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Icicles

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008

Icicles

I took a series of pictures over the past week during which Seattle was covered by a foot of snow. With the city owning no snow plowing equipment to speak of, no one who didn’t own a 4 wheel drive vehicle could get anywhere. Few people went to work. Most people couldn’t shop for food or much of anything. The local economy is all shot to hell.

I took advantage of the opportunity to become a kid again and enjoy endless sled runs down local hills on a sled I bought my son last year. Since we live in the hills just above Lake Washington just about every street provides a great downhill run.

I took this image looking out our bedroom window at icicles hanging over our window.

Posted in Outdoors, Seattle | No Comments »

Palin Willing to Kill Off Baby Beluga

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

Any self-respecting parent has heard Rafi’s Baby Beluga about 1,000 times or more. Apparently, Sarah Palin’s kids must’ve gone more toward the Wiggles or Christian kids music. Otherwise, how to explain her opposition to saving the Alaskan baby belugas, which are so endangered that the federal government just listed them as an officially endangered species. It’s just another nail in the coffin of the McCain-Palin campaign. A campaign so tone deaf it thinks killing off Baby Beluga isn’t such a bad idea after all. Tell it to the millions of kids brought up on that song.

The Times article notes that every major politician in the state opposes the federal listing. You know, I can understand a concern with business development preventing you from seeing the environmental forest for the trees…but isn’t anyone other than the blasted bleeding heart local environmentalists concerned about preserving Alaska’s natural bounty? Doesn’t that count for anything?

Not only is Alaska’s environment a legacy for its inhabitants, it’s an important tourist attraction, tourism being no small portion of the state’s economy.

Tags: endangered species, palin willing to kill off baby beluga, rafi
Posted in Outdoors, Politics & Society, The Arts | 1 Comment »

Why Did Jewish Terrorists Target Zeev Sternhell?

Friday, September 26th, 2008

Neve Gordon sent me an e-mail earlier today regarding incitement that might have inspired the would-be assassins of Prof. Zeev Sternhell. The question I have is why, when and how did the settler extremist movement target him?

Clearly, Sternhell’s receipt of the 2008 Israel Prize in political science sent them over the edge and this was the immediate precursor that motivated the pipe bomb attack. But why?

I found an article on the pro-settler Arutz Sheva site by Gil Ronen, Israel Prize to go to Pro-Terror, Pro-Civil War Prof.. Among the professor’s “crimes” are two statements from his past that are singled out for special opprobrium. In 1988, he wrote in the former Labor Party organ, Davar:

In the end we will have to use force against the settlers in Ofra or Elon Moreh. Only he who is willing to storm Ofra with tanks will be able to block the fascist danger threatening to drown Israeli democracy.

There are many Israelis and others like me who would consider that statement prescient considering what happened during the Gaza withdrawal. Indeed, the police did use force to remove settlers. The only thing they didn’t use was tanks. That is because thankfully the settlers chose not to use weapons to defend themselves. One could justifiably ask what might happen if an Israeli government DOES attempt to withdraw from West Bank settlements. Would they use weapons to resist? If so, then we might yet see real violence (though hopefully it will never get bad enough to require tanks).

Amidst a statement that was critical of Palestinian militant attacks on Israeli civilians within the Green Line, Sternhell wrote in Haaretz in 2001:

Many Israelis, possibly the majority of voters, do not doubt the legitimacy of the armed resistance in the territories proper. If the Palestinians had a little sense, they would have concentrated their struggle against the settlements and would not hurt women and children, fire rockets on Gilo, Nachal Oz and Sderot, or plant explosives on the Western side of the Green Line. In this manner, the Palestinians would themselves draft the solution that will be reached in any case.

Settlers view such rhetoric as incitement on Sternhell’s part against them. But if you examine the bare bones of his argument, Sternhell is merely granting to Palestinians tactics that Jewish nationalists assumed in their effort to end the British Mandate and create an independent state. Pre-state Zionists engaged in armed resistance to advance their goals. And rightist groups did not even confine their acts to civilian targets.

I think the main point of contention between Sternhell and the settler extremists is that the latter view themselves as an integral part of Israel proper. As such an Israeli settler or an IDF officer serving in the Territories is no different than an Israeli civilian within the Green Line. Sternhell argues that the Occupation is a cancer on the body politic and the single largest obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. As such attacks on targets in the Territories should be considered legitimate acts of resistance.

