Not entirely absent

 

For many years now I have participated in elections using an absentee ballot. Neither Barry nor I can seem to remember just when I initially applied or which doctor signed the paperwork: it might have been my pulmonologist, Dr. Maria Padilla, or it might have been my neurooncologist, Dr. Lisa DeAngelis. But what I do remember is that I was given permanent disability status, so I have never had to reapply. Without that status in New York State, the application must be renewed every 5 years, so Barry, who has applied as the primary caregiver for a person with disabilities, had to renew his before the primary elections earlier this year.

After confirming many times (on-line) that our status remained unchanged, we were happy to receive our absentee ballots for the upcoming election. We were anxious to fill them out quickly out of concerns for the stability of the postal service, so we have now completed, sealed, and mailed them off. But I did snap a quick picture of the two envelopes. And at least now I can feel I was not entirely absent from this important activity!

Everyone should vote in the safest way they can!

Love,

Rebecca

 

Civility

 

Barry and I have volunteered to send text messages on behalf of Joe Biden’s campaign for President of the United States. I know that some of you may disagree with us on this choice, but rest assured I am not here to try to convince you otherwise. I am just telling you this so that I can ask a simple question: what has happened to civility? 

I am not sure just how the list of names we are given to contact is compiled; our communication with the campaign is all electronic. When we indicate that we are ready to get started, we receive a list of people to contact using a standard message which simply says, “Hi, (name), I am contacting you on behalf of Joe Biden and other Democrats running for office.” The site then provides a selection of scripted responses depending on how the contact reacts to that introductory message (if they do at all, which is definitely a minority of recipients).

The first couple of times the names on the lists were entirely Democrats, but the last two batches, evidently taken from the general voter rolls, included a large percentage of Trump supporters, many of whom responded with offensive and profane language. The system allows us to note this and remove such names from the list.

I am telling you this because I have a simple question: when did people become so angry and so uninhibited about expressing that anger? We have lived through many presidential elections, and though people may have adamantly disagreed about the candidates, they were still able to talk with one another. The real question is why, in this election, there are people filled with so much hatred that a brief text message can elicit a complete lack of civility.

These are stressful times we are all living through. But for people to allow that to fill their souls with anger fills me with nothing but intense sadness.

Love (Lord knows we need more),

Rebecca

 

Colorful

Perhaps this was already gaining in popularity even before the lockdown of the past six months, but more and more we are seeing women, particularly young women, dying their hair, or parts of their hair, colors that do not appear naturally on human heads. Our two oldest granddaughters have embraced this new look.

Ella’s section of blue hair is not immediately noticeable when she has her hair down, but Eliana dyed a part of her hair right up front so it cannot be missed.

I cannot be sure how I might have reacted to this had they done it six months ago, but now I recognize that whatever they can do to have some fun and some normalcy is a wonderful thing, and I just hope they both enjoy their new and creative looks!

As we enter into a new year on the Jewish calendar, may we stay healthy and continue to find joy around us in new and creative ways.

Love,

Rebecca

Milestones

Sometime yesterday I reached a milestone of 75,000 “hits” to this blog:

816 posts

All Time             75024

Today                 17

Yesterday          70

This Month       471

Last Month       574

In the world of blogging 75,000 may seem a rather paltry number, but it sounds quite large to me, and I am so glad to have had the honor of all of you reading my ramblings for more than 8 years.

Last week our family celebrated another milestone: our oldest grandchild, Joshua, turned 16 years of age. He is planning to take the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles learner’s permit exam:

The learner’s permit exam tests your understanding of Massachusetts motor vehicle laws and safe driving practices. A learner’s permit gives you permission to drive while you practice your driving skills and prepare for your road test.

We feel confident that Joshua will soon become a skilled and careful driver. Meanwhile, here he is enjoying what our family calls “birthday pancakes,” basically crepes filled with jam or powdered sugar, that Barry and I started preparing annually for our daughters years ago.

May we all live in good health to celebrate many happy milestones. 

Love,

Rebecca

 

It will get better

Many years ago, before we had children, we drove from Rochester, in upstate New York, where we were students, down to New York City to see two of the three concerts Carole King performed that weekend. Through the wonders of the internet I was able to find what was only a very faint memory, that these shows at The Beacon Theater were the weekend of my birthday in 1976. Here is a link to the review in the New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/03/07/archives/friends-of-carole-king-fill-the-beacon-theater-back-to-urban-days.html

The review is rather negative, but I was then and remain to this day a loyal fan, so John Rockwell’s words do not really matter to me.

I can clearly remember that about half way through each of the shows she sat down on the floor of the stage and talked about how we have to save the planet. From her earliest days as a performer, she was interested in environmental issues, a cause she has continued to pursue over the years. My recollection of that talk was it sounded a bit sophomoric; Carole King is a terrifically talented singer and songwriter but never an especially impressive intellectual. So, when I saw this link on Facebook I was prepared to be at least a bit amused. Instead, I was quite moved by her words, and I felt compelled to share them here.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=263832484637021&extid=SSOgx9ZR8ehh3jeY

Carole, you’ve still got a friend here. 

Love,

Rebecca

 

 

Some joy on a very sad day

 

I do not believe there is anything I can say about this 19^th anniversary of the bombings at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, PA that tragically ended nearly 3000 lives prematurely. It is simply a very sad day.

