text:
[Pages 180-184]
Meir Ringer
Translated by Tina Lunson
Edited by Lorraine Rosengarten and Tom Merolla
There are sources that allow us to determine when Tarnogrod was established as a settlement. It is accepted by the Jews that the town arose in very old times but in general the Jews in our town had their own way of reckoning time: So many years before the great fire, so many years after the great fire. Large catastrophes remained etched in the memory for a long time and served as dates for further chronological events.
Chaim Tsibelkale
Its age was characteristic of the town: Old houses, old ideas, little power of conception and naive enthusiasm for newly discovered beauty.
And such was Chaim Tsibelkale.
He was a small, thin little Jew with a long, hoary gray beard; the teacher of the young children's cheder [school-house] who lived his whole life in peace and quiet and never traveled outside the town until the day came when he had to travel with his son Eli Meir for conscription in Bilgoraj.
Upon his return he gathered his pupils and with great ardor told them about the wonders that he had seen on the on his six-mile journey to Bilgoraj. The point is, he had only now realized how large the world is. He had never imagined that beyond Tarnogrod the world was so large and so wonderfully beautiful.
This same picture, this same kindergarten teacher's ardor, was still in my mind years later after I had left the town and perceived the wonder of the larger world. The naiveté of those people lives forever in our hearts and just as we use wood to keep a fire burning, so we remember those naïve people with the belief that the world is full of greatness and wonder.
Baruch Bank
Who of us does not remember Bazshe Bank?
Properly speaking he was not a Tarnogroder, not born and not reared in Tarnogrod. He was only a guest there for a while, passing through. Yet he managed during the short time of his stay in Tarnogrod to make such deep ties with the people of the town, especially with the youth, that we felt he was our own, a person from our town.
He came to us at the beginning of the First World War. He came as a refugee from Shinova and was dressed in the clothing of a yeshiva bocher [yeshiva student]. That was his appearance, his dress. He became a pupil in the Oshvyentsimer yeshiva and used to sit with the other study-house youths and study, appearing to be an observant Jew. But even then he possessed secular knowledge, had been infected with the haskole [Jewish enlightenment movement] currents of that time. In secret, he continued that study and gained secular knowledge and education.
In secret he also found a language with the Tarnogrod youth, who had felt the thirst for knowledge and had begun to take the first steps toward the goal of developing a cultural society in the town. He helped us a great deal then, cooperating with us in word and deed to revive and to create the cultural atmosphere in our town.
And later, now in Berlin, he still felt connected with us, and with our cultural institutions and often helped us financially as well.
Bazshe Bank died suddenly after the war, of a heart attack in America. We, his comrades and friends, all who saw him at work and felt his bond with our town and with the ideals of our youth, will never forget him and always hold his memory dear.
Getzel Wassertreger
Really, in Tarnogrod, besides Getzel Wassertreger, there was another Getzel who was very much the honorable proprietor, a Jewish scholar, who could write in Yiddish, Hebrew and Polish too. So no one ever called him just Getzel but by his family name too, Richter, or Getzel Faliks. But it was enough to say just Getzel and young and old knew who was meant. Getzel Wassertreger was unique among us. There are not many such Getzels in God's creation.
Getzel was born into the poverty of Aharon Itsik Dakhbashleger, with whom he grew up hungry and going around in rags until someone had mercy on him and gave him something to put on. No one ever paid tuition for him to go to cheder. Nevertheless he learned to pray. What else would a Jew like him need to know?
He also had no time to learn a trade. Already in his early childhood years he had to go out to earn money and so became a water carrier.
He was still almost a child the first time he put a pair of collar-straps with two wooden cans on his narrow shoulders, went to the well, filled the cans with water and carried them off to the wealthier houses. So he began to earn a livelihood and that is how he always stayed.
In Tarnogrod there were other water carriers as well. But it would be a mistake to take Getzel for one of them. Getzel was completely different, even though he carried water the same way. For when he went around with the buckets, full or empty, that was not the only way he spent the time: He sang the psalms for the whole year as he walked and had a good word for every Jew that he met, reminding him of his ancestors, knowing exactly when every yahrzeit [anniversary of a death] was. He was literally a living calendar.
Getzel loved people and everyone loved him. He was always happy, always content, even when he had nothing in his pocket and had to fast a little. In summer he generally did not wear any shoes, he went around barefoot. In winter he bound his feet with rags, as he was accustomed to doing from his early childhood.
He had a fine folksy humor and used to find a joke with which he could make little of wealth, not to be overcome by never having known the taste of new clothes. He was happy with his lot.
People in town used to whisper that Getzel was a lamed-vovnik, one of the thirty-six righteous people on whose merit the world exists. Jews were very careful not to speak about this openly, so that Getzel would not be redeemed and so would have to, God forbid, depart from this world.
Kuni-Leml - The Tarnogrod Job
He was called Aharon, but very few people knew his real name, had already stopped using his family name, because everyone called him Kuni Leml.
He was the watchman for the poorhouse and busied himself with the poor and sick residents of that place, and had to be ever ready to intercede in the quarrels among the crazy people, the permanent and temporary residents of the poorhouse.
He was also the one who set up the taharah bret [the board on which the dead would be washed and purified] with all the accessories, and watched over the bodies so that they would not be alone before burial.
Besides that he was also a locksmith. He was called to houses to repair a lock or iron, tin and wooden casks, or to fit a key.
Every Friday morning he went from door to door collecting donations. Otherwise he would shame the holy Shabbos and, heaven forbid, starve along with his wife and children.
He went around hungry all week, never complaining. He silently bore his deep grief over the horrible death of his two grown sons. With that same stoic calm and quiet he worked around his wife Shifra, who had become blind. No one ever heard a sigh from him, no complaints about his bitter fate.
If Reb Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev were alive then and the Ruler of the universe ordered Kuni Leml to a Rabbinic Court and laid out all his errors before him, Kuni Leml would win the case. His sufferings were not smaller than Job's. But Kuni Leml had never made any errors.
Poor yet strong Kuni Leml! You did not heed the warning from Zalke Melamed; the doctor of our health committee while the cholera was raging. He warned every sick person not to drink any water. Kuni Leml, while he was sick, had his wife draw water from the well and he swallowed one bucket after another. But despite all predictions he got well and went on living in want, torment and loneliness, which he bore with such extraordinary heroism.
On the day that Kuni Leml departed this world, the gates of all the seven heavens opened wide and there was a commotion in the world above; angels and saints came out to welcome the great saint who had come from the world below before even the slightest sin, who had with such strength carried all the troubles and not complained. With great honor, the angels led him straight into the bright Garden of Eden.
Lipele The Shoemaker
The Talmud teaches us: All Israel has a portion in the world to come, for it is written: all your people are righteous.
A relevant story:
Lipele the shoemaker, a small, thin Jew; a plain and simple person who still possessed a great heart and that heart was full of love for God and of the great desire to do something in the world so that, when the time came, he would not go into the next world with empty hands and empty pockets.
One ordinary weekday afternoon, Lipele stood up from his shoemaker's bench, picked up the two empty wooden buckets and went to the well to bring water for the needs of his household.
Near the well stood the house of Itsik the elementary teacher, my rebbe, with whom I was then studying in cheder.
Itsik Melamed, already elderly, a very revered Jew, used to go every Shabbos and holiday to study the commentaries with other elderly Jews who were artisans.
Those people with whom he studied approached Itsik Melamed with great respect and reverence. Lipele was also among those attendees and, usually, when he went to the well, he would leave the buckets outside and go in to visit Itsik Melamed for a pinch of snuff and to listen while we, the young pupils, sat and studied Torah.
But one such afternoon Lipele stayed with us in cheder longer than ever, listening attentively to what the rebbe was studying with us.
After a while Lipele, with great humility, turned to Itsik Melamed:
Rebbe, please, tell me, how can a soft-hearted Jew like me merit the World to Come? I cannot learn Torah, I don't have the opportunity to pray or recite psalms frequently because of my livelihood, which takes up all my time. I don't have the means to give charity, because I am a common Jew myself. So what can I possibly do to merit a bit of the World to Come?
He stood twisting around for a while and then added, Rebbe, tell me, is this a good thing that I do? Say I walk on the street and I see two pieces of straw lying on the ground, one on top of the other, like a cross. I cannot pass them by unless I am careful not to disturb them. Am I right?
After thinking for a while, Itsik Melamed answered with these words:
What you do with the straws is a very good thing. That you want to do the other good things, but you do not have the possibility of doing them, you should know that, to the Master of the Universe the point is the intention, the good will. For the Eternal such things are considered as mitsvos performed.
When the rebbe finished speaking the room was so quiet that we could hear the buzzing of the flies. Such sighs of relief tore from the childish hearts. They joined him in the great joy of knowing that he had found his portion in the World to Come.
Lipele straightened himself up and left the cheder happily.
When later in cheder, we studied about Jacob our ancestor's beautiful dream about the ladder that stood on the ground and whose top reached the heavens; Lipele's exultation came to mind. When I was older and encountered the dream of a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, I saw even more clearly the comparison to the lovely figure of that simple, salt-of-the-earth Jew who had, in his longing for the World to Come, raised himself up to the level of his head reaching into the heavens.
Peysakhl the Sacrifice
The goat has always been surrounded with a special feeling among Jews. More than other animals, the goat has brought out a warm attitude. Many stories and songs are interwoven with the motif of the goat.
In our shtetl too the goat occupied a special place, became almost a piece of the history of the town. Especially interesting is the history of the goat that had a special name among us:
Peysakhl the Sacrifice.
Who among us does not remember Yosef Leibeles? He was a kind Jew, a wagon driver, a jokester. He owned two wagons and three or four horses and used to take long trips with them, driving back and forth with merchandise from the Tarnogrod merchants to other, far-off towns.
He watched over his horses like the eyes in his head. And his horses were connected to him, expressed love for him and it even seemed that they understood his language. They never strayed from the path, they went wherever Yosef Leibeles indicated with the reins, and served him faithfully.
Yosel Leibeles also saw to it that a nanny goat was always part of his household. A nanny goat, he said, is like a second mother. She gives milk and from milk one can make many things, to wit, sour cream, buttermilk, cheese, butter and from those all kinds of other good things.
A nanny goat could also do the favor of giving birth from time to time to a little goat, sometimes also a he-goat. This was no small heritage, because if a nanny goat belonged to the category eat and contribute, the he-goat was simply an eat and contribute nothing, a sponger and a mischievous fellow as well, who only makes trouble, and who needs him? It happens that when a holiday came around, he was slaughtered and people had a jolly holiday with him.
A he-goat was born at our Yosel Leibeles too and it seemed that he would wait to slaughter him until Pesach. But his tongue stumbled in speaking, and he was caught out with a wrong word. Instead of saying that he would slaughter him on Pesach, he was understood to say that he would be a sacrifice for Pesach.
He did not have to do anything else.
His words were repeated to the rebbe, who promptly sent the beadle to bring Yosel Leibeles to him and announced:
First, that from today forward, no one could slaughter the he-goat. He would live as long as the Master of All Worlds gifted him with years.
Second, the he-goat could do whatever his heart desired in the town, and no one could beat him, or lay a hand on him, to say nothing of a stick.
Since that day Yosel Leibeles has not been one to envy. But the whole town became involved as well.
The he-goat knew his way around and knew where to go, sometimes to a roof on which grass grew; sometimes to a window where potted plants were set out. Sometimes it pleased him to go to a basket of apples in the middle of the market, to baskets of cabbage, or potatoes, and the poor market-stall sellers were afraid to chase him away, and with pounding hearts had to watch as the he-goat played them.
No one dared to raise a hand to him.
Quite a bit of time went by and the he-goat never stopped making trouble and creating anguish for the people of the town. Until the day came when thank God may His Name be blessed, finally had mercy on them and they found the he-goat stretched out with his feet in the air. He was truly dead.
People ran to the rebbe again and the rebbe ruled:
Since the Peysakh sacrifice was a holy animal, he must be dressed in shrouds and buried in the cemetery.
Yosel Leibeles and a few other Jews dealt with the holy animal and did exactly what the rebbe had said.
Yosel Leibeles and the whole town of Jews with him were united and restored.
Since that time the Tarnogrod Jews know to be careful with the tongue, so that, heaven forbid, they will not stumble and bring unwarranted troubles upon themselves.
A Jew Travels to Eretz Yisrael
Let us return for a while to Itsik Melamed and tell about his journey, together with his wife Rachele to Eretz Yisrael.
Itsik Melamed's material circumstance was really an unusual one. Besides his teaching, which he had done his whole life; he also had a small candy factory. In addition his wife knitted underwear and had several assistants in that industry. But in all their years, may heaven preserve us, they had never had any children and in their elder years they decided to travel to the Holy Land.
Itsik Melamed liquidated everything, packed up the very essential things, and the entire town came to accompany him and say farewell.
Such a distant journey in those days was not taken on lightly. When they arrived in Jaffa they got two Arabic camels to which they were tightly strapped so that they would not heaven forbid fall off on the way to the holy city Jerusalem.
The journey from Jaffa to Jerusalem lasted almost one week. Rachele was greatly weakened by the long journey and the difficulties of the trip, became ill and died a short time later. She found her eternal rest on the Mount of Olives.
Itsik Melamed spent days and years in Jerusalem. He married again at the age of eighty and his wife favored him with a son.
