Dare we mention the "h" word

Fay is a just memory now, but all of a sudden an area of disturbed tropical weather in the Caribbean has strengthened into a full-blown hurricane and Gustav is now on everyone's minds. Looking at the suggested trajectory of the storm (according to the National Hurricane Center), it may well come into the Gulf of Mexico and, if it holds its present course, may become a problem for us unlucky fellows situated along the Louisiana coastline. Well, it is only three days away from the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. This is the time of year that we are all prepared for this kind of problem and I've spent much of my life dodging storms. The irony of all of this hurricane preparedness is that for Hurricane Katrina, I was out of the picture. I was vacationing and didn't have an option of staying or leaving. In fact, when I left, the storm was little more than a minor consideration for Louisiana or Mississippi, where it eventually came ashore. We were all told that the storm would skirt up along the Florida peninsula and threaten Panama City and Tallahassee. In 24 hours it changed course and headed straight for New Orleans like a powerful locomotive on a long and straight stretch of track. It wasn't until at the last possible moment, as the storm began lashing the coastline of Louisiana and Mississippi that it veered toward the right and moved ashore east of the city.
Levees.org is getting ready to roll out one of its big guns in its tireless fight against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, whom they hold responsible for the failure of the levee system designed to protect the city of New Orleans. On Thursday night, they will release a new short film titled "The Katrina Myth: The Truth About a Thoroughly Unnatural Disaster." Produced by Levees.org, the advocate organization headed by Sandy Rosenthal, the short film will be presented at Touro Synagogue with a festive party on the eve of the Katrina anniversary on Thursday night. Following the opening party with a live jazz band, the film will be shown, followed immediately by an audience discussion. To reserve a place for this free event, call 504-269-2650.
Another reform temple, Temple Sinai plans an interfaith worship service on Friday evening. Around the same time Congregation Beth Israel worshippers will hold their Minchah (Afternoon) prayer service at the site of the destroyed Lakeview synagogue on Canal Boulevard. A major program on Sunday morning will follow where markers recalling the 3,000 holy books and seven sefer Torah scrolls that were destroyed and buried in the synagogue's two cemeteries will be revealed. Community members are encouraged to participate at the outdoor event and to enjoy a festive repast at the new site of the synagogue, Congregation Gates of Prayer. This will probably be the last time that the Hurricane Katrina anniversary will be observed at Gates of Prayer, since Beth Israel is due to move out of the rented space they have been using for the past two and a half years by next July.

We're gonna party like it's Two Thousand and Nine

While flash storm warnings remain in effect across southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi from still stubborn tropical depression Fay, we can all breathe a sigh of relief that it could have been a lot worst. Sadly, the folks in Florida got a pounding from Tropical Storm Fay that resulted in a lot of flooding. Nobody appreciates the damage that can result from flooding more than the populace of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. I hope they make a full and quick recovery. In the meantime, much of the nation's attention is now focused on Denver where a political storm is being unleashed on the national scene in the form of the Obama-Biden ticket for the Democratic National Convention there. I don't know if Senator Joe Biden's addition to Barack Obama's ticket will prove to be fortuitous or not, but I do reckon that Senator Hillary Clinton's addition might have foretold of doom. The so-called "Dream Team" bruited by President Clinton could have resulted into a nightmare. Hillary will have a hard time convincing the majority of her backers that they should fold and cast their ballots for Obama, but she doesn't have much choice. Unless she wants to be perceived as a spoiler (and forever cast her as a non-team player), she simply must do what the presumptive nominee wants and needs. Tonight, it will be another wife taking the national political spotlight in the person of Michelle Obama. Fist bumps aside, I am waiting to see and hear what the Demos have up their sleeves to make the case for her husband. I am sure it will be a spectacular send up. Party people (as in Democratic), give it up for Master O and his posse. There's a lot at stake and nobody knows how to party more than them. Of course the same can be said about strife and infighting. Let's hope they party more than they squabble.

