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Quote of the Day
“The letter I have written today is longer than usual because I lacked the time to make it shorter.”
— Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Howard Daniel, Pen-for-Rent Principal
Racism — A Few Things to Think About
/0 Comments/in Hawaii, India, Places I've lived, Recollections, Thoughts /by Howard DanielI’m 75 years old. As readers of this blog know, I’ve been around the block a time or two, and I’ve seen, read and learned a lot. What I’m seeing right now — America’s racial “conversation” (for some, our national yelling match) becoming ever more shrill and violent — deeply troubles me. I’m also deeply […]
Our Deepening Crisis
/0 Comments/in Coronavirus, Thoughts /by Howard DanielOur country is in crisis. We must keep ourselves from tumbling into the abyss. The crisis is like a boiling cauldron whose four toxic ingredients — racism, a killer plague, a crippled economy and deep-seated political antagonism — are threatening to bubble over and spill us into the flames below. Racism: Nine minutes (!!) of […]
More Than One Way to Skin a Cat or …
/0 Comments/in Family, Humor, Places I've lived, Recollections /by Howard Daniel… carve a turkey … or slice a banana. Yes. And I’ve witnessed it. As regular readers of this blog will recall, last week I wrote about my grandson’s bar mitzvah. That got me thinking about my own bar mitzvah, back in 1957. That was a significant year. It was when the USSR put the […]
Our Grandson’s ZOOM Bar Mitzvah
/0 Comments/in Coronavirus, Family, Recollections, Thoughts /by Howard DanielAdam and Jodi blessing Jonah Yesterday we had a wonderful family celebration. Our oldest grandchild, Jonah, celebrated his bar mitzvah, the initiation as a Jewish adult (with all religious rights and responsibilities), which traditionally takes place at age 13. In ordinary times, a bar mitzvah is celebrated in a synagogue or temple in the presence […]
Brownies
/0 Comments/in Family, Holidays, Humor /by Howard DanielBrown E’s for dessert! April Fools’ Day — yes, that’s the correct way to write it — is now a little over a month in the rear-view mirror, and as followers of this blog will be aware, I’ve had other things on my mind since then. Nevertheless, my daughter Naomi found a great way to […]
Bittersweet Postscript to My Friend Henry’s Story
/0 Comments/in Places I've lived, Recollections, Russia-USSR /by Howard DanielLast week I wrote about the adventure of teaching Henry Harutunian, my ex-Soviet Olympic fencing coach friend, to drive. As promised, there’s more to his story. In those first couple of years after Yale, with a recent graduate’s typical enthusiasm for the success of his alma mater’s teams, I followed the ups and downs of […]
Bringing Thrust and Parry to New England’s Highways
/0 Comments/in Places I've lived, Recollections, Russia-USSR /by Howard DanielWith my friend Henry Harutunian at Harvard, spring 1968 The story I’m about to recount took place over half a century ago, in 1966–68, when I was working on my master’s degree in Soviet area studies at Harvard. During the first year of this two-year, multi-disciplinary program, I continued my study of the Russian language, […]
Great Escape
/0 Comments/in California, Coronavirus, North Bay, Places I've lived, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County /by Howard DanielPoppies along the coast It’s been about three weeks since the Great Coronavirus Confinement began in earnest, at least at our house. Sandra and I have been out to pick up groceries or prescriptions a few times, but mostly we’ve had our food and medications delivered — and a few take-out meals as well. (Three […]
ZOOM-ing in on an Online Pajama Party
/1 Comment/in Coronavirus, Humor /by Howard DanielEven though the COVID-19 plague has many of us cocooned safely away at home, for some people, work continues online. For those whose professions require “virtual” meetings, here are a few useful tips: If Time-Zone Follies require you to join a coast-to-coast meeting at “O Dark Thirty” and you haven’t yet managed to brush your […]
The Census Reminds Me of the Weirdest Things
/0 Comments/in Humor, Thoughts /by Howard DanielWhen Sandra and I got a letter from the U.S. Census Bureau on Friday, it reminded me of a joke that my dad, a wonderful raconteur, told me many years ago. With the coronavirus and the political season combining to depress everyone’s mood, I thought it would be nice to lighten up my blog this […]