He wrote a letter twice a year from Jerusalem to Tarnogrod. In the letters he recounted all the names of his students, the artisans, he mentioned the holy places such as the Western Wall, the Tomb of Rachel, the Tomb of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness. So from time to time his students in town collected a small sum of money from among themselves, which they sent to him.
With the outbreak of the First World War the connection to Eretz Yisrael was broken and we did not hear anything more about our rebbe, Itsik Melamed.
Shomrim [Guardians] Knocking
The sages of the Talmud said:
There are three partners in the creation of a human being: God, father and mother. When the human dies, heaven forbid, it is said, the Master of the Universe takes back his portion.
Just as in many other small towns, Tarnogrod had for generations observed the custom that every Shabbos shomrim went through the streets and alleys early in the morning calling: To the Shul.
They pronounced those words with a special melody that awoke the sleepers behind their locked doors and shutters.
On ordinary weekdays, the shomrim knocked on the doors and shutters rather than calling out.
That knocking by the shomrim represented the call to the shul or Get up for the worship of the Creator.
On hearing that knocking that had its own special rhythm - two knocks one after the other and then a third knock - the Jews in the dark, damp houses woke up from their sleep, washed their hands using the ritual cup , recited the Modeh Ani [prayer said upon waking, before getting up from bed] with great intent, wiped the sleep from their eyes, quickly got into their clothes and hurried to the study-house.
If someone had died in town, God forbid, the shomrim tapped out just the first two knocks. This was the sign that during the night, the Master of the Universe had taken back his portion from some house in the town.
For many years Kuni Leml was the shomrim-knocker.
In that dawn when only two knocks were heard, screams of terror were heard from behind the closed shutters and barred doors. Soon doors and windows were open and in the completely dark outdoors voices could be heard calling out and asking with curiosity:
Who? Who died?
Kuni Leml felt more important than usual on such a day. Everyone turned to him with questions. Each person looked his in the eyes with curiosity, waiting for his answer.
If the deceased had been an eminent proprietor, a person with property, Kuni Leml did not conceal his satisfaction and would add:
Today, thank God, there will be some livelihood.
Kuni Leml was also the one who set up the washing board and the accompanying vessels necessary for ritual washing of the corpse.
The two concepts, death and life, flowed together as one for Kuni Leml. He was not shocked by death just as he was not enamored of life, which for him was full of trouble and suffering. In the hovel where he lived he saw life in its lowest state. At the funerals where he always served, he heard the lamentations of mothers over dead children, of wives over young husbands. Thus, death never upset the equilibrium of his ever-silent rigidity.
In his later years the charity house where he lived was in danger of collapse and had to be closed. Kuni Leml - who after the death of his wife Shifra had remained a widower - lost his home and had no place to spend the night. He went to the cemetery, which was located outside the town, and spent the night there in the hut for the guard for the corpses.
Then one dawn no one heard the shomrim knocking. When they went to the cemetery they found Kuni Leml there, dead. In that dawn there was no one to announce to the town by knocking only twice, that Kuni Leml was dead.
[Pages 192-204]
Meir Ringer
Translated by Tina Lunson
I was three years old when my mother took me off to heder [small Jewish elementary school], to the elementary teacher who they called Fife. His real name was Hersh, but no one knew his family name. Every day my mother gave various candies to the children, and especially to the teacher and his helpers.
The teacher sat me at the table, showed me the alphabet and told me to repeat: This is an alef [first letter of the Hebrew alphabet]. For a few days my mother went with me into the heder and later took me home again. She had to be in heder the whole time because I did not want to be left alone with the teacher and the boys. But that did not go on for long. One day my parents decided that it was time for me to go to heder by myself. The point was that they wanted me to get used to staying by myself in heder for the whole day.
I put up a fight in my own way and did not want to go to heder by myself. Then the teacher's helper came; he had not anticipated my crying and screaming, but he just set me up on his shoulder and went out in the street with me. I fought like a lion, I screamed and scratched his face. The helper accepted everything patiently, but the passers by spoke to me: Phooey, this is not nice. A boy should go to school. Their words did not calm me and I never stopped crying and screaming the whole way, kicking my feet and scratching his neck and face with my nails, and that is how he carried me wailing into heder.
The teacher heard my protestations and saw the helper's scratched face, and thought that I should be punished. The great punishment with which he would finally put an end to my stubbornness was a pak [burden]. That happens like this: My long coat was turned inside out, and they did the same thing to my hat and put it on my head. The teacher stuck a broom into my inside-out coat, hoisted me up and sat me on the top of the oven. All the boys and the teacher shouted Hoorah! This is what happens to a boy who doesn't go to heder! This had a powerful effect on me. The following morning I took myself to heder. But I could not forget the humiliation of the pak for a very long time and I still carry it with me to this day.
The heder consisted of a single room in which about fifty boys studied. The same room served at the same time as a residence for the teacher and his household, for cooking and sleeping. There were two tables in the heder, one before the teacher, the second before the older helper, who also worked with the children.
The helper also went with the children to recite the Keriat-Shema [central prayer of Jewish liturgy, which expresses the concept of monotheism and declares faith in God. Keriat-Shema includes the recitation of three paragraphs from the Torah] at the home of a woman in confinement after giving birth to a male child. The helper only took the very small children into heder and at lunchtime he brought them all food from their homes.
Long benches stood on one side of the table. On the other side stood the bed-benches that by day served as seating for the students and by night as sleeping places for the teacher's household.
The teacher often suffered from toothaches. Still in my memory is the time he took a string and tied one end to an aching tooth and the other end to a doorknob. Then he told a student to go and open the door. The student did so and briskly opened the door, and the tooth sprang out of his mouth.
There were levels in the heder. When one level was studying, the other played outdoors. It was harder in the winter, when it was very cold outdoors and we were all packed together in different corners, and also under both tables. One time, one boy poked a button into the eye of another boy. The boy, of course, cried out and there was chaos. The teacher worked long and hard, and sweat ran down his face, before he got the button out of the eye.
There was a bed standing right by the door on which the teacher's sick wife lay, completely covered up, and we could always hear her moans and cries of terrible pain. One time she became suddenly still and the teacher became very agitated, went to her bed, uncovered her face and shouted out, She is dead! Children, go home! On the way out each of the boys glanced at the bed, saw the white face of the teacher's wife and, terrified, we left quickly.
In the morning the teacher went around to the parents of his students and collected a little money for the burial expenses.
For three days we, his students, were running around merrily, happy with the freedom and thinking that we would be so free for the whole seven days of the shivah [initial seven-day period of mourning that follows burial] but our joy was destroyed on the fourth day when the town rav [rabbi] arranged with the teacher to study with the children.
I studied with the elementary teacher for four terms. Half a year was considered a term. After ending a term one went over to a higher level. In the elementary school I learned the Hebrew alphabet, praying from the prayer book, and Hebrew language. After that I was ready to go to another teacher who taught Torah, Rashi [Rabbi Shlomo ben Isaac, regarded as one of Judaism's greatest commentators of Talmud] and Talmud.
Faiwel the Talmud Teacher
When I was five years old I could already pray from a prayer book by myself and my father sent me to study with Rebbe Faiwel in his heder. There, I began to study the Five Books of Moses. After I short time I learned the Rashi script and soon the commentary also. After studying for two terms I began to study Talmud. The teacher was satisfied with me and reckoned me among his good pupils. Therefore I had to pay a dear price, which was going every Shabbos [Jewish Sabbath] to be heard. None of the boys liked to have to do this, really like today a category in the shul [synagogue], and it also cost me a lot of well being. My father, proud of the rebbe's praise, sent me to his friends every Shabbos so that they could observe and praise my knowledge. The rebbe sent along another student as well, someone not so adept at study, in order for me to help him out. So, Shabbos was for me the hardest day of the week. The people outside who saw me walking with a Talmud volume used to laugh and call out, The Talmud is bigger than you are! The distinction I received from my listeners consisted of a pinch on the cheek.
With Faiwel I also learned to write Yiddish. That study went like this: At first he wrote out a whole line of alefs and I had to fill the whole page with the same letter. He repeated this with all the letters. After that I had to write out the alphabet backwards. This was called the tashrik [reverse] style. After that we moved on to spelling. The rebbe wrote out a line: I went to Lublin to purchase some merchandise, and I had to fill the whole page with the same line. Finally the rebbe had us write a whole letter. Writing such a letter took us entire months, and this was a sign that we had reached the highest level in writing Yiddish.
After some time, when I was already sixteen years old, that same Faiwel would come to me from time to time and ask me if I would write a letter to his children in America. He was embarrassed about it, and would answer, My letters spoke words and read themselves.
The fact is that I learned my first knowledge in Yiddish from Faiwel melamed [teacher]. In comparison with other teachers, who were always going around angry, Faiwel was a calm and quiet person and showed his students a great deal of love and devotion.
At the rebbe's there were two kinds of water. From one well, one got salty water, and from the second, sweet water for cooking and drinking. That was harder to bring, and on the day that I brought the rebbe new-moon money or money for a holiday like Lag ba-Omer [33rd day of the counting of the Omer, celebrated as a minor holiday - the reason for this holiday has not been definitely ascertained], Tu b'Shevat [15th day of the month of Shevat, originally the yearly date for reckoning the age of trees for tax purposes and to know when the tree's fruit could be eaten, which would be the fourth year. During the Zionest movement, planting trees became symbolic for Jewish reattachment to the land of Israel], or Purim [feast which celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from the plot of Haman to kill them in the days of Queen Esther of Persia] - which not all the students did - then Shoshale, the rebbe's old mother would come to me and say, Meirl, come, I will give you I nice drink of sweet well water.
I studied with Faiwel melamed for four terms and afterward went over to a great Talmud teacher, Itsik melamed.
Itsik Melamed
I studied with Itsik melamed for four terms also, two years. Besides Talmud, we also studied the Five Books of Moses with various commentaries.
At the entrance to his house was a very small room, which served as a kitchen, and was also a workshop for his wife, who knitted underwear and employed a few other knitters as well. In the second room where we studied there was also a little factory for candies, where the rebbe's adopted son Hersh worked. It often happened that the rebbe helped him in his work and got us to help too. In time, we children became experts and knew the craft of making candies.
After Hersh's marriage, Itsik melamed and his wife, both in their elder years, made aliyah [the act of immigrating to Israel] to Eretz-Yisrael [land of Israel].
Shmuel Natan
At Shmuel Natan's, I studied Talmud with more exegeses. There too the heder was in a single room where the rebbe also lived with his family. There too the sick rebbetzin [wife of rabbi] lay all day in bed, in the same room where we studied and she often moaned or cried out in pain. Still the rebbe was good humored by nature, and we boys loved him very much.
Leibel Melamed
When I became Bar-Mitzvah [at 13 years, a Jewish boy becomes responsible for fulfilling Jewish law] I was turned over to Leibel the teacher. I had given a fine Bar-Mitzvah speech and my study now took on a serious character, with additional glosses to Talmudic commentaries and the exegesis of Rav Shmuel Edels. It was said about Leibele melamed that he was a bit of a philosopher. That is, he occupied himself with inquiries and philosophy. The truth is that I never noticed this in him. It is possible that this came from the fact that he stemmed from Shebreshin [Szczebrzeszyn], where they said that there were many heretics.
Sender Melamed
Sender the teacher was a great scholar, an ordained rav and had authority to respond to difficult questions.
Certain householders in town had demanded that the community counsel make Sender a recognized decider of matters of rabbinical law and pay him a monthly stipend permanently. But the rav and his sons opposed it and Rav Sender stayed with his teaching, living in poverty and want.
His students had the reputation of being good pupils and the study was deepened with a lot of exegeses.
One time on a winter day Sender melamed called me aside and asked me very earnestly: Meirl, do you want to study SHaKH [Rabbi Shabtai ben Meir Ha-Kohen, eminent 16th Century interpreter of Jewish law]? Of course I quickly agreed and he told me that I and Leibush Shachnas should come to him three times a week before dawn, at four in the morning. He really had no other time because he was busy the whole day with the other students, who were not yet competent for such difficult study as SHaKH.
When I relayed this news at home my parents were very happy. My father woke me at three o'clock from a deep sleep, my mother saw to it that I dressed myself well, and with a lantern in my hand I went over the dark streets in the cold, in the snow, in the rain. The rebbe was still asleep, but at my arrival he quickly got up, washed his fingers and promptly sat down to study SHaKH with us.
Leibush Shachnas and I, as young as we were then, saw ourselves as grownups, felt as though we were adults. No small thing that we were already studying SHaKH. That's what those who dreamed of becoming rebbes studied.
One time when we arrived at heder completely frozen we could not wait long for the rebbe to open the door for us. We had to knock and knock harder and harder. When the rebbe finally woke up and let us inside, he told us the reason he was so fast asleep and did not hear how hard we tried to wake him.
The story was so:
In the same room where Sender and his wife and six children lived, there were another two beds. The older children slept in one of the beds. Mirlin or Yonelen were put to bed on the table. The smallest child, Pessale, was laid in a small crib, and the other four children in the beds of the father and mother. That night little Pessale would not stop crying and they had to take her out of the crib and put her in the mother's bed. So they had to move another child over to the father's bed and the rebbe had to sleep in the crib. According to what he said, he got so warm and cozy and was so fast asleep that he did not hear our alarms.
