY, INC.
732 WALNUT ST.
NEWTON CENTRE, MA 02459

Attn. Cindy SPITTEL            Re: The Estate of Shirley Silverman

1.7.20

Cindy Spittel,

Please be advised I am  withholding payment of $ 1492.15 as the balance due for a Headstone for Shirley Silverman, pending Legal Litigation pursuant to the two Invoices you sent me.

I am filing a Complaint with the Attorney General's Office of Massachusetts.

I am filing a Complaint with the Funeral Consumers Alliance.

I am filing a Complaint with the FTC Funeral Rule.

I worked for two years with you to design the Headstone for my mother Shirley Silverman. We worked on it with the understanding it would be placed between SANDERMAN AND GEHR. It is not in that location.

See attached Complaint to the Attorney Generals Office.

You did not do your job. You will not treat my mother in this egregious manner. You will not treat me in this egregious manner.

Pending response from Attorney General's Office and Attorney.


Carol S. Miller
Architecture + Photography
617.734.5075

cc. Attorney General's Office, Massachusetts; Barry Silverman, Musician, (son of Shirley Silverman)

BARRY MARC SILVERMAN DYSFUNCTION

I learned today that Barry Silverman, my brother wrote a check to Newton Memorial Arts for the Balance Due on Shirley's headstone even though it is not in the right space. I told him to withhold it for the reasons outlined below.

I filed a Complaint with the Attorney General's Office in Boston against Newton Memorial Arts and the Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts in January 2020. Shirley's Headstone is not in the space it was designed to go between the headstones of Sanderman and Gehr. No one from JCAM or Newton Memorial Arts went to the Baker St. Cemetery in West Roxbury, Kopaigarod section to find the exact location of Shirley's gravesite. They did not do their jobs. 

Judith Kaplan from JCAM met me at the cemetery. She did not direct me to my mother's gravesite. I was measuring the space between Sanderman and Gehr. She did not locate my mother's gravesite at that time. That was her job ! I went with a friend and I have a witness.

I wrote a letter to the Monument company telling Cindy Spittel that I was withholding payment of the Balance Due, $1492.00 while I filed a Complaint with the Office of the Attorney General in Massachusetts. I sent a copy to my brother Barry Silverman. I told him NOT TO PAY the Balance Due.

Today I got a confirmation from the Attorney General's office that they received the Complaint I submitted online. I am working with my State Representative, Tommy Vitolo and the Attorney General's office. I sent the confirmation to Barry.

I have not heard from Barry since last October, 2019 when I originally saw that the headstone was not in the intended space. I asked him if he could speak to his Attorney re. what legal actions would be possible. He emailed back: "I emailed my Attorney. When I hear something I will let you know." I heard nothing from Barry until today ! He thinks he can outsmart and blow off everyone including me.

 I realized he had no interest in pursuing Legal Action. He does not care about our mother or me.  Cindy Spittel must have sent him an invoice and he paid it without consulting me or letting me know. Beyond words of dysfunction.

He paid the Balance Due to the monument company even though I told him to withhold it. Cindy Spittel outfoxed him, out maneuvered him. He paid her instead of hiring an attorney with that money and suing her for any money he paid on the Headstone and for $10,000.00 in damages of mental suffering, emotional distress, she did not do her job, and for interfering with the grieving process.

I know Barry longer than anyone else on the planet. He thinks he can treat women badly because he learned it from his father, bookie tough guy, Julius Silverman, and that includes his sister Carol. He thinks he can just blow me off like he did with other women in his life. Julius Silverman treated my mother badly after the divorce. Barry treated his ex-wife badly during his divorce. And he continues to treat me and our mother, like S**T.

I asked him why he did it.
No answer.
I asked him when he sent it.
No answer.

I am going to start writing about the Malden Years. It is not a pretty picture. Shirley walked into that marriage, a single working mother, upright, walking and vertical and beautiful. That is not how it ended.

Pictures to follow.

He undermined me.
He sabotaged me.
He paid for the Incompetence of Cindy Spittel.
He refused to get an Attorney to investigate our legal options.
Instead he paid Cindy Spittle an obscene amount of money for her Incompetence.

