tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post2207734575817623923..comments2024-03-22T14:13:55.418-07:00Comments on wmtc: friends and family road trip reunion: day thirteen: portland: books, street art, foodlaura khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-8955219399612124862021-08-08T14:03:40.117-07:002021-08-08T14:03:40.117-07:00I know only the cover of that book. It telegraphs ...I know only the cover of that book. It telegraphs a book I shouldn't read.<br /><br />Your description reminds me of Rory Stewart's "The Places in Between" -- a walk across Afghanistan, and an ultimate dog rescue. A beautiful and very painful book.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/books/review/11cover_bissel.html" rel="nofollow">Review in NY Times</a>laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-50834587526893348532021-08-08T13:58:46.761-07:002021-08-08T13:58:46.761-07:00You may have come across 'Craig and Fred' ...You may have come across 'Craig and Fred' by Craig Grossi--the war parts are unpleasant, but the rest of it is perhaps the ultimate dog rescue story and, perhaps sadly, the two are inextricable.<br /><br />Bangor has a walk-on in the book because when the Forever War was in highest gear, the last bit of the USA troops saw was Bangor International Airport (BGR)(the old Dow AFB), a stop for refueling. And those who returned again saw Bangor first. johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-12133896331357132542021-08-08T07:49:10.583-07:002021-08-08T07:49:10.583-07:00You are cracking me up this morning.
My mother ha...You are cracking me up this morning.<br /><br />My mother has a cousin who is an artist, who lives in a remote area somewhere on the Maine coast. My mother has traveled to see her a few times, as has one my nieces, on her own. I know these family members flew into Bangor, and Mother's Cousin met them and drove them "very far out". So says my mother, who has absolutely no sense of time or direction, and declares every drive either "we were there 1-2-3" or "it was a long ride, very far out". <br /><br />Because of this, I know there is at least one other Jewish person in Maine, besides you. :)laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-86615148209900975262021-08-08T07:34:24.614-07:002021-08-08T07:34:24.614-07:00Huh! You thought Bangor Maine, the Queen City, wa...Huh! You thought Bangor Maine, the Queen City, was some boondocks, podunk, eastbumfuck, williwags, muskeg backwater! I'll have you know that Bangor is the third largest city in <i>all of Maine!</i>johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-8671970432987631562021-08-08T07:26:14.696-07:002021-08-08T07:26:14.696-07:00Early 20th Century Bangor was a hub of the lumber ...Early 20th Century Bangor was a hub of the lumber trade and attracted Jewish peddlers of clothing, ironmongery, dry goods, notions, illegal liquor, leather goods, and so on--and those people in turn attracted other Jews to open groceries, delis, bakeries to cater to them. By midcentury, the children of those peddlers and shopkeepers owned shoe factories, tanneries, downtown stores, woolen mills and had built both a Conservative and an Orthodox shul, facing each other across York St. (The eventual Reform congregation, arriving well into the 20th Century, was relegated to buying the defunct Christian Science church for its synagogue. And who says G-d has no sense of humor!)<br /><br />The rabbi I mentioned, mainly by force of will and his charismatic personality, for decades kept the Orthodox community vibrant with regular minyans, a mikvah, kosher groceries, a pipeline to a NYC yeshiva where our better and most observant students often went. He was a rare man.johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-914819722290305202021-08-08T06:32:05.249-07:002021-08-08T06:32:05.249-07:00Ha!