It remains a puzzle for me to this very day how the rebbe got into the small, narrow crib and then felt so rested afterwards. In later years when I read Avraham Reisen's poem: A Family of Eight and Only Two Beds, I saw again the home of my rebbe, Sender melamed.
During that time my father was studying how to combat yetzer ha-ra [inclination toward evil] and achieved a high level in it. In his view it was yetzer ha-ra that persuaded me to sleep and made it hard for me to get myself up at dawn when he woke me and I went back to sleep. My father had to wake me two or three times. So he told me a story:
It happened that a young man who was supported by his father-in-law after his marriage and who studied day and night, was pestered by yetzer ha-ra and on a particular morning when he had just wakened himself from sleep, yetzer ha-ra argued: Look, man, you went to sleep very late, now it is still early and you are still tired, it's cold and wet outside, while in bed it's warm and pleasant, why torture yourself, go back to sleep just once. The young man went back to sleep but when he woke the second time the immediately understood that there had been a bit of yetzer ha-ra that had bewitched him with its speech. The young man had, however, reached a certain level and already knew how to wage war with yetzer ha-ra. He decided that every time yetzer ha-ra pestered him at dawn to talk him into sleeping, he would take the finger-water, which stood by his bed, and simply pour it into the bed. Yetzer ha-ra would have no power in a wet bed.
My father ended the story and sighed deeply, adding, Meirl, you have not yet reached that level and you do not yet know how to overcome yetzer ha-ra.
Sender Melamed in Eretz-Yisrael
Some time after I had made aliyah to Eretz-Yisrael, my childhood friend Shmuel Khefer (Fefer) came from Haifa to visit me, and among other things he told me that our rebbe, Sender melamed was here in the country with his family, on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv, near the old age home. He was there with his wife selling cigarettes. My friend had met with Sender and learned from him that he was here to get a certificate to be a rav, as Rav Kook, of blessed memory, had accomplished through the English authorities and when my friend had asked him if he belonged to the Mizrakhi movement [religious Zionist organization], he answered him with a joke: The Mizrakhi took from us observant Jews the word Torah, and from you Zionists the word service and made itself a political party. What do I need them for?
I was then living in Rishon LeZion, and traveling once to Tel Aviv I decided to visit my rebbe, Sender melamed. Arriving there, I encountered an old woman standing by a little shop. I bought a pack of cigarettes from her and asked if she was Chanale. She said she was and asked if I was from Tarnogrod. When she heard my name she exclaimed, You were one of our students! I asked her about the rebbe and she pointed upwards with her finger. At first I thought she was indicating the fourth floor, but she soon told me that he had recently not been feeling well, that his strength was going, and that on Tisha be-Av [A day of mourning marking the destruction of both ancient Temples in Jerusalem], sitting in shul where he studied with a group of Jews, he was suddenly taken ill and breathed his last.
Yossele Wigdors
His father was named Avigdor and he himself had started his teaching career in Tarnogrod. But after a time he moved to Mlave [Mława, Poland], where he studied with two sons of a very wealthy man who paid him well and supplied him with everything. Yossele came home to his family only two times a year for holidays. That went on for many years, until his wandering became tiresome and he decided to return home and become a teacher in Tarnogrod.
At that time Yossele was already an old Jew, but still full of courage and with a reputation as a good teacher. He was strict and severe. He was a Kohen [A Jew who can trace his ancestry to the priestly tribe descended from Aaron] but because of his anger people said that he must be Kohen gadol [high priest] because we, his students, did not eat honey.
Yossele's method was:
Every Sunday he read us the Talmud passage. Monday and Tuesday were for questions. On those days one could ask as many times as one felt necessary. He was friendly; he patiently explained the answers to all the questions. But when Wednesday came, no one dared to turn to him with any question. He asked the questions then and woe to any student who did not know the correct answer. He struck with whatever was close at hand. For Yossele Wigdors the concept forgot, the word with which we sometimes answered, did not exist.
It did happen, in some good-humored moment when we had correctly answered the questions, he posed a question and one of the students tried to take pride in his knowledge. The rebbe then would say with a smile on his lips and in a thoughtful voice, You are still young and you don't yet know that the end of knowledge is to know that you don't know. When you are older and you attain a degree of knowledge that you still know nothing, it will be the beginning of your knowledge. His words and the tone in which he said them are etched in my consciousness until this day.
Yossele was an honest person, and when it happened that a student was weak and could not take in the study in his heder, Yossele would go to the father and ask him to take his son and teach him a trade, because it was a waste of his money that he was throwing away in paying tuition for him.
When his young daughter Chaia-Beile was married and moved to Bilgoraj, he sold his house in Tarnogrod and also moved to Bilgoraj, to live close to his daughter whom he loved more than all other children and used to call her my precious little daughter.
Only many years later, walking along the street, I spied a Jew with a long white beard and patriarchal appearance, but also very bent over with age. When he got closer I easily recognized my old teacher Yossele Wigdors. To my greeting, he looked at me and asked:
Who are you, scoundrel, wait, wait, you are Meirl Berishes?
Yes, rebbe, it is I.
They say that you became some kind of a Socialist, Zionist, some kind of thing, Meirl? For God's sake, stay a Jew.
In my tone there was certainly a little heat:
Rebbe, I am a Jew like all Jews.
He looked at me, inspecting me, and said:
Yes? If you say so, if you say so.
He said good-bye, shook my hand and his last words were:
Meirl, be a Jew. You should know, that I have always loved you.
I did not see him any more.
Lesson Readers and Study Partners
After Yossele Wigdors, I no longer studied in a heder. For a year Yossel Avraham Itches (Apteker) and I studied every day before lunch in the Shinovar [Sieniawa] shtibl [literally little house which served as a house of prayer - see page 135] with Yossele-Shaye-Shayes (Milch). We studied the tractate Nedarim [vows]. After lunch we studied separately in the beit midrash [house of study].
After that, Eliezer Mosheles (the young rav's son) and I studied Yoreh Deah [volume of The Code of Jewish Law - Shulchan Arukh - dealing with charity, torah study and dietary laws] each morning at the beit midrash with commentaries by Berishl Rotenberg. In the afternoon Wolf Pinie Bentz (Weissman) and I studied independently; Wolf is now in Israel. Our Rebbe Bereshl was a great scholar, an expert with a sharp mind, one of the best students of the rav of Bilgoraj, Rav Silberman, who people used to call the genius of Matsheve.
While studying the Yoreh Deah about the laws of kosher and treif [foods not allowed to be eaten under Jewish dietary laws], Eliezer's father Moshele took us to the slaughter house where he gave us practical examples that helped up to better understand the laws in Yoreh Deah.
Watching how they examined the lungs and liver of the slaughtered cow and how the butcher took the tube of the lung in his mouth and blew it up so that the inspection by the rav or the shochet [ritual slaughterer] would be thorough, I was disgusted to nausea. Reb Moshele, who noticed this, said to me, Meirl, a rav cannot not be a delicate man, must not be disgusted by bad odors and other things. Otherwise one cannot be a rav.
At that time the older rav was also teaching a lesson on tractate Hulin [Talmud tractate containing laws of ritual slaughter and details on kosher and nonkosher foods]. Among the select students who studied with him, I also took part in the lesson, which was at a very high level. We studied on the winter nights, three times a week, with the rav in his home.
When the First World War broke out I was already completely independent in study. I studied various tractates with commentaries with Itche Yakiv Galis (Zychler). Itche was a serious youth by nature, very friendly, and our relations were very sincere. But in time we went our separate ways. I began to read apocryphal books, as modern literature was called in those days, and he saw me as someone who had gone badly astray, and he broke off our relationship.
In those times even the others in the beit midrash began to look at me askance, they were afraid that I would despoil the other boys, and the reb forbade me from further study there.
The Prison
Since time immemorial it had been the practice in town to throw dirty water out into the street. But if the watchman suddenly passed by and caught you, he had to be slipped something, something put into his hand, and if you did not have anything to give him he would promptly write a report. People referred to a report from the watchman as going to sit in the prison.
Such things also happened when a Jew covered his roof with wooden shingles instead of with tin, or built a house without a building plan, or differently from the way it was in the plan. If it had not previously settled it with the watchman, he would put together a report and take it to the court. The punishment was almost always to go sit in the prison for a few days.
True, one could exchange the sentence for a monetary fine. But what Jew would do such a foolish thing, and instead of going to sit, throw money away in the street?
Krotshek, the watchman for the town council, was also the overseer of the prison. Krotshek's work consisted of coming to the Jews to remind them that it was time to go sit in jail. Then one would put something into Krotshek's hand and put off going to sit until later, that is until a more convenient time, for example after the non-Jewish holidays when trade was dead and it was cold outside. That was the most suitable time for the Jews to go sit in the prison. Then one packed some bed linens, took the tallis [prayer shawl] and tefillin [small black leather boxes with straps that contain pieces of parchment on which passages from the Torah are inscribed] under their arms and went to the prison, to sleep well and rest up the whole time. Food they brought from home, the very best.
The prison was always open, because Jews still had to go every morning to pray because there may not always be a minyan [minimum gathering of 10 people necessary for communal religious service], and then Krotshek looked the other way while the Jews went out to pray with tallis and tefillin. People also came to visit those who were sitting in jail, to chat about their own matters or about the news that was printed in the gazettes. In winter, when there was a singeing frost outdoors, people used to go to the prison to warm up.
But it happened that a control commission came from another town, and Krotshek had to lock the prison and keep it closed until the commission went away.
One time when such a commission arrived in town unannounced it was a market day and the prison was, of course, completely empty. What Jew would go to sit in jail on a market day? For Krotshek it was a big trap. His whole career was at stake. He ran out to the market and told the first Jews he saw what had happened, that a commission had come; someone had to save him and go sit in jail.
How hard it was for a Jew to give up the market day, but he had to realize that Krotshek was correct and he had to go sit in jail, locked up for several hours, until the commission left. Both Krotshek and the Jews were equally happy that all ended well.
[Pages 226-228]
Shlomo Mantel
Translated by Martin Jacobs
The Miracle from Heaven
As soon as the first World War had begun the Russians withdrew from our town, which was taken by the Austrians, but several weeks later the Russians, in a great offensive, succeeded in retaking Tarnogrod, driving the Austrians beyond Cracow. Among the most difficult memories of that time is the arrest of the rabbi, Aryeh Teicher, and his son Moyshele. The Russians were looking for scapegoats for their earlier defeat and accused them of secretly working for the Austrians. The Russians led them out into the marketplace and placed them against a wall. Two Cossacks were already there and took aim with their rifles, ready to fire.
At that moment the Russian Orthodox priest appeared on the marketplace. He went over to the officer and began to argue with him for the release of the rabbi and his son. His talk must have had its effect. The officer ordered the Cossacks to free the Jews and let them return home.
In their release the Jews in the town saw a miracle from heaven.
Hakofes[1] with the Talmud
ChaimLeibush Okst and his son Simkha were builders. They built Israel Fluk's house by themselves, without help from Christian builders. They were simple but honest and pious Jews who had great respect for a Torah scholar, for the learned men of the town.
Such were the Jewish craftsmen in Tarnogrod. They themselves worked hard and had no time to study, but for this reason they showed the greatest respect for those who did.
There were learned men not only in Tarnogrod but also in the surrounding villages. in our times in the village of Likev [probably the nearby village known to the Poles as Łukowa], where the kabbalist Kopl Likever once lived, Hertsl Zilberlicht was living, a great scholar, with rabbinical ordination. In the village of Lachow lived Joshua Milekh, a great scholar and a God fearing man. In old age he settled in Tarnogrod.
It once happened that the gabbai[2] did not call him up to the hakofes on SimkhasTorah, along with all the other notables. This irritated the old scholar very much; he grabbed a Talmud volume and carried it around as though a hakofe, and called out to the gabbai:
Moshe son of Khana, I don't need you to call me for a hakofe. I've learned the entire Talmud and it Is a great honor for me to go on a hakofe with a Talmud volume.
Jewish Heroes
At the time of the Tsarist military draft, when Christian boys from the surrounding villages came to present themselves to the military committee in Tarnogrod, they used to attack Jews along their way. One day the wild draftees spread out over the marketplace and started beating Jews. At that moment Lipe Adler the butcher arrived; he tore up a little tree which had been standing in the middle of the market place and began to rain blows on the draftees.
Blood was already running from some of the Gentile boys, but they weren't leaving yet, though the beating was becoming more and more savage. Only when the other butchers arrived, along with the stablemen, and began landing blows left and right, did they run away.
Such happenings were often repeated.
The power of a holy man
Old Jews from Tarnogrod used to tell a story that they heard from their parents and grandparents:
On the left side of the road to the cemetery there was a hill two storeys high. On top of it stood a cross. At one time, many, many years ago there was a church where the hill now is. Every time someone passed away and was being conveyed to the cemetery Gentile boys came out of the church and threw stones at the Jews who were following the funeral procession. And so it happened too at the funeral of the Tsadik [holy man] of Kraszew. The Gentile boys started showering the procession with stones. Then the Jews placed the casket to the side and started reciting the verse Shakets teshaketsenu[3], which is what the Tsadik some time before had commanded his followers to do in case the Gentiles should stone his funeral.
When they had finished reciting the verse several times the little church suddenly sank into the earth, and in its place grew this little hill, which is there to this day.
As a remembrance that there was once a church there the Gentiles of the town set up a cross on the hill.
Translator's notes
JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of
the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material
for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.
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Updated 30 Jun 2015 by LA


