When Did I Grow Up?

I was listening to NPR on my way home today and they were talking about the passing of Nate Dogg and MP3s (not the same story... just the same broadcast). First they played the song "Regulate" by Warren G featuring Nate Dogg and the broadcaster said, "If you came of age in the 90's... you know Warren G's song Regulate. It's part of the sound track of your life." Yup.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/1plPyJdXKIY&hl]I remember dancing to this at school dances and at parties in the 90's. Then I realized... these kids in college today... they were born in early 90's. My nephew was born in the late 90's... they don't know this stuff. This is the music I will say to my kids, "Mommy used to rock out to this!" And they will say... "Eww mom! Turn on ___ (insert popular musician 10 years from now) and turn off that old stuff." And then I will think, "Kids these days, they don't know the classics... the foundation of hip hop. Back when I was in high school..." Just like my dad did with me and his music from the 60's... I can only hope that my kids enjoy my music as much as I have come to enjoy my dad's (who doesn't love the Beatles!).Then the next story was about MP3's and how hard they worked to get the music quality the same... but it never was... and it was the first revolution in music recording driven by the consumer. The transition from vinyl to tape to cd was driven by the record companies. I started to reminisce about when I was in middle school and high school when I would buy cassette tapes... Like Michael Jackson's Bad and Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers... (I still have those) and the CD revolution, when they were charging $19.99 for a cd and man I was desperate for a diskman. Walkmans weren't cool anymore... and I had to get some cool.I sat in my car remembering the record shops in Vero Beach and buying concert tickets there (no online TicketMaster). It was just such a different time. Music for me, back then, was about community and interaction. You saw your friends at the record shop. You could still buy vinyl at thrift shops.But somewhere along the lines I grew up. Saturday I will turn 30. I never felt very old (only when my brother hit milestones did I really feel it) and I kinda always thought that I was hip. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that inevitably there is a gap between my generation and this current one. And that is okay. I think I am going to enjoy embracing my status as older and wiser and memory holder of cassette tapes.

I write like...

There is this great site called "I Write Like" which analyzes a writing sample and tells you who you write like.Here's a few samples of how I write:For my Cats In Israel & Traveling Talia for Tishrei pt 2 blog -

I write likeKurt Vonnegut

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

For my Zivug vs Beshert blog & A Journey to Matter... A Hike to Be blog -

I write likeJames Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

For my Inferior vs Superior Health Care Systems blog -

I write likeMario Puzo

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

And finally for my Is this the future Israeli Jewish women are doomed to live? blog -

 
I write likeDan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Pretty interesting! Try out your writing here: I Write Like

Stunning pictures

Recently, my friend posted a link to some amazing pictures that were enhanced using HDR techniques. It has gotten me interested in playing with some of my photos using this technology. I haven't tried yet but here are a few from the site. The Denver image isn't the coolest on the website but it's cool that Denver got included. And here is another fav... MonacoYou can find more here - Copy and Paste BlogMaybe I will do one of Jerusalem...

So. Excited. Mad Men, Season 4 starts Sunday!

I just can't wait. I love the time period. I love the clothes. I love the ad agency. I love it all! I am a total Maddict!AdAge had a great article about the new season. A nice little preview that does NOTHING to satiate my curiosity, intentionally. Which just makes me more curious. AHH!Read it here - 'Mad Men' Returns, Smoke Clears, and Things Still Aren't What They Seem (Maybe)He has some seriously astute comments about the deconstruction at the end of season 3 and the reconstruction that may or may not happen in season 4.I. Can't. Wait.

Negative Body Image and Greek Life

So many of you know that I am the Chapter Advisor for my sorority at University of Colorado - Boulder.

I really love:

  1. My girls (even though they aren't always nice to me)
  2. My volunteer role (even though it isn't always easy)
  3. My sorority & our international team of volunteers (no even though here...)


