marcia, marcia, marcia !!!

i just finished reading maureen mccormick's memoir here's the story: surviving marcia brady and finding my true voice. all i can say is wow! she's experienced more in a lifetime than 3 people put together!



the book begins with a little background about how her parents met, her beginnings in show biz , and her life as marcia brady. it was comforting to know how positive an experience the show was for her and how her castmates were like family. i once viewed a tv show about child stars which included eve plumb ( who played jan brady) and she didnt want to dwell on her work on the brady bunch , which was such a joke. why else would anyone be interested in her?


back to marcia (marcia, marcia , marcia) . though maureen mccormick came from a loving home, she soon became a cocaine addict after the brady bunch ended. she struggled with drugs for years, even sleeping with men for drugs, until she joined a church at the urging of her castmate jerry houser of the brady brides. at this church she eventually met her husband of 24 yrs. soon after meeting her husband she kicked her cocaine habit. finally at age 40 she finally got the psychological help she needed.
one fun fact is that when she was planning her wedding her mom heard that the club where they were to be holding the receptionat was anti-Semitic. since they had so many jews on the guest list her mom was very concerned. it turned out that the club was not anti-Semitic, but it was interesting to read about a catholic woman being concerned about holding her wedding reception at an anti-Semitic location.




what is so amazing about this book is how real maureen mccormick seems. she really opens up and lets everyone see what her thought processes were over the years. its a true story of triumph.

film vs digital

i adore photography. 6-7 yrs ago i took a photography course and i became even more hooked. we used a 35mm manual slr camera for the class . of course this was at the dawn of digital photography. recently i purchased a digital camera. ive taken pictures with it, but i havent printed any or put any on my computer yet. im not the most technologically advanced . i plan on taking a course on digital photography.
i have taken some good photos on my new digital camera, but i still think that my photos from my film camera are better.
im glad that i learned photography on a film camera because alot of the concepts can be applied to digital photography .
i admit its nice to have the instant gratification of previewing photos on a digital camera.the advantage of getting film developed is that i dont have to do any of the processing work.
time stops for no one, and neither does technology. they say its important - its fun to learn new things, but its also exhausting!
well... i m going to include a film photo i took when the gates were up in central park. soon i will be more technologically advanced and i will post digital photos. you can decide which you like better.

kippot

growing up the coolest yamakas were the crocheted ones. black leather ones were cool too because they looked like chocolate. i even liked the black velvet ones because velour was really "in" when i was in school.
however.... there was one yamaka was a badge of embarrassment for the wearer ... the four cornored polyester black yamaka given out at weddings , bar-mitzvahs and shuls to those who normally dont wear one. whoever wore these shameful skullcaps were proclaiming they were not religious and that wearing a head covering of this sort was not an everyday occurrence . other yamakas seemed like a natural extention of the wearer. not so with these. i have a friend who would call these polyester monstrosities " chocolate chip" yamakas because they were often black and they were pointy when worn , not unlike a chocolate chip. hence the nickname.
one subset of jews that have made the chocolate chip yamaka a fashion statement are syrian jews. they are the only jews (besides reform jews) who regularly wear these in brooklyn. i dont get it. how do such otherwise fashion conscious jews wear the chocolate chip yamaka as such a bold fashion statement?

shalom auslander

foreskin's lament came out in paperback, thus a great excuse to have another book reading at borders. after reading foreskin's lament i have wanted to see the author in person. in general i like meeting authors , and due to the content of his book, i especially wanted to meet shalom auslander.
well.... in person he is a little older than the photo on his book jacket. though i read the book, i was quite taken aback by how hardened he is. he told the audience that giving up judaism was like removing a tumor , but if you ask me it didnt really help him. he doesnt appear to be the relaxed, or at peace . he got rid of a tumor, or so he thinks. hes not a practicing jew in any way shape or form, but its not like this has made him a calm , happy , zen -like individual.
a woman who had been married to shalom's relative years ago, was at the book reading. she applauded his book and was so happy he had gotten out of the clutches of his abusive family. if you ask me, his deviant family is the reason he is ranting.
as usual, this book event proved to be an insightful affair.

modesty

years ago when brittany spears was breaking out of her "good girl" mode (i know its hard to remember) a co-worker of mine who had a daughter who was a brittany groupie and was very upset about brittany's more risque music videos. at that point her daughter was not to watch any more brittany spears videos.

another day, this same co-worker was outraged with the styles for children's clothing that were around. they were selling too many provocative styles for little girls.

during the low slung jeans and skirt phase many non-jewish co-workers of mine complained. who wants to wear something that shows your stomach when you have a big stomach? or in during the frigid weather of winter, how are these styles practical?

ive seen well-heeled rich ladies with daughters wearing jeans with their underwear showing and i wasnt the only one passing them on the street appalled.

if you knew me in real life you would know that i only wear skirts or dresses and do not go mixed swimming, but im not the poster girl for the tznius police either.

i believe that there is a concept of modesty, for society in general.

i think that bais yaakov must give a course on makeup application that i missed out on in the modern orthodox schools i attended. (im not sure how this fits in with this post, but ive been dying to rant about this , so im including it here)

modesty is more than long sleeves and long skirts. its about not being flashy or too sexy in personality and style of dress.
one doesnt have to be dowdy to be modest. example: katie couric: modest, paris hilton:immodest, princess diana: modest ,sara fergeson:modest, pamela anderson: immodest, madonna: immodest.
people choose to harp on tzniut in clothing because its easier to focus on than perfecting the actual midah of modesty. giving tzedakah without fanfare or holding a position of kavod without being haughty are much tougher than not wearing bluejeans. i aspire to reach the truest level of tzniut..... someday.

thank you

i would just like to post a public thank you to those families who open their homes for yom tov and shabbos meals. i specifically want to thank those who invite many singles every week. these individuals are so special. many who they invite are social deviants who would have no where to go and yet these families invite them with a full heart and make all of their guests feel welcome. i dont know how they do it. because these families invite such diverse company it can be overwhelming to be a guest if one is not eccentric. nonetheless it applaud the hosts. it is such a big mitzvah. the families who open their homes are not rich . they dont get funding to do hachnasos orchim . i am in awe of these families. i dont know that i could do what they do if i were married. im not sure i would have the patience. this is why i think that what these families are doing is so incredible.

the trophy

my great uncle had a trophy in his house. for years i saw it but never knew what it was for . eventually i heard the story of how it was won.

in 1928, when my great uncle was 23, there was a debate at the local jewish community center. the debate was whether or not the jewish communities of the united states should raise money to help the jews of europe come to america or should the jewish communities of the united states raise money to help the communities of europe live better in europe. my great uncle debated the side of raising money to bring the jews of europe over to the united states. my great uncle's side won. too bad the jewish communities of the united states did not abide by the outcome of this debate. it was 1928. if the yidden of 1928 america had raised money to help the jews of europe leave who knows how the course of history might have been? hindsight is twenty-twenty, but it is interesting to ponder. apparently the matzav of eastern europe was dire enough for a group of twenty-somethings at a jewish community center in the united states to debate in 1928.

and of course , i am proud to say that i had a great uncle who debated in the honor of trying to save the jews of europe , way before world war 2.