text:
NEW signing Kacper Gomolski is hopeful Troy Batchelor's future can be sorted soon, as he believes the Australian will play a vital role in helping him settle into life at Swindon.
The young Pole will line up at reserve alongside Ashley Birks following a loan move from Peterborough, but Batchelor's return to the Abbey Stadium has not been confirmed yet due to the ongoing dispute between the Robins and the Panthers.
The 19-year-old doesn't speak English, but with Batchelor fluent in Polish the youngster is keen to see the two clubs to come to an agreement which would allow the new Australian champion to return to Blunsdon.
"I know Troy from when I rode at Peterborough and he is a good guy, and I hope it all can be sorted for the good of both clubs and that they can make a compromise," Gomolski said through manager Krystian Plech.
"He is very helpful, and he speaks good Polish because he has ridden there for a long time, and he is good in the paddock which is very important too. I am not sure what is going on because I am in Poland, but I hope the two clubs can make a compromise which will see Troy ride for Swindon.
"But it is important as a speedway rider to focus on yourself even if it is a team sport, because it really matters to make sure you are in a good position."
Gomolski has spent the winter preparing himself for his first season with the Robins, and he continues to build his bikes to ensure he is ready to hit the ground running when the new campaign begins.
"We are just waiting on engines now, and we have already spent time building bikes and getting boots in the Swindon colours," he said.
"There has been too much snow to be on the bike, but I did some motocross which has helped me stay sharp.
"There is an advantage to riding in England because you start in March, and that can help me have an advantage over others as I start earlier than in Poland."
The teenager will once again ride for champions Tarnow in his homeland, but is set to take on more responsibility as he looks to take the next step in his career.
"It is good to be with Tarnow who are champions just like Swindon, and I will be in the main junior position after Maciej Janowski stepped up to be a senior," he said.
"This is an important time and I want to do well, and I want to compete in some individual competitions .
"I want to get to the under 21 finals, but we will have to see."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
We have a tax guide. It might be a month late, but "The Individual Investor's Guide to Personal Tax Planning for Tax Year 2010" is in this month's issue. You can find it on page 6.
Congress did not give us much time to update the guide. The House of Representatives passed the tax bill just three business days before this month's issue was due at the printer. Fortunately, we had the Senate's bill to work from, and, despite rumblings from several Congressmen, the House did not change it.
Since the bill was passed so late in the lame-duck session, we did have to make some assumptions about certain numbers. For example, the dollar amounts for the 2011 standard deductions and personal exemptions were not fully known at press time. We've labeled projections where they have been used, and our intent is to update our tax tables on AAII.com as the actual numbers are released.
This leads to another point: Most of the tax guides, software programs and other 2010 tax-year aids will have updates. As I state in our guide, the late passage of the new tax law and the logistics of physically producing tax aids make updates a necessity this year. Thus, be sure to check for them. You can also visit the Internal Revenue Service's website (www.irs.gov) for new information.
There are not many changes in the new tax law relative to what was in place for 2010. The estate tax has been reinstated, though the $5 million exemption (which is portable to the surviving spouse) means the overwhelming majority of Americans will be exempt from it.
The biggest change is the reduction in payroll taxes. U.S. workers will pay 4.2% of their wages (up to $106,800) toward Social Security taxes in 2011, versus the usual 6.2% levy. This is a one-time tax break that will expire at the end of the year. This cut, along with breaks for business investment, led many economists to increase their U.S. GDP growth estimates for 2011.
There is rarely a free lunch, and this tax bill is no exemption. The total cost is $858 billion, which will have to be made up through a combination of higher future revenues and spending cuts. Circle December 2012 on your calendar now, because that is when the current law will expire. Given the forthcoming divided Congress, I am already expecting a lame-duck session to determine the fate of what we'll pay in 2013.
As far as the current guide is concerned, I largely followed the format used by my predecessor, Maria Crawford Scott. For both the 2010 and the 2011 tax years, you will find tables with specific tax rates, deductions and exemptions and a tax planning worksheet. I've also included a special note about the new tax reporting rules that apply when a stock is sold (see page 8 for details). On AAII.com, you will find additional information about health savings accounts, tax exemptions for gains realized on the sale of your home and the dreaded alternative minimum tax (AMT).
Besides the tax guide, this month's issue includes our annual review of the AAII stock screens and an update to the Model Shadow Stock Portfolio.
Performance information for all 63 screens we track on AAII.com is provided in our annual stock screens review. For this year's analysis, senior financial analyst and Computerized Investing editor Wayne Thorp reconfigured the style groups used to classify each of the strategies to more clearly describe their investing styles. He also expanded the performance tables to include three-, five- and 10-year returns, along with bull and bear market returns. You can find all of the data, plus a listing of the best- and worst-performing screens, starting on page 25.
AAII Founder James Cloonan sold one stock from the Model Shadow Stock Portfolio and used the proceeds to buy three new stocks. You can see what those stocks were, get updated performance information on the portfolio and see his views on the markets on page 33.
Wishing you prosperity,
Charles Rotblut, CFA
Editor, AAII Journal
Sorry, you cannot add comments while on a mobile device or while printing.