Finally, the reason Sternhell is a bete noire of the settler movement is that he is one of its harshest, most passionate and most incisive domestic critics. You have only to read his most recent Haaretz article, Zionism’s dying between Hebron and Yitzhar, to understand what an intellectual threat this man poses to the settler enterprise. In addition, Sternhell does not criticize them as an anti-Zionist outsider. Rather, he criticizes them from within the Zionist movement, which has to drive the rightists crazy. Similarly, I often think that the severity of some of my pro-Israel opponents derives from my refusal to allow myself to be characterized as an enemy of Israel.

Because of the Hebrew University professor’s mastery of the literature and practice of fascism the world over, he successfully relates Israel’s settler enterprise to this broader context. In short, Sternhell seems to know them better than they know themselves. In certain pathological circles, it might be considered self-evident that you’d want to eliminate such a troublesome enemy.

At any rate, if we want to look for the intellectual author of the assassination attempt against Zeev Sternhell we have to look no farther than right wing media outlets like Arutz Sheva or a site like Steven Plaut’s IsraCampus, which published Sternhell and the Debasement of the Israel Prize. From the titles alone, you can project the level of vitriol that could inspire a twisted mind to take actions like what happened yesterday.

Similarly, this is the type of moral debasement that characterizes the leadership of the extremist settler movement regarding this attack:

Itamar Ben-Gvir, an activist with a fringe settler group calling itself the National Jewish Front, said Sternhell was an irrelevant figure and that he did not believe settlers were behind the attack. “I don’t denounce this incident…” Ben-Gvir said.

Tags: artutz sheva rightist media, assassination attempt, isracampus incitement, itamar ben gvir, sternhell settler critic
Posted in Mideast Peace, Outdoors | 22 Comments »

Snow in Seattle!

Friday, March 28th, 2008

It’s pouring snow from the heavens as I write this! I’ve lived here in Seattle 11 years and never seen snow this late in the season. Maybe in Boston or New York, but never here. What’s the world coming to?

A friend who was born here told me the last time it snowed so late in the season was 1985.

Tags: snow in seattle
Posted in Outdoors, Seattle | 1 Comment »

Seafair: Seattle’s Gathering of the Tribe

Saturday, August 4th, 2007

Blue Angels in formation at Seafair (Richard Silverstein)

We Jews know about tribes and tribal gatherings. But what happens when you live among a tribe but don’t feel yourself a full fledged member? Then tribal gatherings can be alternately strange and fascinating. Take Seattle’s Seafair. Fifty years ago, Seattle was a real burg. Once known for its lumber and fishing industries, it did have Boeing and several large military bases as mainstays of the local economy, but little else. This was before Microsoft; before Amazon; before Starbucks; before biotechnology.

Remember when Richard Nixon killed the huge Supersonic Transport (SST) project in 1972, which Boeing had counted on as its production mainstay? The company responded by laying off thousands of workers. And there were no other major industries to take up the slack. The joke going the rounds was: “Will the last person to leave Seattle turn off the lights.” That was then. Though Seafair predated the death of the SST, it was created in a similar context.

The city fathers felt they needed to dream up a way to put Seattle on the map. Why not take advantage of one of Seattle’s prime attractions: the water. Thus began Seafair, Seattle’s summertime festival.

Here’s how the Seafair website describes it:

In the half century since Seafair was launched, the city that Seafair helped put on the map has matured from adolescence to adulthood. When Seafair debuted, the Seattle area was without major league sports teams, a symphony or the Seattle Center. Seattle was hungry for national recognition and attention and Seafair filled the bill with Thunderboats racing on Lake Washington and parades which featured the likes of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

Over the years, Seafair built pride among the community which still resonates today. The Puget Sound of today is a robust, economically and ethnically diverse community and Seafair has become more important than ever. As major cities melt and become the same, Seafair is the fabric of our community that represents the Northwest lifestyle and keeps us unique.

Seafair has become a home town jewel that reaches nearly 2 million Puget Sound residents each summer. In fact, if you live in the Northwest, you look forward to Seafair and all the simple joys that it brings.

Seafair pirates land at Alki beach (Jim Bryant/Seattle PI)

You can hear the breathless boosterism in the copy. It’s as if Seattleites still need to prove they are an interesting town, worthy enough for people to go out of their way to visit. It’s sort of embarrassing to the cosmopolitan Jew in me who’s been all over the world and lived in many places. It makes you feel you are in Seattle but not of it. Does a modern metropolis on the cutting edge of technology and Pacific Rim trade really need a Milk Carton Derby, pirates landing at Alki beach, gas-guzzling hydroplane races, and Blue Angels flyovers? And speaking of Blue Angels, you don’t know dread or terror till you’ve heard an F-16 screaming a mere 200 feet or so over your head. Imagine the sound of a locomotive roaring through your bedroom while you’re in the midst of a deep sleep. Or as a friend said to me: “Is this how I want my tax dollars spent??” Does Seattle really need this to create a unique urban identity?

