Something More Exciting Must Be Happening Somewhere

Now, I'm all for science research and I'm all for newspapers and I'm even all for newspapers publishing articles about science research. But this is the second most e-mailed NY Times article as of now. That's right, an article about the different types of earwax. Nothing useful, nothing relevant or applicable. Just an article about why some people have wet earwax and some people have dry earwax. Must be a really slow news day...

A Rant About College, Drinking, and Being Frum

Person: Yeah, we're having the party in my suite ... Eli7, you didn't tell them you have a suite, did you?
Me: I'm an Orthodox Jew. I live with four other Orthodox Jews. I can't have an alcoholic party in my suite.
Person: All the Orthodox Jews who live on my floor are constantly drinking and smoking pot.
Me: Well, I'm a good Orthodox Jew.

On Friday night, the frum boys' suite next to mine had, well, a shabbos meal that was quite drunken judging by the banging on the walls and the yelling we heard.

I'm sorry, I didn't get the memo that said being in college is an excuse for ignoring the code of conduct frum jews are supposed to subscribe to. Maybe I just missed it, but I'm pretty sure frum Jews have better things to do than get drunk and do stupid things in their inebriated states. And I'm pretty sure that Shabbos isn't a weekly excuse to get drunk. And I think it's pretty sad if non-frum people even recognize that this is what's going on.

I mean, I shouldn't have to differentiate myself from the other frum Jews on campus to explain why I do what I do. Should I?

Happy MLK Jr. Day

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

That's it. That's what we should all want. Remember that today. And always.

The iPod Meme: Better Late Than Never, Right?

Ok, Classmate-Wearing-Yarmulka tagged me for the iPod meme like a hundred years ago and I was totally delinquent, but here it is:

1. The Animal Song Savage Garden
2. Bring Him Home Les Mis
3. Finale Wicked
4. I should Tell You Rent
5. Minyan Man Shlock Rock
6. My Beloved Monster Eels
7. Two Beds and a Coffee Machine Savage Garden
8. Ein Mayim Blue Fringe
9. Shades of Grey Billy Joel
10. Shiur Rav Ginsburg
11. Prelude, Book 1, 5 Debussy
12. Eishet Chayil HS CD
13. We're Gonna Rock Around the Clock Bill Haley
14. Supercallousmeanandnastyrightwinglegislation Capitol Steps
15. Lala (I have a good excuse for this one, really) Ashlee Simpson
    

R.I.P. Newspapers

A depressing article about the demise of newspapers here. Now clearly I'm biased on the newspaper thing because I sold my soul, ahem, work for one. But newspapers are really, really important. I mean, freedom of the press is built into the Constitution! Fine, so I sound like I'm preaching and maybe I am.

For the past few years, I have read The NY Times online because it's easier and faster and cheaper, but I still lust after the Sunday Magazine. That's right. I lust after the magazine, and whenever I can get a free copy of the Times, I take it and skim the articles on the front page (Ok, fine, the first thing I do is look for any glaring mistakes because it's fun to find mistakes in the newspaper of record) and read the opinion page and get my hands smudged with newspaper ink and put it in my bag and carry it around with me because it's a newspaper and I think that's valuable.

And I think the fact that despite TV and the Internet newspapers have been able to hold their own because there are at least some Americans who want real, solid news--not just entertainment and gossip--is a beautiful thing. And I think it is very, very sad that that may be a thing of the past. I heard a newspaper man say recently that he thinks newspapers won't be printed anymore, that they'll just be electroinic (which admittedly is nice in the sense that publishers threatening not to print your paper at 5 a.m. is less than fun). And I think that's sad.

I'm not a traditionalist, but I fail to see anything good in the demise of print media--in the exchange of facts and ideas that comes to us every day in the form of a newspaper. But then maybe I'm part of the problem--a person who loves the newspaper but doesn't pay for it.

Who am I?

My new Facebook profile (I know, I know, it's a waste of time, but it's Winter Break, I'm allowed to waste time):

"I believe that everyone should have the self-confidence to dance alone in her bedroom in her underwear. I believe you should feel small when you stand beside the ocean. I believe that my friends have left handprints on my heart. I believe that three inch heels are worth the pain. I believe that siblings can be the biggest of pains and the best of friends in the same breath. I believe that the mind is an amazing thing. I believe that we can change the world. I believe in the power of writing. I believe I can be anything I want to be when I grow up. I believe in God."

There was a lot more which I had to cut for lack of space, but I wonder if it captures what I wanted it to, if it captures a small part of who I am. Hmm. I wonder is a silly profile of a few lines on a silly thing like an online community (what does that mean anyway?) can even try to capture who a person is. I wonder.

A Bit of Philosophizing ... or Eli7 Has Too Much Thinking Time on Her Hands

It's funny how we always assume that we have people figured out, that we know who they are and what they believe and where they are in life and why. It's funny how we assume that we know what we want and where we want to be and that when we get there life will be good. It's funny how we're so often wrong.

Funny how we think we'll know how we'll react to certain things. Funny how we think we'll know how everyone else will react and how they'll feel. Relationships are funny, people are funny. And I think we can't help stepping back every now and then at specific moments and wondering how it all could have been different and wondering if we're really happy where we are.

And I don't think there's an easy answer. I don't think we can always figure out how we feel or where we want to be. I think we're all products of our life choices and some events force us to wonder about those choices. And we'll never really know where we stand or where we could stand or could be.

That's it. Just some random thoughts. Take them for what you will. Or don't. But I just think that we all think we always have it all figured out and then it takes a startling event to shock us out of that line of thinking.

A Mazal Tov Without an Adequate Description

I went to a wedding on Sunday. And every time I try to explain to someone how beautiful it was, I fail. I say that it was beautiful because the bride deserved it so much and because she is the nciest person in the whole wide world and because she cares deeply about everyone she knows and gives her all to her friends always and because she loves with an open heart and takes care of everyone.

And every time I say it, the person I'm talking to nods and says, "how nice," and walks away. But the thing is, that everyone who knows this person, everyone who danced with her at her wedding (and she made sure every single person danced with her) knows that all those things are actually true. I do not know anyone who cares as much as she does, who works as hard to take care of her friends as she does.

At sheva brachos last night, her new husband said that she has told him "you don't give in order to get," and that is exactly what she's all about. I've never seen so many grown-ups cry at a wedding before because I've never known anyone who has touched as many people.

I cannot even begin to describe how beautiful the wedding was or how beautiful the bride was (and by that, I mean beautiful on the inside as well as the outside).

Mazal tov.