text: Welcome! The Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response Working Group (EPPR) addresses various aspects of prevention, preparedness and response to environmental emergencies in the Arctic. Members of the Working Group exchange information on best practices and conduct projects to include development of guidance and risk assessment methodologies, response exercises, and training. The goal of the EPPR Working Group is to contribute to the protection of the Arctic environment from the threat or impact that may result from an accidental release of pollutants or radionuclides. In addition, the Working Group considers questions related to the consequences of natural disasters.


text:
Oregon Scientific Wireless Weather Station (BAR206A)Item#: 8316030 | Model#: BAR206A
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Click here for full warranty and support information
- Oregon Scientific logos are registered trademarks of Oregon Scientific. All others trademarks and copyrights mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.


text:
Very interesting!! Mesoraco doesn't really seem to have much of a problem driving Cozart in tonight
Last edited by Pacman Fever; 07-23-2013 at 08:29 PM.
Congrats on being the very first poster to make my (EDIT: non-existant, apparently) ignore list!
And to be on topic:
Your thoughts on Votto are maddeningly wrong.
Last edited by OC_Red; 07-23-2013 at 08:38 PM.
Pacman Fever (07-23-2013)
What is Votto's Market Value?
5.32 a pound. 5.02 a pound with a coupon.
A win on the open market is worth anywhere from 4-6M in a given year. Is Joey Votto going to be worth 4-5 wins a year over his contract? I wouldn't bet against it. I imagine he provides surplus value for the next few years and then declines some over the rest of the deal, with the last few years being where he isn't providing the value of his deal. Overall though, he will get close to being worth the deal unless something unforeseen happens.
RedEye (07-23-2013)
Wow....what we have here (atleast this past week) has been: Baes Empty Singles vs. Rally Ending Double-Plays........
Babe Ruth achieved that standard 12 times, Ted Williams did so 11 times, Hank Aaron 7 times, Willie Mays 3 times, Mickey Mantle 3 times, Joe DiMaggio 7 times, Jimmie Foxx 9 times, Stan Musial 7 times, Al Simmons 3 times, Frank Robinson 3 times, Carl Yastrzemski 2 times, Duke Snider two times, etc.
"Hey...Dad. Wanna Have A Catch?" Kevin Costner in "Field Of Dreams."
Pacman Fever (07-27-2013)
"But I do know Joey's sister indirectly (or foster sister) and I have heard stories of Joey being into shopping, designer wear, fancy coffees, and pedicures."
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please.