Very interesting! This may be the first time...Ha! <br /><br />Very interesting! This may be the first time you've mentioned this on wmtc. It's interesting (to me) that there ever was an Orthodox or Conservative Jewish community in Bangor, Maine.laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-37254944231163747182021-08-07T21:21:40.979-07:002021-08-07T21:21:40.979-07:00Reform? John, didn't you mean to write Conser...Reform? John, didn't you mean to write Conservative? <br /><br />Yeah, you did mean to, and your failure is inexplicable!johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-45680605099136784472021-08-07T19:24:27.886-07:002021-08-07T19:24:27.886-07:00Hebrew Academy of Bangor--it had a good run, but t...Hebrew Academy of Bangor--it had a good run, but the Orthodox and Reform communities in Bangor got slowly smaller and older, so fewer kids to feed in, and the school's major benefactor died, and so on to Penobscot Job Corps I went. I went from reminding boys they needed to put that yarmulke right back on to reminding young men that threats to murder me would put them right on the curb.<br /><br />johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-48271090843554114842021-08-07T16:23:01.778-07:002021-08-07T16:23:01.778-07:00Thanks for elucidating, John. Fascinating. Cheers ...Thanks for elucidating, John. Fascinating. Cheers to the rabbi for having your back.<br /><br />Where were you teaching at the time?laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-61163660891884066982021-08-07T16:15:11.700-07:002021-08-07T16:15:11.700-07:00Laura--my boss at that time was an Orthodox rabbi,...Laura--my boss at that time was an Orthodox rabbi, no lightweight. So, yeah, reading a book to a mixed class that mentioned menstruation did appall him. But he trusted my judgment completely in the realm of the secular--even though I'd married a shiksa, which the other rabbis at the school couldn't ever get over or get past.<br /><br />He was a very old school Jew, and I was only nominally a Jew--of the rootless, cosmopolitan, atheistic, smartass, indifferent variety. Different worlds, but he was a man I admired and respected immensely, starting, I guess, with Judy Blume.johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-19798250278699640322021-08-07T06:07:27.257-07:002021-08-07T06:07:27.257-07:00John, I love that story. It's hard to imagine ...John, I love that story. It's hard to imagine being appalled by Judy Blume, but I know that everything new and interesting must be rejected!laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-79571625495190903222021-08-07T06:05:38.388-07:002021-08-07T06:05:38.388-07:00one of our sons did not truly love reading until h...<i>one of our sons did not truly love reading until he was in the 10th grade</i><br /><br />That son had a huge influence on my own reading, by telling me about Rule of the Bone, by Russell Banks. Banks quickly became one of my favourite authors. laura khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05524593142290489958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-43506407259360597912021-08-06T13:18:47.725-07:002021-08-06T13:18:47.725-07:00I agree! Despite the fact that I read to our child...I agree! Despite the fact that I read to our children continually when they were young and tried to help them find books that he would enjoy, one of our sons did not truly love reading until he was in the 10th grade and he found the first book that held deep meaning for him: "The Catcher in the Rye." He has been hooked ever since.mkkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13399094219034864147noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7593664.post-13174047280914152902021-08-06T06:44:14.917-07:002021-08-06T06:44:14.917-07:00Adult with child: I'd like you to get a better...<i>Adult with child: I'd like you to get a better book. Can you get one better book? <br /><br />Me to Allan as we walk away: Let him read whatever he wants, all the books are better books if he's reading them!</i><br /><br />When I first started teaching sixth, seventh grade, I'd wrap the day by reading to the class. I wanted to read books I'd loved: FH Burnett, DC Fisher, Robert Lawson, Richard Adams. The kids were not having it! The girls lobbied for 'Are You There God' and other Judy Blumes and the lads seemed happy enough.<br /><br />But I caught a lot of flak from upset parents who thought Swiss Family Robinson or Heidi and such 'classics' would be better. My boss, thank god, was appalled by Judy Blume but was infinitely tolerant and supportive of his teachers.<br /><br />Same problem when I was at Job Corps. Students loved comic books and I had shelves and shelves of them.<br /><br />Different boss, still appalled, wanted Corps members to read 'appropriate reading level' material, all that deadly stuff with helpful follow-up questions put out by educational textbook companies. I could talk to this boss! "If that shit had ever worked with these guys, they wouldn't be here in the first place. Leave them alone with Spiderman and Wonder Woman!" johngoldfinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09322562737172405323noreply@blogger.com