Terrible. Just terrible. Barely an inch to the right or the left. I don't even believe it is a space. It is a pathway. I designed the headstone to go between Sanderman + Gehr in the row behind her. Does anyone know an attorney I can consult to discuss my legal options ?

JOAN LICHTERMAN 10.19.42 - 7.28.20

My very dear friend Joan Lichterman departed the planet during the early morning hours of July 26th. She had lung cancer. The universe is a little bit dimmer today.

Joan was an ardent Activist for all sorts of causes, Disability Rights, Saving Elephants, her Union responsibilities for Worker Safety and others too numerous to mention.

I met Joan in Oakland, California at an RSI Support group which Joan was leading. (RSI: Repetitive Strain Injury) I was injured at my job, working on the computer all day. Joan guided me through the labyrinth of Workers Compensation, attorneys, doctors and Myofacial Trigger Point massage therapy. I wouldn't have made it through without help from Joan. 50 or 60 people attended those once a month meetings where Joan had an enormous display of handouts regarding everything one needs to navigate the 'system', workers comp., social security disability, finding a doctor, finding an attorney and finding good treatment providers.

Some friends left comments on the lotsahelpinghands website. I did not know how involved she was with Saving the Elephants. She made Facebook friends with people in Kenya and Uganda who are now creating a memorial for her. She provided resources for a friend to finish nursing school. Kind hearted and generous do not begin to cover it. Everywhere I look in my apartment, I see gifts from Joan; she mailed me a blender. I make smoothies every morning. She gave me a portable dish drain. She sent me a beautiful book on the "BARCELONA HAGGADOT: The Jewish Splendour of Catalan Gothic."

Her religion was Activism. Her last Facebook post was June 26th regarding Black Lives Matter. One of many posts on that topic even while she was ill.

Her friends in Oakland who took care of her said before she 'transitioned' she was very hopeful upon seeing thousands of people in the street protesting. In solidarity.

I put some Comments from lotsahelpinghands on this blog. Their words do justice to her and they were working with her on her latest Activist activities. She told me she was involved with Saving Elephants. I did not realize the extent of her contacts in Africa and her involvement with people for the cause.

PARK ST. T STOP, 2013

She did stay with me in 2013 for a couple of weeks when she attended a conference at MIT and visited some relatives. I am sad to report we had an argument about watching the Red Sox but we got over it and moved on, I am happy to say.

See Comments from friends in Africa below:

August 15, 2020

There’s been no activity for so long that I don’t think anyone is using the site. I did realize I could invite another person myself, so the first of my requests can be forgotten. Meanwhile, if anyone happens by, the community in Rugando, Uganda, has made progress on their memorial to beloved Joan. Here is the completed carving to be mounted in a statue next to one of the trees she planted to replenish their forests. 

Aug 10, 2020 at 10:21 am

https://www.facebook.com/100005757004731/posts/1475988739269679/?d=n The community in Uganda so dear to Joan has set up a memorial to her generous spirit. They chose her tree, one she purchased for a reforestation project, as center, and built a bench for contemplation around it. A regional sculptor is making an elephant statue they’ll install within the circle. It’s not a common practice to do this, but Joan is loved as an irreplaceable supporter. I thought you’d like to see how she’s being honored. 

August 1, 2020

Love to all who love Joan. Her absence leaves an odd and constant ache, and several shared friends in Kenya and Uganda are suffering her loss. I’d like to forward their requests and hope for swift response to the first two. It is important for her beloved friend, Orishaba Gracious, to know if there will be a burial, an essential ritual of closure in Uganda. Likely not, but I’d like to confirm and share with her any memorial or ceremony she might join from afar. Can she be added to this page? Joan has been in constant touch with her for the six years I’ve known them, and left resources for Grace to complete her higher degree in nursing. The community Joan has so passionately supported in Uganda (see Andrea’s beautiful tribute on this page) is setting up a tribute site in the village to honor Joan. They are setting aside a tree she planted several years ago and would like to put up a sign honoring her work there, including her dates of birth and death. Can anyone provide both? And last, Jamey Ponte, a Kenyan man (actually a partial ex-pat from Ohio) and Joan tried hard to her to Kenya over the last few years. As her health made her increasingly frail, he offered to accompany her on the plane, pay for her flight, and host her entire visit. She wanted so badly to see Kenya before she died, but finally was unable. She helped several people there in the communities Jamey lives and works in. Many people there would be glad to honor her generosity, and Jamey would like to honor her with a small memorial site. He’d like to include some treasured thing of Joan’s, or ashes if there’ll be any, to take to the beautiful Masaai Mara, where she dreamed of joining him for a wildlife safari. He lives in Ohio during the pandemic and would cover any costs getting things to him. When travel fully opens and he can return, he would take it on his flight home. Can anyone help me facilitate that? I can put you in direct touch with him.

