Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:40 AM

FX has announced a new series called American Candidate. Like American Idol, they'll take a huge pool of people, narrow them down through popular voting, and then run the finalist for President in 2004.

And I don't turn 35 until five months after the inauguration, so won't be eligible...

Waah!

[Ian says they're FOX, maybe they won't notice the age issue...]

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:21 AM

I know I've been quiet for a while. Not much going on in my life worth writing about. However, here are a few observations that have been percolating in my head the last couple days:

Okay, so Donald Rumsfeld's speech before Congress the other day was interrupted by hecklers. As the police escorted the protesters from the gallery, Rumsfeld said, "Of course, people like that are not able to go to Iraq and make demonstrations like that because there is no free speech." But people like that weren't able to make demonstrations like that here! They were escorted out by the police! [This one is actually Ian's comment, but I'm posting it since he hasn't.]

Meanwhile, my Computers in Society class is really thought-provoking. The point of the class is that we are training to be "information professionals in the information age." What does that mean? So the teacher raised a question about whether a particular action was communication or information. I questioned what the difference was, and she pointed out that that's what this class seeks to determine. So, what is the difference between communicating and informing, between communication and information? To get at this, I started trying to think about whether there could be communication without information or information without communication. The latter is easier -- the evidence of our direct senses can inform us without any communication. But the former -- communication without information? Even baby-talk nonsense informs through body language and tone of voice. The closest I can come to communication without information might be a slideshow of random images, but people can garner meaning from those as well -- think of Rorschach blots...

Finally, we attended Yom Kippur services at the shul where Ian will be teaching. And part of the liturgy really bothered me -- specifically, (IMO) clumsy attempts at making the liturgy more gender-inclusive. I don't mind many attempts to make the liturgy more gender-inclusive. In fact, there are many that I endorse. But two things I heard on Yom Kippur rubbed me the wrong way.

Let me start by saying that I'm really glad that my primary language did not mandate gender-specificity in nouns. And, because of that, I've learned to creatively read some terms as gender-neutral. As in many languages, the male plural in Hebrew is used for groups of mixed gender. For example, the Hebrew word avoteinu means "our fathers" but can also mean "our ancestors (both male and female)." I've chosen to read avoteinu as the latter, and that's how many recent prayerbooks translate it. But this shul modifies the prayers to say "avoteinu v'imotenu" -- literally, "our fathers and mothers." But I hear that as "our ancestors and mothers" which seems to put an unneccessary emphasis on the female.

More bothersome, however, is how this shul starts the Amidah prayer. The traditional opener goes Elohei Avraham, Elohei Yitzhak, v'Elohei Yaakov -- Gd of Abraham, Gd of Isaac, Gd of Jacob. The reason why Elohei is said three times, instead of making it the shorter Elohei Avraham, Yitzhak, v'Yaakov is because each man's relationship with Gd was different enough that one can't just say Gd of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

Well, on Yom Kippur, this shul said Elohei Avraham v'Sarah, Elohei Yitzhak v'Rikva, v'Elohei Yaakov v'Leah v'Rachel v'Bilhah v'Zilpah. Can you understand why this doesn't work for me? If Elohei Avraham is different from Elohei Yitzhak, then how can Elohei Avraham be the same as Elohei Sarah? What's more, this format messes up the melody. Now, I've heard some congregations add an entirely separate line to the liturgy: Elohei Avraham, Elohei Yitzhak, v'Elohei Yaakov. Elohei Sarah, Elohei Rivka, Elohai Leah v'Elohei Rachel And I like that version. It fits better both melodically and philosophically.

However, because of Ian's job, we're now affiliated with this shul. What's more, he's going to be teaching kids the prayer in this format.

PS: The Synagogue Survival Kit by Jordan Lee Wagner is an excellent book if you're at all interested in learning about the history and structure and meaning to the Jewish liturgy and rituals. It's both insightful and very easy to understand from a lay perspective without becoming condescending. I highly recommend it. La Vie... I'll learn to live with it.

So, has anyone managed to read to the end of this? Those are the kinds of things that have been going through my mind recently -- somewhat complex and introspective theorizing that isn't easy to express outside my own head. But I'd love to hear what others have to say on these, so please, make use of the comments field; this may not be LiveJournal, but I do like discussions.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:45 PM

Yay! My computer's back from the shop again.

First of all, here's the entry I wrote last Tuesday, describing my vacation. I'll follow that with updates on what's happened since then.

Family vacation

I'm actually writing this from the hotel in Florida, though it may not be posted until after we get home.

Our flight to Florida was very smooth, with only two wrinkles to speak of. I think (hope) I left my Day Runner in the car, because if it's lost, I'm scrod. I know I had it when we left the house, remember writing in it on the drive, and noticed it missing on the plane. And, at security, Ian forgot he kept his corkscrew (a birthday present) in his carry-on. Since our bags had already been checked, we were forced to mail it home. Hopefully it will be there when we arrive.

