Vagabonds Drum&Bugle Corp1963

Vagabonds Drum&Bugle Corp1963, originally uploaded by Reva49.

I belonged to this group all too briefly in high school. Didn't know about them until my junior year and membership ended at age 21 because it was technically a JUNIOR d&r corp.
At that time it was the Pennsauken Vagabonds, and though it's no longer in Pennsauken it's still thriving somewhere a little south of there---I forget where exactly. Most of those I knew came from other areas around Pennsauken, but I never got to know them very well because I wasn't driving yet, so couldn't get around all that much. Anyway, college ended most of my friendships, as we all split up and headed in different directions. Too bad. It was my fault; I should have realized then that life wasn't going to be a series of interchangeable people, to be befriended and left behind casually, like the stuffed animals in one's room. Unlike those tchatchkes, people don't stay put until you decide to ring them up again. Sigh. I lost so MANY of them.
At any rate, this entry is an introduction to my NanoWrimoBlogMo (if I hadn't mentioned it in a previous post), and I'm hoping you'll have a look at it sometime. God help me, but I've decided to begin with a retelling of my senior year in high school, even though I KNOW semi-autobiographical novels can be risky. The truth is, it's been almost 40 years now since we graduated, and so many of the posts I've read on Classmates.Com seem to confirm the fact that people just forget sooo much over time. Naturally, I've changed everyone's names, but I don't intend to write a strictly factual account at all; after all, none of us would remember anything the same way even so, as we filter the world through our own experiences and biases, and no two people have the same exact experiences and biases---not even siblings in the same family!
So I've decided to write about MY "take" on a particular teacher whose class really changed my life. NOT another cheap tear-jerker knockoff on "Goodbye Mr. Chips", I hope, and DEFINITELY not another one of those maudlin "poor misunderstood teenager could have been successful if she hadn't been so mistreated" scribblings. In order to be fair to everyone, I MUST give myself the most "warts" of all, and my character will be sneaky, dishonest, etc. at times---just as we all are when we think no one's looking. Yes, I'll be honest about myself and others, but I will try always to give others the benefit of the doubt, and you must remember that NONE of the characters will be totally based on one person; as I'm writing "backwards", so to speak, I'll be reinterpreting events in the light of my adult experiences---both as teacher and parent---and so I will be re-creating characters as much as describing them. Also, "my" character and that of my "teacher" will reflect my teaching experiences and the many students I had over the years, which will effectively "DE-autobiographicize" (I'm coining a new word here, and I know it's probably not all that good) the novel to a great extent. I'm not restricting myself to what "really" happened, or in what order. If I feel the story demands changes in certain places, I'll do it. For example, while I have no way of knowing whether or not the teacher's husband WAS drafted, if I feel the story benefits from having him drafted I'll do so. If I feel a certain character is best chosen for a certain statement or act, even if in reality it had been someone else, I will do that, too. Sometimes an author is forced to "condense" characters, as it were, in order to avoid a confusing narrative where hundreds of "dramatis personae" are zipping in and out of each paragraph faster than the reader can tell them apart. One thing I'm NOT is one of those Russian novelists who can have 400 characters and each one is an individual! I may not be terribly talented (or, if that modifier is taken LITERALLY, maybe so), but I'll try to write as well as I can---keeping in mind, of course, that writing "well" means different things in different genres. And I have NO intentions of "getting even" with anyone. God knows I've said and done my share of thoughtless, sometimes spiteful, things, so who am I to fault anyone else?
One last thing, however: as every novel must have it's Antagonist, I've chosen the Art teacher for mine, but in NO way do I intend to imply that this teacher is Mrs. Kellaway, who did teach Art at that time. I have deliberately taken great pains to make this character completely different from ANY teacher I have had. Mrs. Kellaway was a great teacher, and although there are some unavoidable comparisons between my character and her, I want to stress that she would NEVER have said or done ANY of the things my character does. Yes, I have known people like this character, and like all the rest she is a composite, but she resembles no one person and is intended to be merely a "fictional creation" only. I can't assert that my novel is entirely a "work of fiction", with the usual disclaimers that "all characters, etc, are purely creations of the author, and all resemblances are purely unintentional", but I've done my best (I hope) to make it as "fictonal" as possible. I suppose there is a legal formula for stating all this, but at least I've been honest here. I hope you like it.
Oops, almost forgot: my other blog is ---www.likemakingkishka.blogspot.com

If Dr. Sidney Barasch,ztl Had Been Elijah...

If Dr. Sidney Barasch,ztl Had Been Elijah..., originally uploaded by Reva49.