text:
Classic Video Game Villain Ready For San Diego...
NECA provides Friday the 13th fans a look at the packaging for their San Diego Comic-Con exclusive: Jason (1989 Video Game Appearance). The box is designed to replicate the original 1989 8-bit video game's packaging with a few clever changes, such as NECA's logo in place of the gaming system's name and the SDCC logo in place of the company behind the game. The fifth window box holds a 7-inch Jason action figure painted in the video game's retro colors. The figure also features glow-in-the dark features and weapons (ax and machete), as well as a removable mask.
Fans can pick up Friday the 13th Jason (1989 Video Game Appearance) during San Diego comic-Con July 17-21 at NECA's booth #3145. This exciting exclusive will be priced at $25.
Photo Source: necaonline.com/
To insure your action figure collection, get in touch with Collectibles Insurance, the official insurance company of the Figures.com network. Say "Figures.com" to get 5% off your first term premiums.
To buy action figures, take a look at BigBadToyStore.com, AlterEgoComics.com, PlasmaInfusion.com, Toynk.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, and MonkeyDepot.com.


text:
30 September, 2013 | (01 hr)
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The need for strong leaders has never been so critical, and many companies are focused on equipping their leaders with skills to lead in a highly volatile business
environment. Strategic Leadership Development, a recent report by The Conference Board, notes that a high percentage of leaders across the globe are either marginally prepared or not prepared at all to take on the business challenges of today and tomorrow. This webcast focuses on how an organization can build a holistic and multipronged approach to support the business strategy as well as an individual's development needs.
Ric Roi, Ed.D.
Ric Roi, Ed.D., serves as head of the global centre of excellence for Right Management and leads the firm's Asia-Pacific consulting practice. Based in Singapore, Roi has consulted with more than 80 global organizations during the past 21 years in the areas of strategic change, leadership, a...Full Bio
Rebecca L. Ray, Ph.D.
Rebecca Ray serves as executive vice president, Knowledge Organization, The Conference Board. In this role, she has oversight of the research planning and dissemination process for all three practices areas (Corporate Leadership, Economy & Business Environment, and Human Capital) and is respo...Full Bio


text:
Chickens are crucial to the operations at Cold Creek Compost.
"If I have enough chickens, I can compost anything," said owner Martin Mileck, pointing to piles of wood and other construction waste that comes to him as yard waste.
"I seek out the most noxious ingredients," Mileck said, explaining that he uses not only chicken manure but whole chicken carcasses to break down chunks of asphalt and pieces of sheet rock with boards and nails still attached. "I get 24,000 birds a week from the egg industry in Sonoma County."
When an orange-red hen saunters by his office, Mileck says she also came on the truck full of dead birds.
"Sometimes, they show up alive," he said, adding that if a truck driver finds a live bird, it will be killed immediately. "But if they make it here, we let them live."
In fact, a live animal is just about the only thing Mileck won't compost in the 6.5 acres of space he has set up for compost piles on the hills just north of Highway 20 at the mouth of Potter Valley. He even took on a 75-ton blue whale.
Just to prove he could compost the "biggest, nastiest gnarliest thing out there," he said he offered to take the remnants of a whale that washed up near Fort Bragg in 2009.
"It was gone in three weeks," said Mileck, adding that he avoided a hefty fine because by the time the authorities got wind and headed out to his facility, the carcass was decomposed. "They couldn't fine me if it wasn't there."
It is illegal to compost a whole mammal, and it would have been illegal for Mileck to compost chickens if he hadn't found a loophole in the law.
Along with the whole chickens, Mileck takes the sludge leftover from making olive oil and beer -- 125 tons a week from Mendocino Brewing Company alone -- and builds huge piles of steaming, active compost "hot enough to burn off any pathogens."
Since just about anything ends up in yard waste bins, from large items like chainsaws, axes, and ladders, to small items like socks, Mileck hires people just to cull through the piles and pick out trash.
After the piles do their magic, Mileck creates the two products that keep his business running: a potent soil amendment and a planting mix.
"My market is 50 percent grape growers, and 50 percent pot growers." he said. "And luckily they have two different seasons."
Thinking outside the box
Raised by two professors in Berkeley, Mileck credits his upbringing and education as enabling him to "think outside the box."
With a background in chemical engineering and soil science, Mileck first started farming mushrooms in Santa Cruz County, moving farther and farther north until he ended up in Covelo, where he launched M&M Feed in 1983.
As a hay farmer, Mileck said he was always searching for ways to feed his own soil.
"The whole reason I'm in business is to produce a less expensive source of fertilizer," he said, explaining that he set out to convince other farmers of the benefits, on both a micro and macro level, of composting.
"It's the only way as a species that we're going to survive," he said. "This whole concept of providing a better product for less money with responsible disposal made sense to me, and no one else was doing it."
Soon his business was flourishing and he was supplying organic compost to Fetzer vineyards. In the 1990s, he said he was approached by both the state of California and the City of Ukiah and "strongly urged" to build a composting facility because of impending laws requiring a certain amount of diversion of waste from landfills.
Battle from the beginning
It is no accident Cold Creek Compost is where it is.
"This is the most carefully sited facility," said Mileck, who chose the property because a 1991 study identifying potential sites for a new landfill in Mendocino County listed it as No. 1.
"You need to have as little impact to water quality as possible," he said, explaining that not only did he build the two-mile road that leads to his facility, he put it on an "impervious pad" and surrounded it with a concrete berm that funnels all the runoff into a plastic-lined pond.
Noise, dust, odor, traffic and even earthquakes all needed to be taken into consideration, but the site passed muster and he got a permit in 1995.
Almost immediately, he was sued by an environmental group. Fourteen years and $1.5 million later, "I won," he said.
"Then I lost four of my feed stocks," he said, explaining that for a time he was told he could be brought spring and winter leaves, but not fall leaves that fell on the street.
Eventually, Mileck got "all the feed stocks back," and for years was getting all of Ukiah's green waste. But in 2008, he says he lost the bid to the city's new waste hauler, C&S Waste Solutions.
By contract, the company is still required to send him 400 tons of green waste a month, but Mileck said he can compost so much more, including the city's residential and commercial food waste, along with items like used cat litter and pizza boxes.
Though he is sent commercial food waste from Humboldt County, and composts the food waste that residents of Fort Bragg and the unincorporated areas of Mendocino County add to their green waste bins, Mileck said others in the "perverse, territorial" garbage business see him as a threat.
"But I am not -- I only wanted to provide a better place for people to haul their garbage to," he said. "I am fighting tradition. If I knew what I was stepping into, I wouldn't have done it. But I've got so much invested now, I can't back out."
He estimated he's put $5 million in his facility, pointing to a $500,000 grinder, a $400,000 soil screen, and plenty of expensive "experiments" that were mostly unsuccessful. And that's not counting his costly legal battle.
"I'm a resourceful son of a b#@%*, and I'm not going away," he said. "This is the future, and I believe I've got the skills and the balls to go out and do it."
Standing on the edge of his property, overlooking the green valley that might have been a landfill, he added, "The more that people understand what I'm doing here, the more they are supportive."
Justine Frederiksen can be reached at email@example.com, on Twitter @JustFrederiksen or at 468-3521.


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Mel Arizpe, right, of Mi Diva Loca just posted a video on her Facebook where she and her partner Laura Carrizales (and other half of Loca) teamed up with local band helloeARTh for a cover of Rihanna's "Only Girl." The band's M.O. is to team up with local singers and rappers and perform a cover on video to post to YouTube. That's the nutshell.
In this video, the sound's a little rough, but MDL's voices are a good match with the funksters playing. Initially, I thought it was a one-time thing, but then Arizpe told me they also recorded a video for a cover of Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You." I thought 'Oh, shiz,' and was quick to search for it. It's not too bad either, although the recording pulls in more of the music than the ladies' voices. But when they start belting it out, it's outta control. And by that I mean pretty priceless.
Both videos are below.


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Emphysema Research Registry
This study is currently recruiting participants.
Verified June 2017 by Frank C Sciurba, University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
Frank C Sciurba, University of Pittsburgh
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: March 24, 2006
Last updated: June 22, 2017
Last verified: June 2017
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Show Detailed Description
The Comprehensive Lung Center (CLC) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC Health System) provides patients with any type of breathing or lung disorder a full range of diagnostic and therapeutic services. The Emphysema Research Center (ERC) is a specialty clinic, within this center, that attempts to advance the understanding of emphysema and to evaluate new therapies for patients with emphysema. The Emphysema Research Registry will enable pulmonary research physicians to: 1) gather information and create a research registry of people who have been diagnosed with emphysema; 2) utilize this research registry with the purpose of conducting research that attempts to advance the understanding of emphysema and to evaluate new therapies; and, 3) use the research registry to identify potential candidates for future research programs. These aims will be achieved by the collection of DNA (genetic material)for analysis and storage in addition to pulmonary function tests and other medical information.
|Emphysema Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Chronic Bronchitis
|Study Type:
|Observational [Patient Registry]
|Study Design:
|Observational Model: Cohort
Time Perspective: Other
|Target Follow-Up Duration:
|2 Years
|Official Title:
|Emphysema Research Registry; Screening Study and Genetic Testing
Resource links provided by NLM:
MedlinePlus related topics: EmphysemaU.S. FDA Resources
Further study details as provided by Frank C Sciurba, University of Pittsburgh:
Primary Outcome Measures:
- This research registry will allow us to tap into this resource and address important, unanswered questions about the disease process and new therapies. [ Time Frame: Indefinite ]
Secondary Outcome Measures:
- To continue communications with past, present, and future research participants. [ Time Frame: Indefinite ]
|Estimated Enrollment:
|Study Start Date:
|August 2000
|Estimated Study Completion Date:
|July 2030
|Estimated Primary Completion Date:
|July 2030 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
10 pack year tobacco smoking history required, current or former smokers accepted.
Show Detailed Description
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|21 Years and older (Adult, Senior)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
|Sampling Method:
|Non-Probability Sample
Study Population
Current and former smokers with a 10 pack year tobacco history.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Patients would be required to have COPD based on at least one of the following: clinical history, pulmonary function results, or radiographic results.
Exclusion Criteria:
Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00307281
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00307281
|Contact: Paula Consolaro, CCRC
|Contact: Mary Bryner, RRT
|United States, Pennsylvania
|University of Pittsburgh Emphysema Research Center
|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15213
|Contact 412-692-4800 email@example.com
|Contact 1-866-948-COPD(2673) firstname.lastname@example.com
|Principal Investigator: Frank C. Sciurba, MD
|Sub-Investigator: Jessica M. Bon, MD
|Sub-Investigator: Divay Chandra, MD
Sponsors and Collaborators
University of Pittsburgh
|Principal Investigator:
|Frank C. Sciurba, MD
|University of Pittsburgh
More Information
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017
|Responsible Party:
|Frank C Sciurba, Director, Emphysema/COPD Research Center, University of Pittsburgh
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00307281 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
UofP ERC Registry
ERC Registry
|Study First Received:
|March 24, 2006
|Last Updated:
|June 22, 2017
|Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:
|Plan to Share IPD:
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Bronchitis, Chronic
Lung Diseases
Lung Diseases, Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Emphysema
Respiratory Tract Diseases
Pathologic Processes
Bronchial Diseases
Respiratory Tract Infections
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


