Updates and Confessions

It's been years since I've blogged. Decades. Ages. Nearly a millennium. Wading through the Jewish blogosphere, the non-Jewish blogosphere, the atheist and ambiguous blogospheres, The Washington Post, the New York Times, Slate, Jewcy, and a myriad of other endless sources and commentary, I have been so inundated with information that I barely know where to begin.

I thought of applying Annie's treatment to Paul Gottfried on Jewcy's "Is It Time for Jews to Vote Republican," but I got so angry by the misinformation that I literally had to go for a walk and drink some tea to calm down. I have no problem with a measured discussion of the issues, but when someone presents false information (a patently false, historically inaccurate, willful misrepresentation of the truth), I lose my rationality and begin banging my head on the keyboard. I presume none of you wants to read a pageful of: ajiraerhgihahwfweoij nbsdih udfhi dsch dfhu; dfiu; dfh uaehafwjjoifwe'kwaj. Plus, it made my head hurt (the content and the head banging).

In other news (news involving good writers), Shalom Auslander, who we wish were Sholem of Anarcho-Judaism (but who is a totally different person) wrote an inspired piece for this week's New York Times Magazine. I read it while watching contra dancing at a local church. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of watching contra dancing, I highly recommend it for voyeuristic pleasure. I will not comment on its hilarity because that seems cruel and the crowd appeared completely self aware (for which I give them mad props). Embrace your inner dork: contra dance. Anyway, back to praising Shalom, who does irony better and more subtly than most writers out there and whose piece actually made me gasp:

“Guy wants to fight with me now!” Green Subaru called out. He sneered at me
and went to join some of his friends at the juice bar, where, hunched over a
shot of wheatgrass juice, he pointed at me. Everyone frowned at me and shook
their heads. I felt like Israel.

Yeah, that part. Yasher koah (loosely translated: good job), Shalom.

I have to admit that I'm also still smarting from an incident earlier today. Have you ever remembered someone vividly and had them totally forget who you were? Did that make you feel like the biggest loser ever? I went on one of those Israel trips seven years ago and today found out that CJ works with a guy on my trip. Most of the trip was miserable for reasons I may decide to discuss at a future date if I can write a post about Israel trips without banging my head on the keyboard (as above). This person was nice to me and seemed chill, unlike most other people in my vicinity and so I remembered him. I have since been involved in no activities with Jewish youth movements (unless you count the Seminary, but no one in their right mind would call JTS a movement). He does not remember me. Now, CJ was quick to assert that this guy has done tons of Jewish youth group stuff since then and it was nearly a decade ago; yet, I find myself thinking: am I really not that memorable? I mean, there were twenty people on the trip. I wasn't one among thousands. I was one among twenty! Ouch. I feel an odd desire to assert my coolness: Look at me! I'm cool now! I blog and look good in skirts! How emotionally demeaning.

So, now that I've compounded the embarrassment by confessing it to strangers, I feel oddly relieved. No wonder people use the blog to air all sorts of personal business.

And that's all she wrote.