H - E - Double Hockey Sticks No I Won't Go

Just about a year ago, my beloved QPR played their last game in the Premier League before being relegated to their current division. Over the weekend I was searching for an old photograph, and came across this one from that afternoon. The crowd had "invaded" the pitch at the end of the game, aka running joyously across the holy sward and taking selfies for posterity. The police and security officers decided the best way to remove the unwanted hordes was to kettle them back into the stands. This was the last guy in the last corner by the Loft & South Africa Road.

Should I Have Turned the Worm?

A few weeks ago as I rushed out of the house to catch the bus to work, I noticed a worm sitting on the brick path between the two grassy parts of the garden. I wondered if I should move it to the grass, and ran on. When I came home, I saw that the worm had been squashed and killed on the path. Don't laugh - I felt guilty.

Today there was a worm on the path just in front of the main door. I decided that if it stayed there someone would certainly squish it, and so I moved it to the grass. Now I'm wondering - why did the worm cross the road (path)? Have I just undone two-thirds of its life's work? Did I place it on the side to which it was heading, or the side whence it came?

Some people say I think too much. Perhaps. Shabbat shalom!

Beloved Dog: A Short Film by Alex Kalman

I love Maira Kalman. If you've never heard of her, or if you have but your boat is not floated by her work, yet you are a dog lover, then this film is also for you. Enjoy!

Thanks for the Update Mr Fry

Stephen Fry in Look Look by Michael Frayn 1990 (photo:  Ariel J Friedlander)

For those of us who were concerned by the announcement that Mr Stephen Fry was planning to quit these shores for a California dream after having had enough (again) of Twitter trolls, I am pleased to share a message from his blog yesterday:

Don’t Part Me From My Porage Oats

• 17th FEBRUARY 2016
• STEPHEN FRY

Yesterday and today I have been bombarded by texts and emails asking me why I am leaving Britain to go in live in America. This caught me not a little by surprise, since I have no plans at all to swap the UK for the US.

Hurrah.

Showing Iry the Ropes (& Chains)

er, you've got a bit of a thing ...

I asked Iry for the name of an artist she admires. She said "Tracy Emin". Not my cup of tea, but this post is not for me. So here's a bit of Tracy for Iry:

and for me? The source of the title comment, i.e., Rowan Atkinson's sketch when he was the devil welcoming people to hell. It's the original version, so only audio I'm afraid.

Don't Look Back. Or Maybe I Should!

Grant Hall intercepts a Wolves attack

This is a photo taken from my season ticket seat in the upper tier with a compact camera at the last QPR home game. It's not bad. It's probably not as good as I used to be, but I don't get to practice that much. 

Why do I still take pictures, even though nobody uses them and they are mostly rather pedestrian? I say to myself that I am keeping my eye in. I think it's probably being a bit of a fangirl. I suspect I may kind of miss the good old days when I used to be on the pitch, and had a proper photographer's view of the action.

Possibly it is time for a kick in the pants, ravaj! If I had wanted a longer career as a football photographer, why did I give it up and go to rabbi school? I was very clear at the time, saying to anyone who would listen that when I was older and looked back on my career, I didn't want to see that all I had done amounted to some random bits of newspaper floating in the wind. I wanted to look back and see a life that had been useful and hopefully made a positive difference.

It's all very well being nostalgic for the "good old days". However, if I'm going to look back, then perhaps it's better to agree that I had some great experiences, enjoy some of those memories, and then turn to the question - if I am waxing so nostalgic, what is that telling me about now? What is the problem that needs to be addressed!

John Elway at Wembley Stadium

Nu, hurrah that I got to see the Denver Broncos play at Wembley in 1987 (1987, how can that be 29 years ago already?!). 

I've seen great moments at the Oval ...

Sir Viv clean bowled

... photographed icons at Wimbledon ...

Jimmy Connors

...  & in the theatre.

The Cherry Orchard 1989 with Dame Judi Dench

I've been welcomed by people at their office ...

Kermit with his boss

... and have been thrown out of Hammersmith Odeon by another (I'm looking at YOU Joan Baez).

accidental double exposure after reusing Baez slide film for Arlo

Lots of stories to tell. Meanwhile, it's time to stop procrastinating, look forward, and go do my Italian prep for my class on Monday. A presto!

Tu Bishvat Greetings

an oldie but a goodie!

Nu, yesterday I was interviewed by a class of 7-year-olds in their Religion School who wanted to know what rabbis do. They asked some great questions, the very first of which was 'do you ever make mistakes in your Hebrew?' (Of course, I said, but the more I practice, the fewer there are!)