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Topic: Lainy - Cancer Free
Robin, Lainy's daughter, notified me just a few minutes ago. Lainy does not have a cancerous mass in fact, she does not have a mass at all. You go, Lainy.
Hugs to all,
cholangiocarcinoma.org :: Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Discussion Board
a resource for patients, friends, caregivers and loved ones.
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|La fundación de colangiocarcinoma (CCF) ahora ofrece servicios de traducción en Español.
Por favor publique sus preguntas en Español y un intérprete le va responder.
Join our new Mentoring Program
A new discussion board experience is coming this September!
After 10 years, we're upgrading our discussion board to a new modern system. The new forum will be easier to use, mobile-friendly and loaded with new features! We'll be taking all of the existing posts and users over to the new board, you won't have to do anything. If you have any questions, we've started a thread here to discuss.
Robin, Lainy's daughter, notified me just a few minutes ago. Lainy does not have a cancerous mass in fact, she does not have a mass at all. You go, Lainy.
Hugs to all,
That is fabulous news! Thank you for sharing this, Marion!
Yay!!!!!!!! Thanks Marion!
Wahoo, this is wonderful news!!! YAY LAINY
YAY! I love this!
WooHoo! Seriously doing my happy dance right now!
Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful!!!
Lainy might very well get on this site real soon. She already is sending out personal e-mails. That's our Lainy.
Hi everyone and thank you! I tell you God and Teddy are some kind of partners! Nothing! Nothing at all. There is a teeny tiny hernia somewhere, don't remember but absolutely cancer free. Too cute. They rolled me into the Endo room and I said, "Oh, Dr. Mahajani we have to stop meeting like this" and he says, "that's because we love each other so much"! I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD AND THE NEXT THING I KNEW I WOKE UP IN RECOVERY!
They feel the radiologist who read and reported my scan saw shadows and felt they may be masses. YEAH! Masses of nothing. So now I meet my Neuro surgeon Monday and we know that will be something but NOT cancer. I am going back to sleep but Marion knows me too well, yes I will be on later!
Lainy, I commented earlier but I am SO HAPPY for you!! Smiling and crying like a baby!!!!
Aw, my Cookie! Sure wish you could take a trip here. BTW I had an egg roll the other day and it was almost as bad as the one at the Lake! I am still tired from today. Strange, I can't sleep but am very tired. Take care, luv you!
Lainy, Such great news. So happy for you. Now get some sleep!
Love you too, momma!! You are tired from the sedation... It might take a while to "wake up". I always have a tough day the next day, too. Just nap a lot. I am over the moon for you. I haven't had an egg roll yet!!!
We are so, so happy to hear the good news. And frankly, you deserve it. You put so much of your heart and soul into helping and supporting others. It's time for you to get some great news in return.
Hopefully you get your energy back quickly. You've been through a challenging period.
Take care,
Wonderful relief! Such good news~
Brilliant news Momma!!! Just waking up to this and your email and the day is off to a great start indeed!!! Now go get some sleep and then maybe some good egg rolls too! I'll tell mum your news as well, well chuffed for you!
Love ya,
Such wonderful news!!! So happy for you.
This is such great news!! Thanks to Robin for sharing it with us, and thank you Lainy for being CANCER-FREE!!!
What fabulous news!! YIPPEEE!
Lainy ,very happy you don't have another health problem to deal with.Now you can concentrate on getting that brain of yours in good order!
Janet xx
Ha, Ha Janet, I meet with the Neuro Surgeon Monday. Knocking it all out of the park one by one. Just a tad curious but since I already know its benign I can take it. Hope you are doing good, love to see you still watch over us!
Hi, Randi, Girl! I think of you as I know for sure you have been through so much more and look at you now!
Thanks Caroline. I am so blessed to have the Docs I do. I know Teddy is watching over me as well.
Hi Pam, love seeing you on our site for any reason. I know if you were here you would give that radiologist what for. But I do understand his being cautious. Now on to other things.
Hey, Sonny boy, yes please tell Mum hi and so far so good.
Thank you Carl & Lynn, you are one special couple!
Thank you all, and once again I am lucky to be me and to be on this Board!
Blimey Lainy, I can't keep up. That is the last time I don't log on for 10 days (I'm blaming my Dad)! I just replied on your original thread, working through all the posts that you were told your cancer had returned. Then found this one. I like, like, like:-)
Dear Lainey,
Best wishes, January
Hi Clare and to use one of your words, blimey is right! Talk about a roller coaster ride, glad that one is over. Tomorrow the Neuro Surgeon for the benign tumor pushing on my brain. We shall see what she has to say. Thanks for the note.
Hi January, I love the word Wonderful! Even though it sounded like a screw up one has to make sure its all copasetic (for you youngsters copasetic means its all cool)!
The information expressed is not medical advice. The discussion boards are not intended to replace the services of a trained health professional or to be a substitute for the medical advice of physicians or other healthcare providers. Read the full disclaimer.


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So your sweet husband/boyfriend/special other decided to take it upon himself to do a little scrappy shopping for you for Christmas and decided to get you Thickers. A bunch of Thickers. Only problem is he decided to get you a lifetime supply of white ones figuring they would go with anything. Well guess what -- he was right. :)
Today Misty Buck shows us how to take those basic white foamy alphabet stickers and alter them to suit any crafty color need.
• • • • •
- foam alphabet stickers
- ink pad
- heating tool
- rubber stamp
Step 1: Choose letters to alter and place them on a ink-proof surface.
Step 2: Cover the surface of the letters with desired color of ink.
Step 3: Gently heat surface of inked stickers until foam softens. "Stamp" surface of letters with a rubber stamp to create texture.
Step 4: Use custom colored and textured letters on project of your choice!
• • • • •
Misty, thanks so much for sharing your fun idea with us. Now all of those white stickers can be dressed up to suit your every need. :)
If you have an idea that you'd like to share with us for a How To'sday tutorial then don't be shy! We'd love to see what you have up your crafty sleeve. You can send photos and text to email@example.com and I will add you to the lineup.
Be sure to check in tomorrow for our first guest sketcher of the new year! It's a day you do not wish to miss.


text:
Isla Fisher, 37 – makes magic (and does a scary underwater stunt) in the new film Now You See Me – chatted with PEOPLE this week about her shopping habits, her new pet chickens and her favorite dessert …
Last thing I returned
I don't return anything! It's terrible. I always give it to a friend. I just don't want to go through the hassle of going back and getting a store credit that you inevitably lose.
Last dessert I had
Flourless chocolate cake. It's my favorite dessert. Sadly I can't make it, but I do love to cook. I don't think I'm particularly good at it, and I don't seem to be improving, so I just stick with what I know.
Last home improvement
Getting chickens! We're using the eggs and everything. They poop a lot, so you have to clean up a lot. It's been so much fun. They're little characters and they all have personalities. They're just adorable with these very pretty coats.
Last time I was nervous
Submerged in a tank, chained under-water for Now You See Me. I was literally chained underwater and very nervous. But I pulled it off; I did it!