But who can argue with the hoopla and excitement? Many thousands of tourists actually fly long distances to witness the spectacle. What they see in it I couldn’t precisely tell you. I view it something like Christmas. The goyim love this thing. It’s loud, annoying, in your face, and the music makes you want to tear your hair out; but they seem to be having fun and part of you doesn’t want to deprive them of their pleasure. But another part wants to scratch your head in wonderment at all the foolishness.

I guess Seattle is a number of major ways remains a small town. You can feel it in the crazy fan allegiance to every hometown sports team from Huskies football to the Mariners. And that is the charm of the place and the bane of it as well. I’ve lived in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, New York, Dublin and Jerusalem. I truly love living in this city. But despite it’s cultural offerings, it simply lacks the sizzle of a few of the above cities. There is no Koreatown, no Symphony Space, no Knitting Factory, no Carnegie Hall, no MOMA, not even LACMA. On the other hand, none of these places have the Cascades, a 20 minute commute from a home in the woods to downtown, or one of the best places in the world to bring up young children.

Tags: alki-pirates, blue-angels, boosterism, hydroplane-races, pacific-northwest-tourism, Seattle, Tribalism
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Outdoors, Politics & Society, Seattle | 2 Comments »

Stan Oldak Profiled by Alaska, Texas Media

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

Media in Texas and Alaska profiled our favorite bicyclist, Stan Oldak and preserved his memory after a hit and run accident outside Columbus, TX caused his death earlier this month.

Stan visited southeast Alaska several times a year to provide dental treatment to Inuit children there. You can imagine it wasn’t the easiest thing to hop on a plane from New York and fly clear across the continent to Alaska for a two week stay in native villages up and down the coast. But Stan did it because it was a new adventure and because he felt it was the right thing to do. As I wrote earlier, while visiting me here in Seattle after one of his early Alaska tours he told me that many of his patients had received no dental care in their lives and faced extreme medical conditions exacerbated by their lack of treatment. I’m sure this fired Stan’s dedication to this work even more intensely.

This is what the Juneau Empire’s Korry Keeker had to say about Stan (thanks to Charles Bingham for providing the links):

On a clear day from his dental office at the Kake Health Center, Dr. Stan Oldak would gaze across Chatham Strait to Baranof Island. On his left was Keku Strait and Kuiu Island. To his right, lay Frederick Sound.

It was a long way from his other pediatric practice in the heart of Manhattan.

“Once he finished for the day, he would call his friends in New York,” said Mary Vincent, a physician assistant in Kake. “And I heard him say once, ‘You know, this is the most beautiful view from a dental office of anywhere in the world.’”

Oldak began visiting Southeast Alaska in 2001 for eight weeks of the year as part of the specialty pediatric dental program that the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium runs in conjunction with Denali KidCare.

He was the only dentist that many of the children in Kake, Hoonah and Yakutat have ever known. They won’t be seeing him again.

The little joke in this passage was Stan “all over:”

“I tell people back home that this is one of the nicest things that’s happened to me in my career as a pediatric dentist,” Oldak told the Juneau Empire in May 2004.

“The only difference that I’ve found is that in New York the kids go ‘ow’ and in Hoonah the kids go ‘owee,’” he said.

Stan’s boss in Alaska captured more of Stan’s commitment to his Alaska work:

“He felt a social responsibility, and he knew what we were doing,” said Tom Bornstein, the director of SEARHC’s dental services department. “He bought into improving access to care for kids. And I think that part of it also was that he enjoyed travel and the adventure of it.

The reporter also features an interview with me about Stan. The former also wrote a sidebar story about the Alaskan dental service in which Stan participated.

A few years earlier, the Empire ran another profile of Stan which captures more of his interests and spirit.

Houston’s Fox26 ran a story about Stan on the day of the Columbus Ride of Silence. The Colorado County Citizen Gazette ran a piece on Stan just after the Ride written by the managing editor. It said in part:

As a randonneur, Stan Oldak rode his bicycle in many places that you would not normally see a bicycle.