A girl at the back asked why I'd wanted to become a rabbi. I found that both easy and terribly difficult to answer. The easy part was telling them that my father had been a rabbi and rather a good one IMO so I wanted to follow his example. At some point, I don't remember when, I must have mentioned that he had died some time ago.

What felt more difficult was how to explain why I love what a rabbi does. I looked at the class, and saw the plastic pots on the tables filled with dark earth into which they'd just planted cress and sprout seeds. I said to them that the best part of being a teacher was that you get to plant seeds and help them to grow, but instead of putting them in the earth, we get to plant them in the hearts and minds of our students. I wasn't sure if I'd explained it well enough. A boy in the middle raised his hand with what looked like an urgent question. His teacher called on him. He looked at me and said gently, "I'm sorry about your Dada."

Happy Tu Bishvat!

Cool David Bowie Tributes

When Elvis died there was no Internet. We read the newspapers and cut out the reports and obituaries. And we watched the news on TV. For a couple of days.

David Bowie has died. The first single I ever bought was Space Oddity (the second time round). I listen to at least one of his songs on the radio most days of the week. Everyone has such a lot to say about this death. What a lucky man, to be so loved and respected. How lucky we are, those of us who have enjoyed and will enjoy his work.

Here are a couple of photo tributes that caught my eye:

(What used to be called the) Hammersmith Odeon

The many incarnations of David Bowie from a Whovian perspective

kol hakavod to those who thought up this stunningly brilliant liturgical play on Lecha Dodi

Finally, he's just so charming when Jonathan Ross tries his best to get something juicy out of the interview:

With condolences to family and friends who knew and loved him, may his memory be a blessing.

PS  follow the link for Space Oddity for an unexpected treat
PPS Just seen link and wanted to share it with you all:

In Memoriam: David Bowie, 1947-2016 from Billboard

Angouleme Grand Prix Lacks Women Nominees

Who is going to start the French branch of Laydeez Do Comics?

Shared from the BBC website:

French comics festival marred by sexism row

• 6 January 2016
 
• From the section Europe

Image copyrightAFP/Getty Images

Image captionOnly one woman has ever won the Grand Prix award in the Angouleme festival

A prestigious award for graphic novelists in France is facing calls for a boycott after its long list of nominees failed to include any women.

The 42-year-old Grand Prix at Angouleme has long faced criticism for its failure to recognise women cartoonists.

This year, a pressure group is calling for a boycott, saying "it is no longer tolerable" that "renowned female creators" are left off the list of 30.

At least three male nominees have publicly backed the protest.

They have asked for their names to be removed from the list.

The Grand Prix is a highly prestigious prize, recognising the lifetime achievement of a cartoonist. It is handed out each year at the Angouleme International Comics Festival.

In its long history, only one woman, Florence Cestac, has ever won the prize.

A group called BD Egalite, or Women in Comics Collective Against Sexism, said the prize was significant, because as well as being honorary it could also boost an artist's career and book sales.

"What is the message sent to women cartoonists and those in the process of becoming such?" it asked on its website. "We are discouraged from having ambition, from continuing our efforts. How could we take it otherwise?

"It all comes back to the disastrous glass ceiling. We're tolerated, but never allowed top billing. Will we require women in comics to perpetually play second fiddle?"

A number of cartoonists on the long list have since asked for their names to be removed.

'Ridiculous, embarrassing'

American Daniel Clowes called it a now "totally meaningless 'honor'."

"What a ridiculous, embarrassing debacle," he added. 

Riad Sattouf on Facebook listed a number of female cartoonists he would "prefer to cede my place to", including Rumiko Takahashi, Julie Doucet, Anouk Ricard, Marjane Satrapi and Catherine Meurisse.

The Festival's Franck Bondoux was quoted in French media as saying that Franco-Belgian graphic novels, known as "bande desinee", had traditionally been dominated by men.

"The festival cannot distort this reality, although I concede that the list might contain one or two female names," he said. 

But he rejected accusations that the festival ignored the contribution of women artists, giving examples of steps it was taking to promote their work.

Piglet is Back!

It has been a while since Piglet visited a new city and posed for his adoring fans. However, the opportunity to go to Barcelona and see the Sagrada Familia church with his own eyes was irresistible.   For more photos from his trip, do look at his FB page here. Piglet is back!