So instead, I spent some time this morning looking through pictures posted by Striar Hebrew Academy, where our younger daughter teaches and our two youngest grandchildren are students. It is strange looking through scores of photographs of young children in masks, and it was not always easy to identify our own grandchildren, so I may well have missed some. But here are a couple, one of Julia and one of Noah, that were just so sweet I felt compelled to share them here, in an effort to find some joy today.

Have a safe and peaceful weekend.

Love,

Rebecca

Encouraging words

 

Thank you so much to the many of you who have reached out to me with lovely messages about our celebration of Maya a few days ago.

And while we are on the subject of encouraging words, I was pleased to see the following announcement from Pfizer.

The CEOs of AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer, and Sanofi, have made a historic pledge to the world, outlining a united commitment to uphold the integrity of the scientific process as they work towards potential regulatory filings and approvals of the first COVID-19 vaccines.

All nine CEOs signed the following pledge:

 

We, the undersigned biopharmaceutical companies, want to make clear our on-going commitment to developing and testing potential vaccines for COVID-19 in accordance with high ethical standards and sound scientific principles.

 

The safety and efficacy of vaccines, including any potential vaccine for COVID-19, is reviewed and determined by expert regulatory agencies around the world, such as the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA has established clear guidance for the development of COVID-19 vaccines and clear criteria for their potential authorization or approval in the US. FDA’s guidance and criteria are based on the scientific and medical principles necessary to clearly demonstrate the safety and efficacy of potential COVID-19 vaccines. More specifically, the agency requires that scientific evidence for regulatory approval must come from large, high quality clinical trials that are randomized and observer-blinded, with an expectation of appropriately designed studies with significant numbers of participants across diverse populations.

 

Following guidance from expert regulatory authorities such as FDA regarding the development of COVID-19 vaccines, consistent with existing standards and practices, and in the interest of public health, we pledge to:

·        Always make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals our top priority.

·        Continue to adhere to high scientific and ethical standards regarding the conduct of clinical trials and the rigor of manufacturing processes.

·        Only submit for approval or emergency use authorization after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study that is designed and conducted to meet requirements of expert regulatory authorities such as FDA.

·        Work to ensure a sufficient supply and range of vaccine options, including those suitable for global access.

 

We believe this pledge will help ensure public confidence in the rigorous scientific and regulatory process by which COVID-19 vaccines are evaluated and may ultimately be approved.

One of the concerns I and many others have had is that, in the current environment, many people will not trust any vaccine that will be developed despite assurances that it is both safe and effective. There is perhaps understandable, albeit in my mind unwarranted, concern that pharmaceutical companies and the Food and Drug Administration will be pressured to approve a vaccine before its safety and efficacy have been clearly demonstrated. I hope this statement from the major players will go some distance in reassuring the public that the science is sound and that this will result in sufficient numbers of people trusting the development process so that use of the vaccine will be as widespread as it will clearly need to be to return our lives to some form of normalcy.

Love,

Rebecca

 

A deeply moving morning

These are surely strange times in which to have celebrations. But despite the pandemic, life does go on. Babies are born, couples decide to marry, and, for our family this past weekend, Maya celebrated becoming a Bat Mitzvah.

Marking this occasion over Zoom was certainly not part of the original plan. But just as Simmie and Ronen and Maya were beginning to finalize decisions on what their family would do to mark this milestone, Covid-19 appeared and changed everything. They decided to have the main part of the celebration on Monday morning so that it could be safely shared with friends and family near and far. Maya read from the Torah portion Nitzavim (“ones standing”), followed by a speech. Maya’s paternal grandparents and great grandmother (on Zoom from Israel) spoke beautifully. Her aunt Dina provided keen insight, and her sister Eliana was poised and charming in describing her younger sister, including a video with Rory “speaking” Maya’s praises. Her Mom was simply beaming. Barry and I also spoke of Maya’s charm and talents, sharing some of her most endearing qualities.  

All of you who have joined us today know that Maya is an excellent student and a loyal friend with a winning smile. But Maya has numerous other attributes that make her particularly endearing and impressive.

From a very early age, Maya showed signs of artistic talent. When she was just five years old, we were looking at a book in which this picture was shown, 

 

and she said “that looks like a Kandinsky.” Neither Barry nor I had a clue who the artist was, but it turned out that she had learned about Kandinsky’s work at school and was right! The following year, Maya painted this winter scene, and we were stunned at her ability to capture not only the feel of winter but three dimensions in a two-dimensional space.

Maya’s talents are not limited to art; she has honed her skills in music as well. We still recall her earliest weeks at what we call “Camp NanaSabba,” when she would just enjoy sitting at our piano and playing melodies she composed. Before long, she was able to play by ear music she had heard, and continues to hone her skills as a pianist through formal lessons and experimentation.

 

Maya is a young lady who also appreciates the finer things in life. She has long enjoyed seeing movies at the Showcase SuperLux Cinema in Chestnut Hill, where the waiters serve her candy in a champagne flute.

Another fond memory of our time with Maya was when Barry was telling her about a book he had recently read, “Moonwalking with Einstein,” in which Jonathan Foer relates his experience in competitive memorization and the techniques he mastered that enabled him to remember long strings of unrelated words and numbers. They were very modest in terms of their ambition to memorize, and decided on three words: tiger, window, and ice cream, which both Maya and Barry will somehow never forget.

It was an outstanding example of making lemonade from lemons. While I am sure that Maya will look back and feel she “missed” having the celebration she would have liked, I am certain she will know that she had the best celebration she possibly could have had.

Love,

Nana/Rebecca