Fay, Fay, Go Away

Well, I knew it was too good to be true. A whole hurricane season last year and no tropical depressions, tropical storms or hurricanes with which to deal. Hmmm...2008 seemed like it was doing okay until Hurricane Fay threatened Florida. I noticed that it was headed in an apparent northward trajectory. That seemed okay to me as far as Louisiana was concerned, although I did have a lot of empathy for the entire state of Florida that stood in the oncoming path of the storm. Then Fay did a curious thing. It hovered over Florida like a hungry pet that wants its food, unleashing a torrent of badly needed rain over Florida and Georgia. But, drought aside, sometimes too much of a good thing is not good. Fay kept sucking up just a bit more of the energy from the warm Gulf of Mexico waters to fuel it and to draw it ever slowly into a path away from Florida and more towards the coastline of Mississippi. It is amazing that the coastline of Mississippi is only 40 miles wide, but it has seen more than its share of hurricanes including, of course, Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005. Fay seemed drawn to Mississippi as if it were on a mission and the only good thing about its short sally in the gulf was that it had no time to strengthen into a full blown hurricane. So, here I am watching band after band of driving rain and the heavy winds that are emblematic of tropical storm activity. It seems that we in New Orleans will escape most of the brunt of the storm, but for those northeast of the city, like Baton Rouge, there will be a greater risk of flash flooding than we will have here. Superstitious fellow that I am, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. And, just in case, my toes too.

Bird watching

Louisiana has been called the Sportsman's Paradise because of the veritable wealth of wetlands, forests and other natural resources it enjoys. As a result, there are fishermen, hunters and nature lovers who find themselves a picturesque corner of the Louisiana outdoors and have at it. There are numerous commercial fishermen who ply their trade in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which is where the plentiful supply of shrimp, crabs and oysters are found. Not that anyone here who keeps kosher would have any of those. Yeah...right. But unlike those hunters with the high powered rifles and state of the art scopes or those Ted Nugent types who arm themselves with powerful bows and specially tipped arrows, I am incapable of harming a fellow creature. Not that there's anything wrong with hunting, mind you. When it comes to my idea of getting attuned with nature, I try to find myself a lovely place where I can view nature at hand, on the wing as it were. I have taken up the hobby of bird watching, which some consider boring. I find it exciting and I attempt to view my high-flying friends in all of their beauty in their native haunts. To this end I have been hanging out watching, waiting and enjoying these lovely works of nature, while enjoying a festive repast or a delightful libation. I do have to endure some high noise levels in this particular environ, but it is all part of the hobby. Meanwhile, for those of you who eschew hunting, please feel free to join me where viewing these incredible winged wonders goes on into the wee hours of the morning. I've got to tell you it really has made me appreciate all of the special wonders of nature and I hope to view much more in the days, weeks, months and years to come. So in case I've piqued your interest, here's where you can find me:

Tubbs Jones passes, a second lightning Bolt and Jewish bloggers

I learned right away of the importance of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones when I was living in Cleveland. A tireless fighter for her constituents, she was a true pioneer as both an African-American and a woman. Tubbs Jones was the first African-American woman to serve as a judge, a Cuyahoga County prosecutor of note and a five-term U.S. Representative elected to serve Ohio's 11th District since 1998. She was in fact the first African-American woman to represent Ohio in Congress.The tributes to Tubbs Jones have been pouring in from a poignant remembrance by Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz to a number of state and national figures since she passed away yesterday evening. Her passing, attributed to a brain aneurysm, has been termed "an incalculable loss" by fellow Clevelander and former mayor Dennis Kucinich. Tubbs Jones spoke before both the 2000 and 2004 Democratic National Conventions and was a co-chairman of the 2004 platform committee. Despite being quite close with Senator Barack Obama, she was Hillary Clinton's biggest advocate in Ohio. Tubbs Jones chaired the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (commonly referred to as theEthics Committee) and, as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, actively campaigned against the Iraqi war, tax cuts and changes in Social Security proposed by the Bush administration. Tubbs Jones won re-election in 2006 by over 83% of the electorate and was running unopposed. She was predeceased by her husband of 27 years, Mervyn Leroy Jones, Sr., and is survived by her son, Mervyn Leroy Jones II.
Lightning strikes again: Usaim Bolt was even more impressive than in his 100-meter dash when he rewrote the world record book again by besting Michael Johnson's gold shoe 200-meter race mark in 0:19:30. Frankly, I think he may be able to shave another one or two one-hundredths of a second off that mark. He is incredible and just another one of the reasons that I will miss the expanded Olympic coverage from NBC and affiliated stations that is fast winding down.
Meanwhile, the U.S. women's softball team, fresh from two hard-fought wins against Japan, lost the gold medal game against them today in what could be the last Olympic softball game. Softball, a women-only sport (men compete in baseball) made its Olympic debut in 1996 in Atlanta. It was voted off the 2012 Olympics program slated for London by a vote of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) in 2005 that was reaffirmed in 2006. Another vote to consider reinstituting the sport on the Olympics program is slated for next year. If it does not win approval from the IOC, softball will probably not return again.
Yesterday's first ever International Jewish Bloggers Convention streamed over the Internet live from Jerusalem had its problems with dropouts, picture loss and loss of audio. Nevertheless, I was captivated by the strength of the program, which included an opening address by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before a packed house of Jewish bloggers. The bloggers were all committed to promoting the concept of blogging and their blogs in particular. All in all it was very satisfying and allowed me to put a face on some of the major players in Jewish blogging in both Israel and North America. Kudos to Nefesh B'Nefesh for putting it on. Next year in Jerusalem? Who knows?