AG

Andrea Glass

Jul 29, 2020 at 7:11 pm

My heart cracks open for the loss of my "Global March For Elephants and Rhinos" buddy who was a co-rganizer of the March in SF for 4 years. I appreciated her passion for "all things elephant" and for being such a powerful animal rights as well as human rights advocate! In the honor of Joan's unfolding memory as it continues to impact us, I am suggesting that people, if they so choose, make a donation to Joan's strongest elephant grassroots charity, "Nr Conservation and Development in Uganda started by an inspirational man, Arinetwe Moses, who does nature and wildlife conservation projects plus humanitarian work in communities next to wildlife areas. Moses told me on Messenger yesterday that Joan has been like a family member and looked upon as one of the villagers even though she didn't actually get to visit there--it was her dream! Joan was one of the founders of Nr Conservation and Development and was pivotal in helping Moses to get the requisite funding to get registered with the government in Uganda. The community organization has gotten elephant poachers to reform and to start alternative projects such as beehive fences to deter elephants from crop raiding and to harvest and sell the honey, created fish ponds for another food source, vegetable gardens to feed the community, weaving basket projects by the women to sell all over the world! Much of the money raised is for school tuition for the local children including Moses'. Also, Moses started a Pangolin Rescue Program and the community has saved over 40 Pangolins to date from traffickers! Moses told me that all this was done under the GUIDANCE and TUTELAGE of Joan and that "a pillar has been lost to his family, his village, and the whole region" from Joan's passing. If you feel so inspired as I continue to do, you can send any amount via PayPal to Katherine Denison at: kdcreate@bearmeadow.com

I WILL MISS YOU Joan and your immensity of HEART!

SHIRLEY'S BIRTHDAY

Today is my mother's birthday, following on the heels of her yahrtzeit last week. She would have been 93. She smoked two packs of cigarettes a day and lived to be 85. She defied the odds, naturally.

Aunt Ruth transitioned July 11th; her yahrtzeit is Tammuz 5 which oddly, according to the Jewish lunar calendar, corresponds to June 29th and Shirley passed away on June 28th. Aunt Ruth's birthday is July 14th.

My cousin Ellen sent me this picture dated 1967, "Dad with sisters.' I think it's the only picture of them together. And they are all gone now.

Shout out to Cousin Ellen !

SHIRLEY'S YAHRTZEIT

My mother passed away/transitioned on June 28, 2012. In the jewish calendar, it is 8 TAMMUZ, which is today.

"old age is a high price to pay for maturity" said Ken J. yesterday when we talked on the phone.

Meanwhile, Bob Dylan has appeared on the Billboard charts every decade since the '60's. He is doing good even at 79 ! Inspiration ! I have re-discovered him during this enforced isolation, watching live concerts that I missed. Now I have to listen to Visions of Johanna every day.

I have not blogged recently as I watched thousands of young people protest in the streets for three weeks in row. Finally ! It's the only way Change happens as I learned in the 60's and early 70's. They have picked up where we left off. Good.

And a lot of those confederate statues were pulled down. Good. As I said before, when you lose a war you do not get to have statues of your generals or fly your flag - because YOU LOST !

As I said before, the Civil War is not over. It is still playing out. America has reached a Reckoning on slavery. White people have to face it. It's uncomfortable to have those conversations but it is necessary.