Lives of Interesting Women 2015

At the turn of the secular calendar year lots of people make lots of lists. Having always loved lists, I'm in the mood to recall notable women whose lives have ended in the past year. It's not that easy to find them, but I'll have a go. Meanwhile, the start of the search brought me to a list of women scientists that should be better known. I'd not heard of any of them except Rosalind Franklin. Have you? Have a quick read about:

Emilie du Chatelet
Caroline Herschel
Mary Anning
Mary Somerville
Maria Mitchell
Lise Meitner
Irene Curie-Joliot
Barbara McClintock
Dorothy Hodgkin
Rosalind Franklin

So many admirable women, often discouraged from studying science, often not acknowledged for their contribution.

In 2015 we also lost:

Claudia Alexander 
(geophysicist & top NASA scientist) Astronomy Magazine obituary

Grace Lee Boggs
(philosopher & feminist) obituary

Eugenie Clark aka "The Shark Lady"
(ichthyologist) Telegraph obituary

Ronnie Gilbert 
(singer, the Weavers) obituary

Mary Ellen Mark
(photographer) Vogue retrospective, obituary

Melissa Mathison
(screenwriter, best known for ET the Extraterrestrial) obituary

Cynthia Robinson 
(trumpeter for Sly & the Family Stone) obituary

Dorothy "Dottie" Thomas, considered the mother of bone marrow transplantation.
Obituary

This is, of course, a tiny and random selection of names. I present them for consideration and possible inspiration. Happy 2016!

Nivchar shem may-osher rav - a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches (Proverbs 22:1).

Italian Alias

Those who know me may be surprised that I have been watching some of the Rugby World Cup this week. I'm still mystified by the intricacies of egg-chasing, but understand enough to follow and appreciate the scoring. Old and new connections meant that when some channel-hopping landed me on the fervent singing of the Italian national anthem, I stayed for a bit of Italy vs O Canada.

I was very excited to hear the commentator refer regularly to a player called Edoardo Gori. I know from football experience that famous people often moonlight as athletes, e.g. my favourite composer of 19th century Jewish liturgical music Mr Lewandowski who recently scored 5 goals for Bayern Muenchen, and former leader of the Children of Israel, Moses, who is now scoring goals for West Ham United. It was great to discover that behind the Italian spelling, Mr Edward Gorey is currently giving a Gothic aspect to the world of Rugby Union.

Bees of Summer

June bee in Finchley

At the beginning of the summer the ravaj got a new camera. She thought it might help her to learn the capabilities of this machine if she could find a photography project. Somehow, a flowering bush full of bees on Essex Park caught her eye, and she began to shoot them. Next came the bees that visited the lavender in the garden by the flats, and those around the buddlea on the platform at Finchley Central station.

July bee in the garden

Standing in the bushes at the station did get her some funny looks, including a woman who thought she had fainted and came to check if everything was ok. With much practice and a lot of patience, the project appears to be progressing.

Bees are not that easy to photograph. They are so fast - 1/2000th of a second sometimes catches the beat of their wings. When they are still, their faces are usually in a flower and all you can see are their bottoms. So the first challenge is to get the bee still, in focus, and with its head visible. Next is to get it facing you, and after that to get it in flight (in focus and facing you!).

To bee continued ...

all photos © Ariel J Friedlander

My Right Hand Man

Former #QPR trio on hand to present Saturday's annual end-of-season awards at Loftus Road #Sinton #Sinclair #Peacock

A photo posted by officialqpr (@officialqpr) on May 17, 2015 at 2:27am PDT

Chris Kemp, QPR Supporter of the Year, and the chap who I get to sit next to through all the ups and downs at Loftus Road. O yeah, and some other guys.
#Austin #Sinton #Furlong #Peacock #Sinclair #Phillips

Action Bee

been trying to shoot some bees recently. A group of them seem to like hanging out in the weeds outside Finchley Central station. Thus you will find me, back to the road, ankle deep in empty beer cans and fag packets, learning how to get a decent pic of a bee. After a few weeks of this, here is my first halfway decent shot of a bee in the air (rather than resting on a flower having a drink).

Tania Mathias Beats Vince Cable in Twickenham

One of the great shocks of the UK election yesterday was the defeat of the Business Secretary Vince Cable by the Conservative candidate Tania Mathias.

Here's a pic of probably the last time that I saw Tania:

Neil Gaiman Replied to My Tweet

Thank you Neil for giving me a moment of joy during these hours of political disappointment.

