#BlogExodus 11: Rejoice

Tonight, on the advice of my sister, I am going to rejoice in doing what the rest of America does at night: watch television.

She's suggested that I would enjoy Blue Bloods and, since I have Amazon Prime, it appears that I can "watch now."

Stay tuned for a review, which may follow. For now though, I'm boosting my pop culture quotient -- just like the rest of America.

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima, this post is one in a series marking the days of the Jewish month of Nisan leading up to Passover, which begins at sundown on Friday, April 22, corresponding to 15 Nisan. If you want to play along, check out this year's #BlogExodus and #ExodusGram prompts. Once again, this series of posts also is priming my heart, mind, and spirit to participate in Beyond Walls: Spiritual Writing at Kenyon, a six-day summer writing seminar that is an initiative of the Kenyon Institute at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH.

Der Mentsh Trakht un Got Lakht: A #BlogElul Post

Back in January, I started reading an unabridged edition of Les Miserables.  Under the best of circumstances, I figured it would take me about a year to read the whole book. As of today, eight months later, I’ve finished 285 of the book’s 1200+ pages. 

There’s no doubt that some of the time I might have devoted to Hugo’s tome I frittered away liking Facebook statuses, playing Words with Friends, and vegging out in front of the television with Alex Trebek, Mariska Hargitay, and Christopher Meloni as my sole companions.  And there also was the time I spent paying bills, shopping for food, cooking, washing dishes, changing linens and the like. 

It’s also true, though, that I spent other chunks of potential reading time attending Worship, Communications and Adult Ed committee meetings, being encouraged and encouraging others at Weight Watchers, and organizing and facilitating FORCE meetings for some of my local BRCA sisters.  I also talked to God at minyan, and on the phone nearly daily (sometimes more often) to my father, my sister, my Aunt Claire, and (not as often as I'd like) to friends in such places as Saratoga Springs, NY, Ventura, CA, and Hatboro, PA, among others.  Learning to chant Torah, blogging, and writing (and texting) condolence, mazel tov and refuah sh’leimah notes to friends around the country also pulled me from Jean Valjean and the rest of the book's characters.

Although I don’t have a lot of read pages to show for the eight months since I started on page 1, I do have a welcoming synagogue community, a supportive BRCA sisterhood, loving family and friends, and a rich, full life that, despite my best intentions, doesn’t leave me as much time as I think I would like for reading.

Is it any wonder that Got lakht?!

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima, this post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.

My Kinda Television

Ask my friends and they’ll tell you that I’m totally out of touch with pop culture. And, they’re not wrong. I freely admit that I don’t know Brad Pitt from Sean Penn, the Coen brothers from Christian Slater, and I could no sooner identify any of them in a line-up than I could fly to the moon. The same goes for Angelina Jolie (although I do know she’s Jon Voight’s daughter), Paris Hilton, Nicole Kidman, Britney Spears and the rest. I don’t know who they are and I seem to be surviving just fine, thank you.

When I do watch television, it’s Jeopardy and re-runs of Law and Order SVU and House. For a little variety, sometimes I check out The Food Network, Without a Trace or Cold Case, but that’s about it.

This week, my options seem to have increased exponentially. RCN expanded its channel line-up and tonight, while flipping through channel after channel after channel, I happened upon St. Elsewhere and all my old “friends” at St. Eligius -- Donald Westphall, Daniel Auschlander, Mark Craig, Philip Chandler (Denzel Washington), Victor Ehrlich (Ed Begley, Jr.), Wayne Fiscus (Howie Mandel) and the rest – on American Life Television. Although Mrs. Hufnagel wasn’t in the particular episode I caught, I’m sure she’ll turn up soon enough and I’ll be waiting for her.

In the meantime, you can be sure I’ll be watching some of the other shows I've now discovered on American Life, including LA Law, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show (not to be confused with Newhart, which I never watched), as well as Lou Grant and Trapper John, M.D. I can’t wait to catch up with Grace Van Owen, Arnie Becker, Michael Kuzak, Roxanne Melman, Victor Sifuentes, Rosalind Shays, and, of course, Benny Stulwicz. From MTM and The Bob Newhart Show don’t forget about Mary, Rhoda, Lou, Murray, Ted, Sue Ann, Phyllis, Lars, and Bess, as well as Bob, Emily, Jerry, Carol, Howard and Mr. Carlin. Oh, to see Mary toss her hat again would just make my day! And Billie Newman and Rossi from Lou Grant... Trapper, Gonzo and the others from Trapper John...can't wait!

Now, if only American Life would add The Waltons and Little House to its line-up, maybe, just maybe, I’ll become a television junkie like everyone else I know…