Randonneuring is long-distance unsupported endurance cycling. This style of riding is non-competitive in nature, and self-sufficiency is paramount. When riders participate in randonneuring events, they are part of a long tradition that goes back to the beginning of the sport of cycling in France and Italy. Friendly camaraderie, not competition, is the hallmark of randonneuring.

…Stan was taking a chance by riding his bicycle in the dark along a narrow, two-lane, backwoods Texas highway at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning.

We all wish that it would be perfectly safe to ride…whenever we like, wherever we like. We all know that it is not so.

The people on the roads at 2 a.m. Sunday morning are largely law enforcement and people who have been partying and are returning home after the bar has closed.

It is not a safe environment for anyone.

Someone driving a pickup truck ran into Stan from behind and he was killed instantly. According to DPS reports, we don’t know much more than that.

…Losing people we love really hurts. Senseless accidents seem to make it somehow worse, if that is possible. And when they are the good guys, the world just seems to get a little bit dimmer.

The New York Cycle Club is considering adding Stan’s name to the title of its Youth Committee since he was very active in its work.

Thanks to all for keeping Stan’s spirit and memory alive. I hope someone out there will have a guilty conscience for the rest of their lives if they don’t have the integrity and courage to turn themselves in to the authorities as they have not done till now. In a small town in Texas there must be others who know something about this accident. I just want them to know that while they may feel they are protecting a loved one, they are continuing the suffering and agony of a family and extended circle of Stan’s loved ones.

Thanks too to Mike Bronson and other Texas cyclists who’ve plastered the local community with flyers about Stan seeking information on his accident. I hope they bear fruit. If anyone has contacted the Department of Public Safety for a report on the investigation please let me know.

Tags: juneau-empire, randonneur-cycling, stan-oldak-bicyclist-killed-in-hit-and-run-accident
Posted in Children & Family, Outdoors | 3 Comments »

Columbus, TX. Ride of Silence for Stan Oldak

Saturday, May 19th, 2007

Tags: columbus-texas-ride-of-silence, stan-oldak-cyclist-killed-by-hit-and-run-driver
Posted in Children & Family, Outdoors | No Comments »

Stan Oldak’s Ride of Silence

Friday, May 18th, 2007

stan oldak ride of silence
Yesterday, May 16th was the National Ride of Silence for fallen bike riders. There were Rides in Columbus, TX and New York City. which memorialized Stan. His buddies in the NY Cycle Club organized a ride around Central Park. Unfortunately, there was a rainstorm with threats of lightning. But still eleven riders made the trek for Stan. I was reminded of Jason’s eulogy in which he remembered that he and his dad did the last leg of the Boston-NY AIDS ride in pouring rain.

Lorretta Crosby, who has performed yeowoman service on behalf of Stan down in Texas sent this report about the ride there:

I am pleased to report that well over 50 cyclists made the Hour to hour and a half drive from Houston To Columbus (after rush hour traffic) to be there to honor Stan and bring awareness to the hit & run. Tom Zizka from our local Fox 26 Morning News and a Team ACME rider went above & beyond as he strapped his video camera to his back and rode along side the riders to capture his report. His segment first aired this morning at 6:36. Chris Barbee’s article was in circulation yesterday (Chris, can you reply back with a copy or link). The Chronicle ran a few brief words this morning in order to make the deadline but it is my understanding a longer version will be in the next print. Houston Community Newspapers should have something in print soon as well. I’ll send links to the various reports as they come in.

Reba proudly wore the medal graciously donated by a fellow randonneur as well as carried Stan’s NYCC Water Bottle. A white bike was left at the scene of the accident as a reminder to all who pass. The Poster was distributed to local businesses and the Columbus Police took back many as well.

Thank you to Tom, Chris & Dustin for your immediate coverage of this story! Tom, especially I know you had to get up early to anchor the news so making the late night trek back to Houston to edit the video and air it this morning was appreciated more than I can express. You are a true asset to Team ACME and we are so proud to say you ride with us!

I’ll have more for you later. I wish I could have met you each under different circumstances but it has been my pleasure to work with you and we sincerely hope that our efforts have aided somewhat in bringing attention to the open case.

Yesterday, the Houston Chronicle ran this brief item to publicize the Columbus Ride:

Silent riders

The fifth annual Ride of Silence, held in remembrance of cyclists who have been killed by motorized vehicles while riding their bikes, was Wednesday. The event in Columbus was especially poignant because of the recent death there of Stan Oldak, a New Yorker who came to Texas to compete in a 400K Brevet. Oldak was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver who remains at large.

