It probably says more about my naivety than anything else, but I did not discover that there was such a thing as anti-Semitism, prejudice against Jews, until I was a freshman in college. That year the entering freshman class at the University of Rhode Island was huge, and in the economy dormitories they were housing three students in rooms meant for two. In mine, besides myself, there was Continue reading “Saint Augustine and Anti-Semitism”
Nice Compliment?
I have started working with a new iTalki.com teacher on my Spanish language learning journey, a young accordion player – accordions being prominent in Mexican music – from Guadalajara, Mexico. He has a Masters in French, but teaches Spanish online as there is more demand for it and he can charge more. Besides Spanish and French, he also speaks some Italian and wee bit of Arabic. While he speaks English, he does not list it on his iTalki profile as he is after more advanced students. As he said to me, he does not want to be someone’s dictionary. I know he lived in Chicago for a while, actually not too far from Barrington. However, given the size of the Hispanic community in the Chicago area, it would be very possible to live there and only speak Spanish.
The other day for some reason he asked me what I thought of my Spanish. Being the wise ass that I am I used the line I use with waiters in Mexican restaurants, hablo español como un perro negro, I speak Spanish like a black dog. It never fails to elicit a laugh from a waiter. I went on to say, in Spanish, that I speak a very Gringo type of Spanish, and I wish I was more fluid than I am.
His reply to me was, “I just wish my English was as good as your Spanish.” Of course, I have never conversed with him in English to know the level of his English skills but nevertheless I am going to take it as a compliment.
And so it goes.
Reconsidering JFK – A Wondrium Course
If you are of my generation or older you remember the day President John F. Kennedy was shot, 22 November 1963. I was in 6th grade at an elementary school in Toms River, New Jersey. It was the first time in my educational career that I had had a male teacher. He was a very tall, skinny man who I remember mainly because he was male and his reaction to the Kennedy news. When they announced over the loudspeaker that the President had been assassinated, this man cried. However, when I raised my hand after Continue reading “Reconsidering JFK – A Wondrium Course”
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #2,688
yeah I know you did not ask!
I was doing yoga style stretches before launching into more vigorous, traditional exercises in our basement gymnasium area. As I was doing so my various joints were snapping,cracking and popping so loudly and so often that I thought I was consuming a bowl of Rice Krispies.
Missouri religious leaders sue to overturn Missouri’s ban on abortion
One of the guiding principles of my life is live and let live. If I were being honest, I would have to admit to falling short of this goal far too often, but it is a light I steer towards. In that same vein I have a mantra I recite whenever I am speaking or thinking about religious beliefs or sexual orientation, “Life is tough, whatever gets you through the day, whatever gets you through the night.”
My issue with many Christians, especially Evangelicals and Catholics, and Continue reading “Missouri religious leaders sue to overturn Missouri’s ban on abortion”
My new nickname?
I don’t remember exactly when my mother went into the nursing home, but it is pushing ten years that she has been in one or the other. Her health is reasonable, but she suffers from dementia, Alzheimer’s to be specific. This September she will be ninety. The first half of her time in nursing homes she knew I was someone, but for the last several years she has had no clue who I am.
I do not visit her near as often as I should or would like to. I live in a suburb of St. Louis, and she is in Continue reading “My new nickname?”
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #1,799
yeah I know you did not ask!
In a post I used the phrase “in the Weinhaus-Rush household”, being a senior with a floppy neural network (do they make a Viagra for that?), I began to play around with the meanings of our two last names.
All my life people have made puns or jokes on my last name. In the start of the Cold War era in the fifties it was, “Hey David, are you a Rush-AN?” During the hippie sixties it was, “Man, what a rush”, referring, of course, to the effects of drugs, generally said as someone passed me in the hallways at school. My least favorite has been, “Hey, RUSH Limbaugh.” I quickly dissuaded folks from the use of that obnoxious appellation in regards to me. And there is always the omnipresent jest, “Hey what’s your rush, Rush.” For the purpose of this randomness we are going with sixties version.
Indubitably, you are aware that Weinhaus is German for wine house as in the anglicized name, Amy Winehouse.
So our household is the Wine House Rush or perhaps the Rush Wine House. Apparently, we are running some sort hippie opium den tavern/pub/wine bar. Man, what a rush! Y’all come on down here, hear, aprisa, before the Ruskies and MAGAs take over.
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #9,959
yeah I know you did not ask!
I’m down in Chesterfield Valley, the local generica full of strip malls and chain stores, waiting at a stop light behind a smallish SUV with multiple bumper stickers. The one that caught my eye was “Abolish ICE“.
I thought, “Well we are already doing a pretty good job of that, the way we are ignoring the impending climate change disaster.” Then I noticed their “Combat Climate Change” bumper sticker, and went, “naayy.”
I then wondered about hockey, thinking that could be a dangerous sticker in this area full of fanatical St. Louis Blues hockey fans.
Indubitably, they were referring to the federal agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE. Without question, ICE is overzealous far too much of the time, but I don’t think I would want to abolish the agency completely.
The way traffic was I never did see the person driving, but obviously an activist individual.
Obituary – Neosho Weiss
Neosho Weiss, more intimately known as Osho, passed away in his sleep on the 4th of January, 2023. For quite some time he had been in congestive heart failure, but with much love he had maintained a quality of life during this period.
He was the bosom buddy and constant companion of Adam Weiss. When I say constant companion that is literally true. Until the recent new business start up, with the way Adam worked , Osho and Adam were always together – 24/7. The exceptions being Continue reading “Obituary – Neosho Weiss”
Chilly on the outside, chili on the inside
My daughter, Keely, after graduating from UALR (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) and before entering law school at the University of Oklahoma, did several things to keep body and soul together. After divorcing her first husband she went to work at the Poteau, OK newspaper, The Poteau Daily News. She worked first as a reporter, and then later was also one of the editors. As a reporter she once interviewed an active NFL quarterback, Jake Plummer of the Arizona Cardinals, who was in town as part of an advertising campaign. I asked Keely what she thought of him. Her reply was that he appeared to her as if he had been hit in the head one too many times.
Just as an aside, Poteau, which is on the Arkansas and Oklahoma border south of Ft. Smith, Arkansas, is known locally Continue reading “Chilly on the outside, chili on the inside”