(for more about my feelings for Feiffer, see here)

Cartoon Heroes: Origins

Stuck at home recovering from the flu it crossed my mind to trace the family tree of my interest in cartoons and comic strips. It was always my dream as a child to have a career as a syndicated cartoonist. The minor obstacle to the fulfilment of that dream was that I'm not very good at drawing. Not that this is a definitive obstacle. The main reason has more to do with not putting in the time and effort, i.e., I created a character but did not develop his world.

The very first cartoons that I remember were Peanuts. Old paperback collections with crumbling yellow pages on my father's desk, and once a week in colour on the inside back page of the Observer Sunday magazine.

First Peanuts comic October 1950

Charlie Brown was hapless but loveable, Lucy was a smart and grumpy girl just like the women in my family, and Snoopy was so cool. Curse you Red Baron! I drew Snoopies and Charlie Browns all over my rough books at school. They've been with me all my life. My character - Pomme de Terre - is clearly related to that round-headed kid. When Charles M Schulz died in 2000, many cartoonists dedicated a strip to him. This one made me cry:

Those Sunday newspaper glossy magazines were the source of the other cartoons that got my attention as a pre-teen. Jules Feiffer was also published in the Observer magazine, although nearer the contents page at the front. I loved his spiky drawings. I was probably a bit full of myself for having such grown-up tastes.

Feiffer started out in the mid-1940's as an assistant to the Parent of graphic novels Mr Will Eisner, and got his first strip in the Village Voice in 1956.

Feiffer's coverage of US politics, and focus on President Richard M Nixon, coincided with my political awakening thanks to Bonnie & Henry teaching me about Watergate.

It also helped that Feiffer illustrated one of the greatest books of all time, i.e., The Phantom Tollbooth.

These were the cartoons with which I began. Otherwise, I was a Marvel comics fan, saving my pennies for the monthly import of The Fantastic Four, and regularly reading Spiderman, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and the Silver Surfer.

To this day Peanuts rules, even in reruns. The Observer stopped publishing Feiffer in 1978, but I got his book Tantrum (1979). It's considered by many to be one of the first graphic novels. And Neil Gaiman loved it also :-)

Cheerio Dave

Minor good news on a day when a terrible story of evil people dominates the headlines - Dave Whelan is stepping down from his position as Chairman of Wigan FC. He will still own the club, but let us hope that his chosen successor - apparently 23 years old - will have a slightly more enlightened view than his grandfather.

BBC report
The Guardian report
The Daily Mail recounts the whole story, and presents a perspective that suggests Mr Whelan still does not accept or understand how he caused any offence and continues to show no remorse that people have been offended by his language and views.

Googling Oneself

Head all puffed up with another couple of my 15 minutes this week, after a lovely evening at the premiere of "R Story"followed by a couple of hours of Twitter interest in the event plus a mention in a Guardian blog … and decided to have a look at what my current Google profile reveals:

1.  Woman's Hour (7th November 2014)

Rose Neelam, Vicky Beeching and me being interviewed by Jenni Murray re faith and being gay.

2. Memorial Scrolls Trust (8th February 2014)

Rabbi moment - taking part in the 50th Anniversary service marking the arrival of the Czech Scrolls in London.

3.  It Gets Better (February 2012)

Video for Keshet UK as part of the worldwide project to support LGBT youth.

4. Out 4 Marriage (May 2012)

One of the first videos uploaded by the Out4Marriage campaign supporting what was to become the successful campaign to legalise same-sex marriage in England. Even got a namecheck in the Independent and the Huffington Post :-)

5. Rainbow Jews Oral History (June 2013)

Apparently I'm a wry American - soundbite and transcript of my interview available for you to make up your own mind.

6. Jewish Chronicle interview (September 2009)

JC version of why I became a rabbi.

7. Does Your Rabbi Know You're Here?

Anthony Clavane includes me in the revised introduction to his book.

8. Diva Debate at Homotopia (12th November 2014)
Recording of the debate in Liverpool with Vicky, Rose and Peter Tatchell.

9. Four Four Jew (February 2014)
First appearance as an artefact with items on display as part of the exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Camden as well as being part of the film that ran on a loop in the main room.

10. Memorial Service for Professor Dorrit F Friedlander z"l (June 2014)
Noted as one of the speakers at Lawrence University celebrating the life of my beloved Auntie Dorrit.

That's about it, really. Mainly I'm delighted to see that the unpleasant memories of my unfortunate experience on Long Island have been pushed waaaaaaaaaay way down the list.