RON + PAM'S ANNIVERSARY

Shout out to Ron and Pam on their 22 year anniversary ! I attended their wedding, held outdoors on Mount Tamalpais in Marin. And it was miraculous that I got to attend since it was about a week after my major surgery 'with a diagnosis of 'possible ovarian cancer stage 3'. Before the surgery Ron told me "you will be at the wedding'. He was right ! Also, I did not have ovarian cancer, consequently I am writing this blog post. :-)

He came with me to the Alta Bates hospital in Berkeley along with Michael and 'golden boy' Ken. It meant a lot to me having them as support. Somewhere I have pictures of that and when i find them I will put them on this post.

I just got off the phone with Ron and Pam after wishing them Happy Anniversary in Willits, albeit a week belated. I am not good with remembering dates, birthdays and anniversarys. They are. Every year I get a call on my birthday, september 17th and they sing me Happy Birthday. They are good people.

ANARCHY

Two nights ago I went to bed with images of the Minneapolis police station, precinct 3 (?) engulfed in flames by protestors (?) with no authority in sight, no police, no national guard, no community leaders. Anarchy. Last night, cities across America had massive protests for the death of George Lloyd who took a knee to his neck and died at the hand of a Minneapolis police officer with 18 complaints filed against him for using excessive force.

The Civil War is not over. When you lose a war you are not supposed to fly your flag. You have to take it down. When you lose a war you are not supposed to have statues erected of your generals.

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
the best lack all conviction, while the worst
are full of passionate intensity."

The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats.

NO LEADERSHIP.

SPACE X LAUNCH

Around 3:30 pm Elon Musk's Space X launched into space on its way to the International Space Station. (This is the same wunderkind entrepenueur who refused to keep his Tesla factory closed in Oakland to protect workers by threatening to take his business elsewhere.) Against the backdrop of a global pandemic and civil unrest. The current occupant attended the launch.

Not a word about the over 100,000 people who have died from Covid-19 or the violent demonstrations across almost a dozen U.S. cities, Boston, Denver, Atlanta, Oakland, Minneapolis, St. Paul, New York, San Francisco, Louisville, Chicago, L.A., etc. Protests are going on as I write this. Is it really a good idea to go into space when we haven't figured out how to behave on Earth ?

SHAVUOT
Today is the second day of Shavuot, the jewish holiday comemmorating the Giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. How ironic. On Shavuot we read the Book of Ruth. Ruth the Moabite says to Naomi, her mother-in-law, "Whither thou goest, I will go,  for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God;" And from Ruth we get to David.

Back to Leonard Cohen, Dylan, Joan Baez.
ANTHEM.
A HARD RAIN'S A GONNA FALL, PATTI SMITH.
ELEGY FOR JANIS JOPLIN, LEONARD COHEN . 
MURDER MOST FOUL. BOB DYLAN. 

After two and a half months in Lockdown, STAY HOME, WEAR A MASK, PHYSICALLY DISTANCE 6 FEET APART, young people are pouring into the streets, some wearing masks but no physically distancing. I see a spike in cases and deaths looming. Two enemies, one invisible. Armed police in L.A. and Chicago are pointing their guns at demonstrators in tank tops, sports bras and jeans.

DESOLATION ROW. , BOB DYLAN

This generation, the ones in the street, have no music. 

Protests have gone on all day long across the country. No Leadership in sight. Just the protestors and the media, CNN. NO LEADERSHIP in Corporate America. CNN headquarters was attacked last night in Atlanta.

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH, STEPHEN SILLS, BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD, 1967. 

CHELSEA HOTEL #2, LEONARD COHEN, , LIVE, 2008


NIGHTFALL  8:17 PM

CURRENT OCCUPANT FANS THE FLAMES

The current occupant fanned these flames. Why is there no leadership ? Rotten at the top. Going into my 70th decade, I never saw anything like this VOID - no one is talking to those young protestors. No community leaders, no religious leaders, no advocates If they are, I don't see it. Social media; they are organizing on Facebook and Twitter.  It is a diverse crowd, black, white, brown. They have the internet and cell phones. The early 21st century is not going so well. Orwellian.

CURRENT OCCUPANT quotes:

Charlottesville:Re. White Nationalists marching with tiki torches and swastikas.  There are fine people on both sides. WHAT ?!?!

Brown people from Mexico are rapists and murderers.

Women: you can grab them by the p***y.

ABDICATED POWER DURING A NATIONAL CRISIS WITH SILENCE.