This photo isn't Dr. Barasch, but he looks like him. Barasch taught Psych at California State College(now Cal U of Pa) back in the late 60s-early 70s, and I had him for a course or two. He was a good teacher, and I was saddened to hear he'd died some time ago. I figured this might be a good way to memorialize him. He'd have gotten a kick out of the photo, I think.
He was born here (the only one of his seven other siblings, he said), to devoutly Orthodox parents in 1913, but as his father died when the boy was 13, young Sidney probably never finished high school, and as a first-generationer American most likely viewed his religion with disdain. Drafted in WWII, his tests showed him to be extremely bright, and so he was transferred into MI. After the war, he probably finished school and went on to college. Psych being rather militantly atheistic at that time (and most likely still), he jettisoned his religious beliefs entirely. Unfortunately, I have a sneaking hunch he was attracted to Christianity, although he never formally converted---to MY knowledge, at any rate. Sadly, he and his wife were never able to have children. She was an English "war-bride", and whether or not she was Jewish herself I never knew. To me, he epitomized the "self-hating Jew", and I can't blame him for it, really. You see, living in an overwhelmingly Christian society as we do, it's almost impossible NOT to be like Barasch.
As for me, I've no trouble with being different because I CAME from a Christian background, and know WHY Judaism is the truer religion of the two. (Christians, please don't take offense, as your websites freely tout Jesus, so we Jews hould have the same freedom as well) Born Jews, however, are constantly beseiged with confusing and conflicting messages via society. Children, especially, are bombarded with typically American "it's unpatriotic to be different, etc" messages all the time, but Christians never think that these messages are wrong. Oh no, to Christians, anyone who "denies" Christ will go to hell, and they constantly babble on and on about their so-called "Prince of Peace" and how he "loves" everyone. Yeah, he "loves" us sooo much that he can't accept dissent. Funny, I don't remember HIM converting to Christianity. Do you?
This religious "terrorism" (yes, it IS terrifying to a child, and even to an ADULT at times---witness the terror experienced by poor Franz Werful, the author of Song of Bernadette, when he was on his deathbed and suffered needless paroxysms of fear over his refusal to convert from Judaism) is what's REALLY "unAmerican" here. I'm SICK of being "loved" by these smug hypocrits who can't WAIT for the "Rapture" so they can watch all of us "sinners" burn in hell. Are you shocked? Good! How about actually READING your bible, for a change? You'll be surprised to find that NOWHERE in it does God "reject" the Jews as his "chosen people". That crap came later, I'm afraid.
Am I angry? You bet! I really must thank all of you "loving" Christians for poisoning my SON with your garbage. He's so afraid he'll go to hell if he stays Jewish that I'm ready to tear out my hair! Thanks, Doris, for all that preaching you did on the bus when he was only five years old and trusted you. I should have reported you, but I thought it might have been over-reacting and so I didn't. Of course, reporting you would have been considered terribly "unAmerican" by our "loving" Christian neighbors.
And that's how it is today, in Republican Right-wing America. Don't you just LOVE it?

Blundering Right Along...

A Little Photo-Magic!, originally uploaded by Reva49.