The Dream of Aliyah

By coincidence, today the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention is being held. A sold-out convention of Jewish bloggers is being held in Jerusalem in just a few hours, sponsored by Nefesh B'Nefesh, the group founded by Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart in 2002 to encourage Jewish emigration to Israel. The act of making "aliyah" is the Hebrew term that literally means "rising up" or "ascent." In many Jewish communities, the fervent hope of living in a Jewish state where one can practice his or her religion unfettered is the ultimate aspiration. Someone who makes aliyah is considered an oleh (male) or olah (female). The plural is olim. The dream of aliyah was just realized yesterday by 240 North American olim along with 50 others from the United Kingdom who, with the help of Nefesh B'Nefesh, permanently relocated to Israel and thereby strengthened the Jewish state. I am proud to state that I know of four of them, but I will get to their story in just a bit. As usual, many of my stories have something to do with my experiences associated with Hurricane Katrina. This one is no different. It all started with Cleveland Jewish Federation worker Robin Sirkin. It was she who spearheaded the Federation's outreach to Katrina victims, who were in Cleveland at the time of the disaster or who had evacuated there. Being a stranded vacationer, I was helped immeasurably by Sirkin, who provided me with much-needed financial assistance through the Red Cross and the Federation and helped guide me throughout the vetting process for additional help from the city and the state of Ohio. Were it not for Robin Sirkin and others like her, I would not have stayed in Cleveland. As it turns out, she was also able to connect me with a generous donation from Bellefaire JCB, a picturesque campus located in the shadow of John Carroll University off Fairmount Boulevard there. Bellefaire offered me a dormitory style one-bedroom efficiency where I could live while working in Cleveland. Soon after moving there I began my job as the web producer, IT adviser and staff reporter of the Cleveland Jewish News, a job which I loved and kept for 18 months. When I moved into the room Bellefaire JCB had provided me, I found it filled with $1500 worth of goods including a new bedspread and two sets of dishes in case I wanted to keep kosher. On top of the bed were a detailed map and a lovely note from David and Jill Gleicher, welcoming me to Cleveland and inviting me to attend nearby worship services at Green Road Synagogue. The note written on a piece of cardboard also invited me to join them for Shabbat dinner at their home, about three blocks away. It was an extremely generous donation of time and energy on their part, making sure all the furniture, cooking ware, towels and other appurtenances were in place before I arrived. I was astonished at how well I had been received. As it turns out, with the Gleichers' help, I did begin to keep kosher. A link to that CJN story is found here. Over the course of the next year and a half, I had many Shabbats to share with Jill and David and their family and well as with Robin and John Sirkin's loveable brood. Their homes were always open and standing invitations to join them were always extended. Jill, a retired dermatologist, and David, an attorney who had retired to become an author, were a very unusual couple. She had given up her practice in Buffalo after becoming disabled and moved to Cleveland with her children. David, who attended Yeshiva University and was a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, had practiced law for a number of years and had raised a family there. David had also been lucky a few years back as a $32,000 winner on "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" and a $25,000 winner on a game show run by The History Channel. Both David and Jill found themselves divorced and looking a few years back. They were lucky enough to find each other and were married in 2004. David moved to Cleveland around that time, but it wasn't long before he and Jill decided to make the emotional and religious leap of moving to the Promised Land. Knowing they were going to be making aliyah, I also had David begin to write a blog for the Cleveland Jewish News about some of his experiences prior to beginning the laborious effort to move the family there. Although the blog was short-lived, it was full of a number of well-written pieces and I enjoyed reading them even after I had made my return to New Orleans. You can read all 18 of his pieces by going to this link. I talked to them at length on several occasions and made sure that I was in Cleveland last November especially to say goodbye to them in case I wasn't able to see them again before their journey. As it turns out, I didn't make it back in time, so I was glad I made that trip. Over the course of the last two months they packed and sent off all of their worldly possessions. About a week ago they closed on the sale of their lovely Beachwood home and yesterday they were on the El Al plane that landed in Israel. People from all over the world can see them arriving on the 35th Nefesh B'Nefesh flight on their Internet site here. Jill and David along with two of their sons will be living in an apartment in Jerusalem, a home they found and purchased in a lengthy and complicated procedure two years ago. It was a pleasure to see them arrive, although the video was not very steady and blurry. I hope one day to visit them and see for myself the new life they have carved out for themselves in the heart of the Jewish homeland. So this Passover, when I utter that famous phrase, I will be thinking of the Gleichers when I say "Next year in Jerusalem!"