For me, joining Gamma Phi Beta was an incredible experience. I had gone through almost 2 years of university being a GDI (g-d damn independent) and hanging only with the theatre people before I realized... I needed a broader social circle. I am by no means a "stereotypical" sorority girl but I don't think anyone at my school was. The women who are now and will always be my closest friends are the women I graduated with and were in my Gamma Phi chapter (go Epsilon Zeta at JU!).

Becoming the advisor at CU was definitely a culture shock. My chapter had 30 girls, this one has 180... It's a big school with a big football team, and when I got here, a big drinking problem. Not our chapter necessarily but the school as a whole. We had so many barriers to success over the past four years but I am SO proud of where we stand today with the university. Now I know what it took to get here and I know that a lot of my women think I forgot what it was like to be a college student (HA! That's funny... I remember it all and I remember saying the same things about my advisors) but the reality is that I've grown up and seen the affects of that lifestyle on women and I want to help every woman I come in contact with.

So I was fairly disturbed when I read this article - Sororities and Negative Body Image - what struck me the most was that the women more attracted to Greek life were women with a lower self esteem and body image to begin with. AND that instead of empowering these women, this study found that they actually perceived themselves worse. That's not what we are here for.

Sorority women are empowered. We are creating our own networking opportunities. We are making a family where none existed. Our founders were strong women, pioneers and our ritual and ideals have changed little since our founding (in GPhi's case - in 1874). So why does this study show the opposite affect?

I don't know. Don't have a clue. Wish I had an answer. I just know that I love and truly care for all 180 of my women and would do anything for them (that would promote the highest type of womanhood).

Second 9/11 Story

Sorry this one is a little late but I feel compelled to share it.

It is the story of my friends Esty and Dovi Scheiner.

Esty and Dovi were raised in the Lubavitch communities in Crown Heights and Boro Park, respectively, in Brooklyn. They were set to be married on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

The day of your wedding, in Judaism, holds a lot of different rituals than typical weddings. Yes, the bride has her hair and nails done but also the bride and groom (kallah and chassan) fast during the day of their wedding. They say all the psalms (tehillim) and it is said that you are closest to G-d on your wedding day.

Dovi woke up that day and went to shul to pray. He davvened (prayed) fervently and was completely unaware of what was happening some miles away. When he emerged from shul and saw the smoke, he knew there was something wrong. Some decisions had to be made. Esty and Dovi met with their rabbi to make some decisions. Their rabbi counseled, "Look at it as Osama Bin Laden did something evil, and you are doing something small but good."

So they were married. Emotions ran high. Dovi nearly fainted during the ceremony and had to have an IV put in. But something in them forever changed. It became their mission together, the mission of their marriage to foster a Jewish cultural life in Lower Manhattan. The run a group called World Tikkun Center (WTC) and The Soho Synagogue that makes Judaism accessible to everyone.

This couple and their mission has been incredibly inspiring to me and their story is a unique one. I am proud to call them my friends and I hope you visit them if you are ever in Soho!

9/11 – 911 – Sept 11 – 11 Sept

I can't believe it has been a full 8 years since September 11, 2001. It does feel like yesterday sometimes... and sometimes it feels like I saw it in a movie... wasn't Will Smith in that one?

So in the spirit of the day, I will share my story.

September 11, 2001 - Jacksonville, Florida

I was a junior at Jacksonville University. It was like any other morning. I didn't want to get up and go to my Theatre Design class. Hell, I just didn't want to get up. I have a habit of waking up to my alarm, turning on the TV to the Today Show or CNN and falling back asleep. In my half-asleep state, I peeked through my eyelids and saw an image of smoke coming out of the World Trade Center. In my half-asleep state, my brain said, "Why are they showing file footage of '93?"

Then I sat straight up in bed. This wasn't fake. Matt Lauer was telling me that this was happening right NOW. I sat in my bed, bolt upright staring at my little dorm room/college apartment television, listening to Matt Lauer talk and watched the second plane hit the second tower. That is an image I can never forget. I sat in shock, disbelief, but faith that everything will be all right.