The ride, in which participants are asked to remain silent and go no faster than 12 mph, is meant to raise awareness that cyclists have a right to share public roadways without risking life and limb.

Stan completed another brevet preparing for the Paris-Brest-Paris randonneur ride last April in Waterloo, IA. The local leader wrote this to Jeff Terosky of NYCC:

I am the RBA for Cedar Valley Cyclists in Waterloo, Iowa. I heard about the tragic accident to befall Stan Oldak. I am so sorry to hear this terrible news.

Stan came to Iowa for our April 21 300km brevet, and he successfully completed the event. At some point later this season, likely around September, I will have his validated card and the medal he ordered ready to send out.

Jeff replied:

I will ensure that it gets in the right hands. Also, I am not sure if there is any chance of the medal being ready before September, but some of the folks who were training with Stan for PBP will have some sort of tribute to him when they ride PBP – I think it starts on August 20? If there is any chance it will arrive before then, I bet someone would wear it on the ride.
A fellow cyclist from the Texas ride is donating their medal from Houston to Stan’s family as well. That one too will be carried to Paris before given to the family I am almost certain.

The Juneau Empire’s Korry Keeker will also run a profile of Stan this coming Sunday in the Juneau Empire. It will highlight his pediatric dental work on behalf of Inuit children through the SE Alaska Regional Health Consortium. Several years ago, the Empire ran this feature (registration required) on Stan’s work there.

Rick Braun was kind enough to share with me his eulogy for Stan delivered at the New York funeral:

I have been asked to speak representing Stan’s college fraternal group, Crown House, and the NY Cycle Club. But I speak most importantly simply as Stan’s friend. Death is one of the very hardest parts of life to deal with, particularly when someone is stolen away from life much too young. All of us here are feeling a deep sense of loss, grief, utter sadness, and yes, anger too at how our friend and relative, Stan, was taken from us. It is just impossible to believe the reality.

But let us try as best we each can to temper these feelings with all of the good memories of Stan. I knew him for forty years, since we met in our fraternal group, Crown House, at Queens College. Stan, of course, had the same qualities we know him for now. Even then, he had a passion for helping kids: he was a member of the Big Brother program in college. He was a
leader: he was president of Crown House, just as he was president of the New York Cycle Club. He led but didn’t always have to be in the limelight. He had the same impish grin and sense of humor. A small remembrance of Stan keeps popping into my mind: Stan and I were driving somewhere in separate cars and stopped next to each other at a red light. I looked over at Stan and saw this devilish gleam appear in his eyes. He turned on his windshield wipers and then exactly to the movement of the wipers, with his big grin, Stan began to rock back and forth with his hands on his head.

He loved sports and we often played ball together. He had the same generosity then as now; once he and I and others were playing basketball when I broke three caps. I was in law school and didn’t have much money so Stan offered right away to make new caps for me. Of course, he was then in dental school, and 17 visits later….

Stan was a real renaissance man. Did you know that he was a very talented photographer? That not only did he make teeth, but he also made jewelry? That he often went to New Orleans for its Jazz Fest? That he loved to dance? That he was studying the cello? Did you know that Stan was an officer in the Army? It sure freaked me out when I went to visit Janice and him in Georgia, and all these Army guys on base were saluting my college kid friend, Stan.

And Stan sure loved athletics. In later years, we hiked and played softball together with the Appalachian Mountain Club. And then there was cycling. He shared his passion with all those he could. He welcomed new cyclists to the New York Cycle Club and encouraged others, especially kids through the New York Cycle Club Youth Program. With his son, Jason, he did the Boston-New York AIDS ride, and partly in a terrible rainstorm, all to raise money for a very important cause. When I asked Stan to do the MS ride with me before Stan really got into cycling, Stan said sure, in an instant.

Stan had a dream of doing a great long ride, the Paris-Brest-Paris brevet in France. Stan had his dreams and he tried to live them. And he sure did live his life. He broke his hip cycling. He then bought a recumbent bicycle and, as soon as he could, off he rode. Later he tore his knee cycling, and after knee surgery, as soon as he could, again off he rode.
Stan tried to follow his spirit of adventure as often as he could, which led him to kayaking with the AMC, and dental gigs in Vermont and his beloved Alaska.

But Stan’s biggest passion was his children, Emily and Jason. He sure loved those two kids. He talked about them often, and when he did, his eyes lit up with pride at all of their accomplishments. Always know that, Jason and Emily.

So we are all hurting from the theft of the life of a wonderful man: a great father, son, brother, friend, Stan Oldak!