Throwback! Goals, Socialism and Yeast.

Here goes... a random assemblage of thoughts and encounters from the past few weeks.  I am attempting to avoid the pressure I feel to contexualize, theorize and thoroughly situate them through describing and deconstructing the past few weeks.  Suffice to say that this, my second Bayit (Jewish communal living experience) has been unimaginably rewarding so far, my job has been challenging, and beginning to live out the commitment I made for the year has pushed me to really value myself and what I'm doing.  (I write long sentences. Bad for blogging. I will try. to. change.)

1) "Having goals means you have to say no, multiple times", 

says David Rosen, AVODAH founder in his words of wisdom to us last night.  I currently have two letters from incarcerated people sitting on my desk, one asking for legal intervention to make sure he isn't deported to Cuba on release in 2015, another asking for job placement resources for his release in 2012.  I don't have enough time to prep for my client organizing, my department shrunk by a full time staffer right before I came, and it isn't part of my job to provide those resources... but there are two letters from incarcerated people needing legal advice and training sitting on my desk.  It is very hard to say no.

2) "There's a difference between real socialism, and angry young men."

Last Thursday, I ended up at the 60th anniversary of the Monthly Review, an independent socialist magazine, along with the rest of the AVODAH crew, thanks to Hannah Selma's info-networks, Shira's passion, and Sarra's flexibility.  After I concluded a long winded monologue on the woes of Columbia campus politics, ending up quite bewildered in the middle of a socialist conference chanting "support the antifada", how the ISO ruins everything, and my love/hate relationship with an activist friend, Hannah Selma gave a nod, and said, "There's a difference between real socialism, and angry young men."  Brilliant point.  My physical interactions with socialism have all come through angry young men, as opposed to my intellectual interactions, which have been much friendlier.

3) "Poor People have Worth"

My main take away from the Monthly Review event was that Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who was one of about 6 speakers, is a brilliant communicator.  He combines passion with lyricism, theological thought with moving political ideology, and figures with situational realities.  He also uses repetition really well.  He kept saying (more eloquently) "if we remember that poor people are people with worth", it would shift our priorities. Well made point.  Brilliant persuasive communication is a powerful tool, and I am hoping to develop it, but trying to find my medium.  I hope this year we can share and work on possibilities in AVODAH!

4) re:bread for the economic crisis, "No Yeast for the Weary"

Bread is cheap.  As Elana Stevie demonstrated in a previous post, it is quite economical to bake.  After returning from a program at around 11pm I wanted to make challah for Rosh Hashanah.  I went to 4 corner stores/gas stations in our neighborhood searching for yeast, but alas, there were plenty of chips and ho-hos but no yeast.  

We have impressive produce access, especially compared to where I lived two summers ago in Harlem.  Literally, within walking distance there were only dried up onions and potatoes, that was it.  But there are still large inequalities in food access by neighborhood, and if you only have time late at night, which is the case for lots of people with little control over their schedules, there's no yeast around! Which means no cheap bread!