http://www.ourjewishcommunity.org

Life, Interrupted.....

One problem with blogging...You can get burned out if you do too many too often--I have had three (including this one) running in the past year. So I took a break, and decided to pare down my blogging time. Hopefully, I'll be here more often. Life also got "in the way" with various changes occurring with my job, spirituality, and relationships.

In recent months, due to the email relationship I've maintained with a person I met several years ago, who was only in my area for a year, I have found a new spiritual road. Check out:

OurJewishCommunity.org

Rabbi Laura Baum (whose photo is above, that's not my photo) served as a rabbinical student with the Jewish community in my area. She has developed a wonderful website which is worth checking out, regardless of your religious background. It's multimedia, and as is the current phrase "Spirituality for the 21st Century."

Sunburn and Lunar Wonder

Forty years ago today I was a teenager spending a month-long vacation with my family in Florida. There were two things that made today etched forever in my memory: the first lunar landing and a case of sunburn I received from fall asleep on the beach.

Since the space program has fascinated me from its beginning, like millions of others of that time, I stayed up late to watch those grainy black and white images on a television relayed back to those marvelled by the wonder of it all, reported by Walter Cronkite who shared in that sense of wonder and astonishment. There were those who said (back on earth) that the whole thing was a stunt filmed on earth in either a sound studio in Hollywood or Death Valley. Fortunately, those "conspiracy" believers were in the minority.

I remember after the excitement of watching the lunar landing walks and bouncing by astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin, trying to sleep, but the sunburn and a historical milestone that seems so much nearer than forty years ago, keeping me up longer than I'd ever been awake in my life at that time.

I had hoped, like Stanley Kubrick, that by 2001, the world would have made greater strides in the space program, but such has not been the case. Perhaps one day, astronauts will venture out beond the moon, and I hope I am alive to see that event. Sunburn, however, is something I never wish to experience again

R.I.P. M.J.

I learned about the death of Michael Jackson when someone told me while I was chatting online with them the day the news broke (Actress Farrah Fawcett had died earlier that same day.) Like many people, I was in shock. Fawcett's death was sad but not unexpected given her long struggle with cancer. However, Jackson was an extremely gifted and talented individual, but a seemingly deeply troubled one as well (some labeled him "weird", others made less kind remarks to the press--even after his recent death--judgments that his soul has now gone to "Hell") and growing speculation about drug dependency is not a surprise.

Before the pedophilia issue, before controversy over his changing looks, I had enjoyed Michael Jackson's music back to the days of the Jackson 5 when I was a teenager. I enjoyed several of his songs in his later years as a solo performer. The song "Billie Jean" was not a favorite of mine beyond the televised "moonwalk" MJ revealed to the world at the televised Motown celebration, but that dance move impressed me. I wish he'd stopped his physical transformation after the release of the album "Thriller." The video of "Heal the World" can still move me to tears.

There would come the revelations (not surprising) that Joseph Jackson abused his sons to get them noticed by music companies at an early age. There is a long history of "stage parents" and it continues today in the form of baby or children beauty pageants and even over-hyped reality programs using the term "talent shows." All a disturbing trend for money and fame.

I'm going to remember Jackson for his talent, which also probably led to physical problems and as speculated, drug dependency. Toward the end of his life, Jackson had altered his appearance so much that he gone from a cute boy to a man obviously with too much money and not enough self-esteem. His music will live on as part of his legacy.

D-Day and Veterans: 65th Anniversary

Take a moment to remember those who participated in D-Day on this date six decades ago, and their efforts. The survivors of that day are dwindling each year.

Dehydration and Dysentery

I was horrified to find out recently about the following matter during a national news broadcast: troops in Iraq have been enduring a water shortage caused by red tape. If you think the heat is bad in the southern United States, think about the 100+ degree temperatures endured by US troops in one of the hottest areas on earth. Things became so bad for some of the soldiers, they resorted to drinking water from local sources: the result? Dysentery. If the thought of exposure to the swine flu makes you nervous, imagine what the troops are facing. When I first heard the news of this, NO ONE had stepped up to make something happen. Hopefully, news of this situation will anger enough people to insist on correcting it. Immediately.

Lest We Forget

Just finished watching the first part of a multi-part series on HBO network titled The Alzheimer's Project.

I was anticipating this program with both positive and negative feelings. In this first segment, it introduced six participants in this project afflicted with Alzheimer's. Despite some definitely sad moments, there were amazing ones and fascinating ones as well. One participant keeps a blog. You can link to it here: Living with Alzheimer's.

The fascinating thing is that someone can keep a blog (I corrected the spelling of the title) and give insight into the progression of the disease, keeping his sense of humor somewhat intact, at least while the cameras are recording. Joe did tear up, however, while talking about knowing what having this disease means, and living with that diagnosis. Another gentleman could still perform with a singing group he'd belonged to years before without faltering on one note while he was singing. But his short term memory loss was evident.

I did experiencing negative feelings during the program, only because I know what that diagnosis truly means. I had a parent who was afflicted with Alzheimer's who died three years ago this past week. The grief is still fresh at such times of the year. Like Maria Shriver who co-produced this series, I also know what it is like to not only see the brilliant mind of a parent deteriorate, but live in the shadows of the specter of Alzheimer's myself.

While I await the next episodes of this series, related to research and family interactions with those afflicted with Alzheimer's, I also hope that a cure can be found in my lifetime. No one deserves this disease, and like many diseases, few are immune to it.

The photo is of my father (the younger and at the time, shorter, of the two boys, who was to later be afflicted with Alzheimer's) and one of my uncles from a childhood photo published in their hometown newspaper when they enlisted during World War II.