 

CORONAVIRUS DIARIES - SURPRISE PHONE CALL

One good thing happened during the pandemic. I got a phone call from my cousin Ken on Saturday. We were out of touch. It was so good to hear his voice and talk to someone I know since childhood. We covered a range of topics. He is in Florida. He has become a snowbird dividing his time between California and Florida. He told me about the time he visited with Ellen and Robert around the time Uncle Bob/Roby got his Talmud Torah award. Brought back many memories.

Happy Monday ! I just participated in a live Zoom exercise class from the fitness instructor in my building. It was really good to get up and have some 'virtual' connection with a group of people at 10:00 am. We are starved for connection around here - it was so good to see so many familiar faces.

I was able to participate in some Zoom classes for Dragon and Tiger Qigong and I did a four workshop on enhancing the immune system with Dragon and Tiger movements as well as learning about chinese herbs that enhance the immune system. I have not been able to get my weekly acupuncture treatments since Lockdown began. Dragon and Tiger Qigong has been a good substitute. I learned the movements in Tai Chi and Qi gong correspond to the organs in the body as acupuncture meridien points also do. I get a feeling of relaxation in body and mind plus, like acupuncture, it enhances the Immune System.

THE MILLER REPORT 5.18.20

I tune in to Governor Cuomo's news conferences every day since this pandemic started. He is as close to being 'presidential' as we have in America today, in terms of government officials. He just had a British scientist speaking from London (I think) during the daily press briefing. Then he said, "other countries have gone through re-opening and we can learn from them." Wow ! Willing to learn from countries who are going through the same thing ! What common sense ! 
"That's what it means to be NY smart, tough, and loving."

I wish Gov. Cuomo was running for president - he shows all the requisite qualities necessary; leadership skills, reliance on science and FACTS. The exact opposite of the current occupant.

THE PSYCHO NEWS

THE MILLER REPORT:
CORONAVIRUS RANT OF THE DAY

1. Vice President Mike Pence is not quarantining for 14 days despite being exposed to the virus by a staffer.

2. The president, the current occupant refuses to wear a mask.

3. The Navajo tribe in South Dakota has set up checkpoints to control who comes onto their Reservation. The Governor ordered them to stop. They won't. If smallpox didn't wipe them out, maybe the Coronavirus will. They do not have proper medical facilities to treat coronavirus, no ICU.

More LIES from today's "white house press conference":
(the press will not call them LIES, I will)

1. The current occupant stated the U.S. leads the world in testing. NO WE DON'T.
2. The current occupant refuses to wear a mask + does not follow his own CDC Guidelines while working next to white house staff who have tested positive.
3. The current occupant stated his administration has done a fantastic job distributing PPE. NO THEY HAVE NOT. THAT IS A LIE.

I think it was Lincoln who said "you can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time." 

Again, the media should stop covering these Big Brother press conferences. Why should Americans be forced to listen to these nauseating lies just because he is the current occupant ?

He did not do his job.
He continues not to do his job.
Ordinarily, when someone does not do their job, they get FIRED.

INCOMPETENCE 

ANALYSIS 

We are witnessing the culmination of Big Business/Corporate America complete takeover of the government in the U.S.A. 

The prior stimulus packages did not go to small businesses, just Big Business Interests.

The current occupant refused to invoke the Defense Production Act two months ago to produce masks and ventilators because the Chamber of Commerce was against it. If you have two eyes and two ears you can see that the only interest the current occupant has is HIS OWN BUSINESS INTERESTS, i.e. hotels and golf courses !

The U.S. Senate is complicit by acting as Enablers of his agenda.

Chief Justice John Roberts stated during the Impeachment Hearings: " Gentlemen, I advise both sides to remember they are in the 'greatest deliberative body in the world'. I was yelling at the T.V. "No it isn't. It used to be. I hope it is again. But right now it is NOT." Just a bunch of sniveling cowards in the Senate with no backbone.

And finally, who is dying from coronavirus ? Women, black, brown and poor people are dying in higher numbers, 'essential workers' who still have to go to work, get minimum wage pay, no benefits, no sick time, no vacation, delivery workers, transit workers...." What is the white house response ? "Open up businesses, get back to work." Without a strategy, without a plan, delegating responsibility to governors of 50 states to deal with this biblical plague.  The current occupant takes no responsibility. I never heard a president say "it is not my responsibility" about anything in my lifetime.