Geeks vs. Nerds vs. Me

These days it has become fashionable for computer technicians and networking consultants to call themselves geeks or nerds or something else as equally insipid. I shudder to think about calling myself by either designation. If being a geek or a nerd builds confidence in a client, then they should by all means run, not walk to seek them out. On the other hand, I like to consider myself a professional business consultant who does not need to come up with some kitschy phrase to identify myself. I know what I am doing and I do it. In popular parlance I am one of those that do, not one of those who can’t. I have built my reputation on personal relationships with clients. It is a level of service that they appreciate and respect - one that a geek or nerd knows woefully little. Right after Hurricane Katrina had hit New Orleans and I was literally stuck in Cleveland, I did fill out an application to join one of these outfits. The limited number of hours involved weekend work and the pay scale was hardly worth the 20-30 minute drive I would have to make daily. When I scoffed at the salary, I was told that a higher paying job might be available through a downtown office, but my calls were not returned forthwith and I was soon offered the job I most relished at the Cleveland Jewish News where I was able to work as an IT advisor and a staff reporter. Again, I believe there was a divine spark there -- some omnipresent force at play -- which prevented my being labeled a geek or a nerd while allowing me to write for a living. Can I get a Hallelujah? Back in the days when I ran my family record store, people would invariably ask me about how I felt when Tower Records, Virgin Records or Warehouse Records had opened up megastores or multiple locations around town. My answer was that we offered a level of service and knowledge that few could return in kind. To this day I see former customers who still bemoan the loss of our store. Yet not one of them confides in me how they wish any of the other music stores would return. The truth is they have all shuttered their stores or else gone bankrupt. They were all victims of the paradigm shift associated with record distribution in which the Internet now plays a critical role or the effects of rebounding from Hurricane Katrina were too severe. Nearly 12 years ago my mother and I closed our record store, keeping it open for select customers for several years thereafter until the building was leased. That gave me the time needed to reinvent myself as a computer technician and a networking specialist. During those days, when the record industry suffered its greatest losses, Netware was still considered the most prevalent computer networking option for business. In less than a decade Microsoft networks have become the preferred standard for business. Change is inevitable and not being able to transform one's self or deal with it head on will always slow you down or stop you dead in your tracks. I will be keeping up to date and trying to stay ahead of the curve because in reality, dear friends, it is vital in my business. Besides, it is the only assurance that I will never become a geek or a nerd.