Today 3-30-25

It's your birthday, Bing.

Not a big thing.

You smile and say;

It's just another day.

But when those kids of ours clock another year;

From you, we're sure to hear.

Cookies, candles and cake;

Love lives from the moment you awake.

Not taking for granted, any single moment in time;

Because this time is for all time.

Ingredients carefully chosen as you bake;

Every measure you take;

Because in retrospect we just might find;

Those little gestures, while they are so very kind;

Are sweeter than sugar and as good as gold.

Tastes to remember until we are old.

"Don't know why I love you like I do

I just do." 

 

A New Poem

 

Discontent

What? How absurd, 

You forgot your user name and password!

Click the bate;

You won't have to wait.

It's FREE, for a while anyway:

If you just act today.

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Try back after a while.

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You don't remember? 

Just log in. 

Sign up. Sign on. Let's begin.

Operators are standing by. 

Just kidding. You know why.

Would you mind completing a brief questionnaire?

Are you still there?

We've got a great net promoter score, you know.

Our Algorithm clearly shows... 

Nothing but AI. 

Do all the humans have to die?

Once we were worried about seats on the bus.

What about the rest of us?

Billionaire. Oligarch. Narcissist.

Not a good time to be a helpless Pacifist!

What do you mean - great?

OMG I hope is not too late.

Humanity. Tranquility. Civility. 

Just looking for some Harmony. 

All we are saying is: Give Peace a Chance 

Give Peace a Chance.

Trite but True.

What can we do?

Sorry Gen Z. 

Afraid it might just be up to thee.

 

 

Immigrants, Ashcan and Grief at SLAM

 

In the City Park c. 1934 Raphael Soyer - The artist came to New York City in 1912 as one of the many Jewish immigrants who fled persecution and violence in Russia. 

Girl with a Dag, 1914 by Frank Weston Benson (American 1862-1951). Like many artists in his generation he left his teaching duties there to enjoy Summers painting  en plein air. His Summer home was in North Haven, Maine.

Woman Standing Near a Pond 1880 by Edward Mitchell Bannister (American 1828-1901) The artist, an African American stated the descrimination he eperienced multiplied his artistic struggles ten-fold. He became one of the premier landscape artists of his day. He won a bronze at the Philadelphis Centenniel Exposition in 1876.  

Portrait of Charlotte Cram, 1900 by John Singer Sargeant (Ameican born Italy 1856-1925) Painted in his London studio of 7 year old Charlotte.

Young Woman in Green c. 1915 by William J. Glackens (1870-1938) Glackens, a Central high school friend from Philadelphia Alfred C Barnes gave Glackens $20,000 to purchase Art in Paris (he returned with over 30 pieces - the beginning of the infamous Barnes Collection). Glackens was one of the original EIGHT that were of the Ashcan School (lead by Robert Henri and including Prendergast, Lawson, Sloan, Luks)  

Smelt Brook Falls, 1937 by Marsden Hartly (American1877-1943) Hartley lived with Mason family in Nova Scotia when, in 1936, two of his grown sons and a cousin drown in a boating accident. Channeling grief in a series of brooding landscapes and seacapes of which this is one. 

Houston Street, 1917 by George Luks (1867-1933) Luks and others like him were often called the Ashcan School because their works included the grays and soot that spread over the streets. 

Road Down the Palisades c. 1911 by Ernest Lawson (1873-1939) Characteristic of his best landscapes with thickly applied paint the Hudson River is seen beyond the road. 

The Tenth Street Studio, 1880 by William Meritt Chase (1848-1916)  Chase was known as an exponent of Impressionism and as teacher. He established the Chase School which later became the Parsons School of Design.

Betalo Rubino, Dramatic Dancer, 1916 by Robert Henri (Ameican 1865-1929) Henri, a teacher and painter as a young man studied in Paris and identified strongly with the Impressionists. He was born Robert Henry Cozad and was a central figure in the Ashcan School of American Realism (a movement in stark contrast to the idealized and romantized depictions of the Gilden Age. 

Bat Mitzvah

 

Sally likes to orchestrate and organize things. 

The Rabbi at Temple Reyim notes the joy it brings.

Family and friends bear witness on this day.

The girl enters adulthood in her own special way.

Apps and micro brew at Trillium - hearty;

Newton is abuzz, while Boston reenacts a tea party

Shaboozey and more on an art makers' space dance floor

Into the night, you couldn't ask for more.

We all know it's all about you;

But - What will baby sister do?

I'm sure it will be no surprise; 

By your example, she too will rise.

Time does fly, or so it seems; 

I want to thank the Academy for all it means.

When it's Nora's turn to take the spotlight;

Once again we'll dance into the night. 

Note: Sam and Norman were brothers. They married Toby and Muriel, respectively. Sam and Toby beget: Randy, Lynn and Deborah. Norman and Muriel beget: Peggy, Jane and Hope. Peggy married Bill and they became parents to Sydney. Sydney married Tal - Now they are parents to Bat Mitzvah girl Sally and her younger sister Nora. Mazel Tov, Sally!

Bill Schwartz & Akiva Gross (grandfathers), Max and Perry Schatzow (cousins); Caroline Wexler & Dave Podolsky (NYC and NoFo friends); Kate Leffel, Adele Kudish, Bethany Wexler (NY friends); Rachel Jessen (aunt), Brett Kaufman (Tal's best friend); Mimi Ellis (NYC/NoFo friend); William Cohen, Jane Stevens, Jed Cohen, Harrison Cohen Stephanie Manning (aunts and uncles); Dalia Kliman, Oren Levin, Natalie Menipaz, Violet Segall and other Schechter friends); Lindsey Desey, Ben Morgan, Erica Zendell (cousins); Allan Wexler and Beth & John Wittenburg, Eve& Mike Katz (Tal's cousins); Peggy and Bill Schwartz (nana & pop pop); Sydney & Tal (parents) SALLY GROSS (Bat Mitzvah girl) 

TORAH READERS - 1-7

Nora Gross (sister)

Note: Shabot Shalom! Temple Rayim! In Hebrew, the word reyim means friends, bat mitzvah means daughter of the commandments - at age 12 girls take on the responsibilities of a Jewish adult.