Once my shock wore off, I ran and woke my roommates. I kept one eye on the TV while I got dressed. I finally tore myself from the television and practically ran to the other side of campus, to the fine arts building where my class was. When I got there, the entire staff and all the students in class in that building were huddled around a tiny, tiny TV. I remember that it was smack dab in the middle of Mary's office (she was the receptionist for the theatre and dance department) and students, faculty, deans were all huddled, some in folding chairs, some standing, some on the floor just... watching.

I don't know how long I watched. Classes were, clearly, canceled for the day. JU attracts many students from the northeast and I watched my friends call home and ask about family and friends. Consequences weren't setting in... it wasn't real. The realities would come soon.

When we heard the Pentagon had been hit, it was a shock, sort of. I don't think I had any more capacity to be shocked by that point. Until it hit me. The man I had been dating off and on was currently serving in the Air Force and he was stationed to be at the Pentagon on certain days. But which days? Come on Talia! Just remember what days was he supposed to be there. My brain lost its ability to function. Shock turned to fear. I tried to call him. No luck. No phone calls were going out. Phone lines were jammed. I had to be pulled aside by a friend to be calmed down. When my head finally cleared, I could think. Today is Tuesday. He works there Monday and Wednesday. Breathe.

Finally at some point in the early afternoon we couldn't take it anymore. We couldn't sit in that stuffy office that smelled like old sheet music and ancient costumes. My apartment-mate, Zeina and I started the seemingly long walk back home. Silence enveloped us. We couldn't talk. We couldn't communicate. We could only think. This young Jewish woman and her best friend, a beautiful Lebanese woman took comfort in each others presence. When we got home, we took comfort in cooking.

That's what we do. We feed. It's ingrained in both of us from our cultural heritage. We propped open our apartment door, turned on the TV, and cooked. We welcomed anyone who needed somewhere to be. We fed them until we ran out of food. And we sat, as a community, together absorbing what happened.

When I could finally speak to my parents, I told them about my day. My father's first response was, "We have to stand with Zeina and her family now." It seemed like an odd statement to me at the time. I didn't understand. What had Zeina done? Nothing. Except to have been born to an Arab Christian family. Yes, they left Lebanon as Zeina was born to escape the wars but the climate in the United States of America was not a nice one when it came to our Arab brothers and sisters, post-911. Her father had to shave his facial hair because he feared profiling when he traveled. Reality #1

Jacksonville is home to many military bases. With three military facilities plus the King's Bay Sub base close by, Jacksonville was high on the "potential target" list. Additionally, the city is held together with more bridges than I care to count. JU became an insulated campus, one that we were afraid to stray from in the days after the attacks. Reality #2

Bet ya didn't know that tiny, liberal arts university JU has the second-largest NROTC program in the nation. After 911, I watched friends disappear. With the start of the war, I saw many more go. Reality #3

When I didn't want to wake up that morning and I rolled over to catch 5 more minutes, I had no idea my life was going to change. I still remember being walked to the gate for my flights prior to 911. I remember when we weren't angry at every foreigner and Osama Bin Laden was just a funny name I had never heard of.

My life went on, we all grew and adapted to the changes in security, and I refused to be afraid to fly but our world changed drastically that day.

My Rebbe, my father's Rebbe, Reb Zalman wrote a beautiful prayer for peace for 9/11. Here is a link to it - http://bit.ly/911RebZ

Since this post has gotten rather long, stay tuned. I have an uplifting post coming about my friend's very unique experience on 9/11. Possibly the only people in the world that have 9/11/01 as their anniversary.

Drumroll please….

The results are in!

I made it to the semi-finals of the Mad Men photo competition!! I am so excited, if for no other reason than there were over 4,500 entries and I am in the top 10 women! Thanks to everyone who voted for me, tweeted it, Facebooked it, and generally made me viral. :)

Here's a link to the semi-finalists - http://bit.ly/MMSemiFinalist

Stay tuned. I don't know when we find out who wins but I will let you know when I know!

-t