Our first day in Florida was relatively uneventful. Ian helped my mother with the cooking, and I went to the local library to work on my first assignment for my library architecture class -- observational research. Then, the holiday began.

Probably the best way to describe Rosh Hashonah is as follows:

Friday night, six people at my parents: chicken soup with rice and soup nuts, gravlax, olive salad, tongue in raisin sauce, sesame soy chicken, mixed vegetables, sweet potato crunch, apricot honey rice, honey cake and citrus salad.

Saturday afternoon, fourteen people at my grandparents: gefilte fish, chopped liver, chicken soup with kreplach, veal cutlets, pot roast, potato kugel, honeyed carrots, with various cakes and pastries for dessert.

Sunday afternoon, a dozen people at my parents: sauteed green peppers, chicken soup, olive salad, veal brisket with stuffing, tongue in raisin sauce, sesame soy chicken, green beans, sweet potato crunch, honey cake and citrus salad.

Sunday night, after all the guests left, we ended up in front of my parents TV, watching Sid Caesar sketches from their DVD. Really funny stuff, many of which we had never seen before.

Monday, we joined my brother for lunch, seeing his house, his dogs and photos of his SWAT training. Then, I took Ian to my high school, where I showed him around and we had a very nice chat with the school librarian. We had a relatively quiet evening, watching my parents' DVD of the Broadway musical Victor, Victoria until late in the evening. [Ian and I had tickets to see VV on Broadway many years ago. Unfortunately, I had car troubles that afternoon, so we only arrived at the theater one song before the end of the first act. It was nice to finally see the whole show.]

I know it doesn't sound like it from this account, but my family is exhausting. Among other things, my parents have a very beautiful cat, a tortoiseshell named Freckles. My dad also has adopted two feral cats who visit him for food and affection. All three were plainly terrified of me. I don't like it when cats don't like me. This is mostly understandable with the feral cats, but would've been more... tolerable... if my father didn't keep pushing me to get closer to them, only to have them run from me in fear. I mean, it's hard to be offended when a cat who doesn't like anyone also doesn't like you, but when everyone keeps reassuring me that Freckles really likes most other people only made her rejection of me more... personal.

Also over the weekend, we got some good and bad news long distance from Boston.

In the good news category, Ian got a job teaching Sunday school to first graders at Temple B'Nai Brith in Somerville.

In less good news, I got a call from the head of the competitive intelligence program. Apparently, enrollment in the classes I signed up for wasn't high enough, so instead of the two classes (4 credits) I wanted to take in Business Information Sources, I'll be taking one 2-credit class "Conducting Competitive Intelligence Legally." Not only is this class less interesting subjectwise and less relevant to my career goals, but it also means that if I want to graduate in May, I'll have to pick up another class in the spring, when my courseload is already heavier. I wish he could've gotten this news to me before classes started this semester, because it's too late to add any other classes to this term.

And now, with the vacation not even over, my stress levels have returned. My mind is already preoccupied with everything left undone, everything left to do. Sigh. As Ian pointed out, I get stressed before and after vacations and spa treatments, no matter how elaborate, tend to affect me for only an hour or two after they're done... I wish I could relax more -- and I miss having blue hair...

Ah well... back to Boston.

Back in Boston

Well, my Day Runner was in the car, and Ian's corkscrew was waiting for us in the mail when we got home.

Academically, I'm no longer taking any of the courses I registered for. I'm now taking Computers in Society / Social Informatics for 4 credits and Conducting Competitive Intelligence Legally for 2 credits. Social Informatics looks like a fascinating subject, but much harder work.

And, because of that and other things on my calendar, I've been busy. There's lots of stuff on my calendar for the last week, but nothing really seems worth writing about at the moment.

And, so, today I got my computer back. As I predicted, it was the exact same problem as last time, so the kind folks at Tech Fusion only charged me their base diagnostic fee and not additional parts and labor. However, they said that it looks like there's a larger problem with my system board, and recommend I send the computer in to the manufacturer for actual warranty service before it breaks again. That's going to take a couple weeks turnaround time, so I'm going to have to set up some form of temporary computer for that time. I'm planning on that for about a month from now (my computer should hold up that long). Meanwhile, Tech Fusion agreed that it was very likely that the third-party AC adapter could've contributed, so I'm going to write them a complaint letter, asking not only for reimbursement for me returning their power supply, but trying to get them to pay for the existing repair costs I've incurred. I haven't named them yet, because I'm going to use the threat of negative publicity as an incentive.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm sure I'll think of more stuff to write as soon as I post this, but it's been a while since I've posted and I want to keep you all updated.