Whose agenda goes forward ?An all-white, male, conservative right wing agenda. The virus has exposed how they will stop at nothing to retain power.

And the unkindest cut of all, 
THIS WAS SELF INFLICTED. 

DUE TO INCOMPETENCE 

THE END

For insight as to how this virus started please see: 

Murder Most Foul: The Perps Behind Covid-19 by Ronnie Cummins . He is co-founder of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and Regeneration International, and the author of “Grassroots Rising: A Call to Action on Food, Farming, Climate and a Green New Deal.”

Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, and CDC Director, Dr. Redfield are all mentioned in a startling, unfavorable light regarding involvement in virus manipulation in labs, including the Wuhan Lab in China.

Corporate America: They really are trying to kill us.

The Food Industry - Big AG
The Healthcare aka as the Disease Care Industry
The Pharmaceutical Industry - BIG PHARMA

MICHAEL'S YAHRTZEIT, MOTHER'S DAY, BARRY'S BIRTHDAY

INTENSE PSYCHO-DRAMA AKA GRIEF + LOSS

PENSACOLA, AT THE BEACH, 1998

Today is Michael's yahrtzeit, five years have passed. During this time of social isolation, I miss him and think about him more than ever. He was always supportive and encouraging to me and my endeavors, more than anyone else. ("You don't know what you got till it's gone." Joni Mitchell.) I talked to Michael two weeks before he unexpectedly passed away. He told me he was moving into the house he built. I asked him how he could do that without an Occupancy Permit. He said his father was helping him get the Permit and then he and his father would move in. I missed him so much at that point, I said, can I please move in too ? Without missing a beat, "he said, sure, come ahead. How many cubes do you have, count them and let me know so I can figure out where to put them."

RAILING AT THE UNIVERSE, REVERE BEACH

Today is Mother's Day, always a difficult day. Now that I am approaching the big 7 0 , I have a different perspective.  I treasure the memory of her offering to buy me ballet shoes shortly before she was gone. She reached back 50 years for that reference to The Dorchester Years. That came out of left field.

Her headstone was installed at the Baker Street cemetery but not in the space it was designed to be in. I went to the cemetery back in October to see it. I got the second shock of my life to see an empty space ! The stone was designed for placement between SANDERMAN and GEHR.

I went to the cemetery to measure the space between SANDERMAN and GEHR in the summer of 2018. I met Judith Kaplan from the Jewish Cemetery Association at the cemetery. She saw me measuring the width and height of SANDERMAN and GEHR.

Instead, in October, 2019, I discovered it in another space, 'shoehorned' in between two stones with barely an inch to the right and left.Whoever saw anything like that ?!?!This is unacceptable. Newton Memorial Arts did not get their final payment. Instead they got litigation.

I filed a Complaint with the Attorney General's office in Massachusetts against the monument company, Newton Memorial Arts and the Jewish Cemetery Association. They did not do their jobs. I planned to go, in person, to the Attorney General's office in Boston  with all my supporting documentation for the Complaint. The coronavirus and lockdown orders prevented me from going. Depending on when Massachusetts opens for business, that's the next step.

May 12th is Barry's birthday. The last time I spoke to him was back in October. He told me he sold his house in Canton and bought a ranch in Saugus and got back together with his girlfriend Carol.  I do not know the 'adult' Barry, only the little boy. I was a second mother to him. Michael was always very good to Barry and they talked on the phone quite a bit. It was while talking to Michael in 2012 that he mentioned my mother was in the hospital. I asked him how he knew that - "I was talking to Barry." Then I had to call Barry and find out where she was. Three weeks later she was gone.

I asked Barry to contact his attorney regarding the Headstone issue. He said he would. I never heard from him.

Maybe now's the time to write about The Malden Years. Shirley walked into that marriage, upright, walking and vertical, a single-working mother before it was 'popular to be one' as she put it during the Gloria Steinhem years. That is not how she came out of it. Enter Julius Silverman, stage left.

Childhood drawing, Barry Marc Silverman, Malden, MA