FINALLY! I managed to publish my web page---successfully, after about a million previous attempts---a few minutes ago. Boy, what a lotta work! Still, it was worth it. Now I get to rant in TWO places instead of just one. Actually, though, it's more fun to post here. More freedom for us "html-illiterates", for one thing. Also, Shira Salome gave me the url for the new counter at the bottom of this page. Please read her blog "On The Fringe" here on Blogspot; she is a gold mine of Jewish knowledge. And there are several other Jewish blogs here as well, which I wasn't aware of until she informed me of them. I've GOT to check them out soon.
This election is getting so nasty I'm about ready to shoot BOTH candidates. Edwards went WAY over the line when he chided Cheney about having a gay daughter the other night. Let the Republicans do the mud-slinging, I say. First of all, they're better at it, and it only hurts the Democrats when THEY try slinging it back. Wouldn't it be nice if candidates could talk about the ISSUES, for a change? Sadly, mud-slinging gets results. Worse, people tend to remember the DIRT better than the truth. I happened to catch Fox News earlier this evening, and the topic was WMD or, rather, the LACK thereof (which was finally admitted OFFICIALLY after all this time), which SHOULD have made me happy---except that one of the guests smugly reminded the audience that this belated admission probably wouldn't hurt Bush's re-election at all. Sigh. Yep, that's what he said. In essence, folks, what Fox (and the Republicans) evidently believe is that we're all a bunch of morons. Well, I shouldn't really be so partisan; I suppose Democrats believe that, too, but THEY aren't in power right now. I'm going to get ulcers over this election, I swear. Is it just me, or do YOU feel uneasy about the way our government's become so authoritarian of late? Sometimes I fear the Republicans are terrified enough of losing that they'd do almost ANYthing to win this one. I do fear the Supreme Court will meddle with THIS election as well, given half a chance. If this gets any worse, I may even be forced to join (gasp!) the ACLU! Of COURSE they're a bunch of loonies, but at least they FIGHT for our Constitutional rights. Okay, so I screamed when they wanted to allow the Nazies to march through Skokie. They were right, technically. And I'd scream AGAIN if they tried something like that nowadays. Nevertheless, without them we'd be hamstrung (you should pardon the expression). Maybe I should just go to bed, but this ain't no dream. Can you believe it? I'm actually homesick for those crazy Cold War days when at least the Rabid Republicans (not all of them, just the far right) had "god-less" COMMUNISM to blather about, instead of us harmless Democrats, Liberals, and aging ex-hippies. Geez, I was more conservative back in COLLEGE than today. America was never about "ideology" or "doctrinal purity". Under the Republicans, since Reagan, politics has become a kind of twisted RELIGION---"Politico-Christianity", if you will. How any Jew can be a Republican TODAY amazes me. Maybe the party will change over time, go back to its populist roots, but not for the near future, I'm afraid. Besides, far too many American Jews feel that America is somehow "exempt" from Jewish history. The German Jews felt that way, too, back in 1933. God help us if we're heading in THAT direction! Having grown up "on the other side", I KNOW how Christians (not all, surely) feel about Jews and Jewish "dominance". Isreal exists, in their minds, only for the sake of the Second Coming (he couldn't get it right the FIRST time? Some "messiah"). As far as I'm concerned, Republicans are "false friends". Sure, the Democrats and Left-Liberals aren't so friendly EITHER, but as that German rabbi quipped when he was elected to the Reichstag back in the 1800s (and miffed the rightist parties when he chose to sit with the leftists): "Jews HAVE no 'rights'." Here, Jews DO, but we'd better watch over them or they may suddenly be "re-interpreted" one of these days. Thank God for personal web pages and blogs! And VOTE this November, okay?

Mrs.D Again

Mrs.D.PNG, originally uploaded by Reva49.

This is a better pic of my best teacher, which I "watercolored". One of the reasons I'm posting her photo again is because, this being an election year, I think she might like to be remembered as a staunch advocate of voting. I'd be flabbergasted indeed to learn that she'd become lackadaisical about elections, considering she's now a lawyer. Frankly, if she were to run for office, I'd be tempted to move so I could vote for her.
That said, I'd like to remind everyone about this election. Whether or not you support Bush or the Republican agenda, NO president can effectively govern without a mandate from the electorate, and our current history of less than 50% of the electorate bothering to vote is disgusting! If this election is anything like LAST time, one vote could decide it---maybe even YOUR one vote. Forget about the conspiracy theories, the shameful partisan intervention by the Supreme Court, or those "pregnant" chads; if more of us had voted, and been more careful about marking our ballots (yes, I know those "butterflies" were confusing, and I'm sure that SOME hanky-panky occured in black districts, as I lived in Florida for 3 years under Democrats, and it was just as crooked then as now) we might have had a president who WASN'T so stubborn and self-righteous about his decisions. I don't mean Gore, either. After all, can you BLAME Bush? If he thinks we don't care what he does, why should HE care what we think. As far as HE'S concerned, since we didn't bother to vote then obviously we need to be told what to do, what to think, and when to shut up. Face it, people, if we act like children we're going to be TREATED as such by our leaders. Democracy can't survive when the electorate is too complacent to bother pulling a lever every four years, and governments (whether Democrat, Republican or Totalitarian) are basically in the business of staying in power---forever, if possible. Bad enough the endless partisan bickering and mutual sabotage between our two parties in Congress, but for "WE The People" to just let it all happen, clucking our tongues in disgust while our government goes into gridlock over such petty squabbles, stupidly refusing to do the ONE thing that might break this stalemate, then we might WELL "[get] the government [we] deserve", and sooner than we think, too.
Remember, as Mrs.D was wont to warn US some 37 years ago (in a far more "gentler, kinder" America, DESPITE the Cold War and Vietnam)"If you don't vote, then you have no right to complain." She also reminded us that governments always exempt themselves from the Rule Of Law, that they lie as a matter of course, and that we can only know what they allow us to. I thought her cynical back then, but now I know she was right. Democracy might not be perfect (no form of government ever is) but if we're too lazy to DEFEND our Constitutional rights, we will have no one to blame but OURSELVES should we lose them. Think about that.
Thanks again, Mrs.D, for all you taught us. I haven't forgotten, and I haven't missed an election since.