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British dairy farmer Jason Barber recently launched Black Cow Vodka. Three years of research and one cheesy tagline ("So smooth you can drink it 'til the cows come home") later, he's winning over both chefs and celebrities, including Daniel Craig and Elizabeth Hurley.
The 49-year-old dairy farmer got the idea for making vodka from milk from the Siberian Tuvans, a centuries-old cattle-herding nomad tribe that also ferments milk to make alcohol. Barber's pasture-raised 250 cows give him about 25 liters of milk each, which he separates into curds and whey, then adds a special yeast to convert the milk sugar into alcohol. This ferments the whey into a beer, which then is distilled, but that's all Barber is willing to share about the process.
Even better, he uses the leftover curds to make cheese. Not for nothing, Barber's cheese won an award at the 2013 World Cheese Awards in Nantwich, England.
According to the vodka's website, the alcohol has an "exceptionally smooth" and "unique creamy" character. And Barber's creation certainly has fans: A number of high-end restaurants in the United Kingdom (UK) are serving Black Cow Vodka. Even actors Daniel Craig and Elizabeth Hurley number among its admirers.
But if you want to taste it, you'll need to pack your bags, as it's currently only sold in the UK. A 500ml bottle retails for roughly US$38.


text:
In this twelfth episode of Hunatraining we begin an exploration of the 4 levels of reality. Our host Jerry shares a wide variety of teachings and voices focused around the topic of the first level of reality – the physical.
Click here to participate in the original discussion board for the show. (Please note that Jerry's requests for participation in episode 13 are now closed as this is a complete podcast series.) You may choose to join members who are currently re-listening to these shows in the Hunaversity Hui on the discussion board.
Blessings upon your journeys,


text:
Aug '11 Video (See page 3)
April '11 Video (See page 2)
June '10 Videos (See page 2)
March 09 Video (See page 2)
Original Videos
Hello all,
First time poster, although I've been trolling the site for quite a while, observing from a distance, leveraging comments on other people's techniques before I had to come and embarrass myself. But the time has come. Blake, and all you regular posters, thanks for all of your advice and analysis on this site, it's THE site for technique information!
I've posted two throws, both slow motion and regular speed. I have three others, but it's taking so long to upload them that I haven't put them up yet.
Full Speed Throw 1
Slo-Mo Throw 1
Full Speed Throw 2
Slo-Mo Throw 2
Thanks in advance!
IF you're interested in how I drive, here's a little about me:
I live at altitude and play between 6000 and 7000 feet. I will be playing Golden Gate Park course at the end of the month, so I'll finally know how throwing at altitude is different.
I played casually a for two years, took a year off thanks to my caddy there in the videos, just started playing once a week in January.
I just got over a severe bout with nose-up issues that still come up on some throws. I try to keep my wrist down, but I forget sometimes.
I am now struggling with off-axis torque.
My grip is getting stronger, but the disc still comes out loose when I'm not paying attention to it.
My good throws will come out flat, turn over gradually for the second quarter of the flight, and fade forward and right (I'm lefty) for the last quarter of the flight. At least, that's how it looks to me.
I have not mastered release angles, anhyzers, or anything like that. I have just started utilizing nose angles in drives and mid-ranges and am not consistent with it. I know what a hyzer-flip looks like because I've done it by accident, and I know what turning the disc over looks like with snap compared to throwing with OAT, but I don't do either well, if at all. My throw is definitely velocity dominated as everything my disc does is gradual, not sudden.
I have measured the the field that I throw on. I throw 50' farther when I'm going the downhill direction, so I've averaged the two to produce these numbers:
25% of my drives fly 350' or less, typically due to nose up issues
60% of my drives fly 350' - 375' in the manner that I described as a "good throw"
15% of my drives fly between 375' and 430', typically when I use the correct disc for the conditions and do things just right (relatively speaking )


text: SRT Joins KENDA Tennessee Knockout Press Release | June 19, 2013 SRT is a new player to the Powersports market but has a long history as a leader in industrial manufacturing. SRT is specializing in the development of innovative, high quality, affordable race and recreational products for off-road riders. To help build awareness, SRT has joined on as a sponsor of the 2013 KENDA AMA Tennessee Knockout, one of the toughest off-road races in America."We ride a lot of off-road and technical stuff and I personally love the tough stuff" said Craig Thompson, President of SRT. "We have been developing products that are needed for the bike and rider to help deal with tough conditions such as those found at the Tennessee Knockout so we are thrilled to showcase the products at such tough event".The third annual KENDA AMA Tennessee Knockout, Fueled by Monster Energy and presented by Moose Racing and SRT will take place in Sequatchie, Tennessee on Saturday and Sunday, August 17-18, 2013. The American Extreme Enduro has attracted top riders from several disciplines such as former Motocross Champion turned EnduroCross specialist, Mike Brown, Trials Champion Cody Webb, GNCC Champion Paul Whibley, Enduro Champion Russell Bobbitt and top young riders such as Jordan Ashburn and Colton Haaker. The multi-round Knockout format is extremely challenging for the riders and is very spectator friendly with multiple viewing locations within a close walk from the main pit area.Unqualified Expert/Pro and amateur riders can race on Saturday with the top finishers earning the opportunity to move on to the Sunday Expert Knockout rounds. On Sunday, the riders will compete in a very tough and spectator friendly four round Knockout format. Here is a peak at some of the action from the 2012 event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Moyylu0KN68&feature=plcp For more information about the 2013 Kenda Tennessee Knockout, fueled by Monster Energy and presented by Moose Racing and SRT, please visit: http://tennesseeknockoutenduro.com/By Press Release provided by Tennessee Knockout Comments


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The City by the Bay is a must visit for all gay Texans — World Series titles notwithstanding
NICK VIVION | Special Contributor
San Francisco is regularly recognized as one of the world's most visited cities, and equally as often is dubbed the most European city in America. The Bay Area boasts a live-and-let-live ethos that has attracted a population with equal parts creativity and quirk (it's the fictional homes of Marvel's X-Men and Star Trek's United Federation of Planets).
It's also just about the gayest city in the world, a veritable Capital of the Queers — some estimates put 30 percent of the population as LGBT-identified. And despite their baseball team trouncing the Rangers in last year's World Series, it's still a desirable travel destination for gay Texans.
The city has welcomed the weary, the weird and the wacky for more than a century. The first wave was during the Gold Rush of the 1800s. The prospectors had no prospects — and no women. So they made do, and are said to be the ones who invented the Hanky Code to organize their newfound homo desires.
Post-World War II, soldiers of both sexes began to carve a niche for themselves amidst the already-thriving gay scene. A spread in Life magazine in 1964 maliciously declared San Francisco the gay capital of the nation, but while the tone was accusatory, it had one unintended effect: Publicity.
"Thousands of gay people poured into California now that they knew where to go," says Kathy Amendola, owner of Cruisin' the Castro, about the meteoric rise of gay San Francisco in the 1960s. "In 1967, the Summer of Love exploded in the Haight. There were so many tens of thousands of people in one place at one time on such a high level of consciousness [from LSD] that it shifted energy. San Francisco could not stop people from pouring in, from the gays to the hippies. It was supposed to be the utopia: free drugs, free food and free love. Who wouldn't come here?"
But San Francisco is more than just a cliché of drugged-out hippies and handkerchiefed homos cruising the streets. It has an energy that you can savor, a magical serenity that makes molecules vibrate more vigorously. It's exhilarating. San Francisco is freedom from judgment, a place where people are living their lives mindfully, yet without much regard to what people think.
"We recycle 77 percent of our garbage and food. We still have that sense of utopia," says Amendola without the slightest hint of new-age pretense. She, like most San Franciscans, is serious about her community's shared values.
Harvey Milk was known as the "Mayor of the Castro," and is widely credited with bringing the gays to the district. He saw the Castro's cheaper rent and better climate when he was living over the hill in Haight-Ashbury, and jumped at the chance to open a camera store right on Castro Street.
Today, the camera store sits empty awaiting the embattled move of the HRC Store. In its window is an image of a group of people outside the Castro Theatre waving a flag that says "Gay Revolution." Above, from the second floor where Milk used to live, is a mural of Harvey looking down on the street. On his chest is painted one of his most potent phrases: "You gotta give 'em hope."
Visiting the Castro is a must for every gay visitor. It's unlike any other remaining gayborhood in contemporary society — our Mecca, and not just because there are a lot of gay people there; it also breathes history.
Milk first spoke out at the corner of Market and Castro right underneath where the Pride flag now billows. Murals abound depicting the decimation of the AIDS crisis, and how the city's gay population rallied, protested and fought incessantly to stem the tide of deaths.
The recent opening of the GLBT Historical Museum on 18th Street is a much-needed fulcrum of our collective queer identity. The handsome museum facilitates an understanding of our history as a group, and shows those younger folks like myself the oft-unbelievable realities of gay life in decades pat.
As I stood in front of the picture of Leonard Matlovich on the cover of Time in September 1978, I nearly cried. I had never heard of him, nor had I ever noticed the large plaque commemorating him on the corner of 18th and Castro. He was discharged from the military for being gay, saying: "When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one."
My visit to the museum was the day before DADT was repealed; I had no idea we had been fighting for this long.
The queer experience is central to the San Francisco experience, as it is the city's acceptance — not just tolerance — of queer people of all kinds that really makes it unique. This is not the "diversity" of New York, rather a whole-hearted commitment to queering the world.
Standing outside Hotel Abri near Union Square, hearing the buzz of four languages, it strikes me that there are so many microcosms in this city, neighborhoods so distinct they could be in separate cities or states. San Francisco, at its geographical core, is queer.
San Francisco gets under your skin, into your blood and hooks you for life. It will electrify you, and like your first true love, you will never be able to shake it.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition Jan. 21, 2011.


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And, of course, the fine print:
Get free shipping on your next order when you spend over $100. The discount will be automatically applied to your purchase; no promo code required. The subtotal of your purchase must be $100.01 or greater after any promotional discounts have been applied. Additional fees such as tax or shipping and handling do not apply toward your minimum subtotal requirement of $100.01. Offer applies to standard shipping only. Certain items that require additional shipping and handling are excluded from this promotion and do not apply towards your $100.01 subtotal minimum. Offer subject to change.
This 10 oz. bag of Notes form the Underground coffee beans are a true classic. Its deep, dark expresso blend serves up a smooth, rich espresso typical of Northern Italian style. The coffee will ship whole bean.
This product ships from the maker within 4 days, via USPS
Unused and unopened items may be returned within 14 days


text:
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