2005-07-15

taylweaver: (Default)
2005-07-15 07:43 am
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Gristedes on Broadway - 12 hours later

As many of you already know, a building on Broadway that was being demolished - formerly a Gristedes - collapsed yesterday morning. For those of you reading this from out of town, this building is in my neighborhood, about a ten minute walk from me - a block from [livejournal.com profile] mysticengineer's apartment building.

I heard amazing stories yesterday from a friend, OA, who was less than a block away when it happened. He was one of the first people on the scene, clearing a way rubble. He helped to rescue the five trapped people. In a time when we keep hearing about terror attacks, it is so strange to consider the damage that can be done by an accident or a mistake. It is so amazing that there was no loss of either life or limb. It seems, from what I have heard, that everyone will make a full recovery - at least in body. I can't imagine how scary it must have been for the people trapped under there.

What also amazed me was how quickly life returns to normal. The collapse happened at approximately 9:30 am. When I walked to OA and his wife's apartment to do some envelope labelling for a shul mailing, I saw the wreckage from the other side of the street - a pile of wood and beams, strewn in a haphazard pile in the lot and on the sidewalk. I could see a man standing on top of what was left of the scaffolding, taking it apart. By the time I left [livejournal.com profile] mysticengineer's apartment at 10:00 (I visited on the way home because it was on the way home), the sidewalk was open, and what was left of the debris was behind one of those blue wooden walls that they erect at construction sites. The only evidence that anything had happened was the dirt/dust that covered the sidewalk, and the bright light that had been set up to shine in on the site - oh, and a helicopter circling above. The collapse happened, people were rescued, and within twelve hours, Broadway was pretty much back to normal. That impressed me.
taylweaver: (Default)
2005-07-15 05:22 pm
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translations

It occurs to me that a few readers of my blog might not be able to follow the conversations that went on in the comments of the previous entry due to certain religious terms that were used repeatedly.

So here is a bit of a glossary: (which I will update as needed if that discussion continues)

stam: replace this with the words "plain old..." where you see it. It means something along the lines of "simply;" "this and nothing else."

tzitzis/tzitzit: (some Hebrew words get pronounced differently in different dialects - so they get transliterated two different ways) a group of strings that is knotted according to a certain formula that is part of Jewish law. Any (male, generally) person who is wearing a four-cornered garment must have them on each corner. This has translated into more religious Jewish males wearing a four-cornered garment designed specifically for the purpose of fulfilling this commandment. Often, when one says tzitzit, one is referring to the entire garment.

rav: the Hebrew word for rabbi

Shabbos/Shabbat: the Jewish sabbath, Friday at sundown to Saturday at dark.

Pesach: Hebrew for Passover

Chametz: products made with things that rise - like yeast. That is, bread products. Not permitted to be in ones possession over Passover.

Kosher: not just food we are permitted to eat. It means that something is able to be used for the purpose you intend to use it for. Kosher food can be eaten. Kosher tzitzit can be worn in order to fulfil the mitzvah (see below)

Mitzvah: commandment. Either saying that we need to do something or that we can't.

Note: There is a practice among religious Jewish women to cover their hair once they are married. Someone following this practice would not want any male other than her husband to see her hair. If someone else wants to explain further, feel free - but that might help in terms of understanding my example in regard to scrupulosity.

Kehilah: congregation. A rav of kehilah would be a congregational rabbi. (as opposed to a rabbi who teaches in a school, or who has ordination, but does a job that is otherwise unrelated.)
taylweaver: (Default)
2005-07-15 05:43 pm
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It happened on the subway

The other day, I saw a rather intersting man on the subway. He was nodding off in the seat by the door, and I was standing over him, so I had plenty of time to study the top of his head - curly hair, black, cut short - and the rest of him - glasses, black button-down shirt, black pants, black gloves with silver studs on them - the kind that leave the fingertips free - encasing hands that clutched a blue i-pod mini - the only color I saw on him, aside from the white ear buds and the black and silver, a dog-tag around his neck, a black band with silver spikes around his left wrist, and, on his right wrist, a black rubber bracelet, "live strong" style. It said "love" on it. I found that funny.

Also, in a subway station, I learned how MTA workers rescue fallen objects from the tracks. After having just missed a train, I watched a man lead two MTA workers in orange vests to a spot on the tracks. He pointed. They checked for approaching trains, then looked down, and reached down with one of those grabber things - a long pole with a claw on the end - and retrieved the apparently undamaged phone. It makes perfect sense to retrieve dropped objects in this fashion, but it's not an idea I would have thought of on my own.

Lastly, I forgot to add in to the entry two entries ago - after having had the conversation with the students, I headed home, by subway of course, and the second leg of the journey, from Times Square, was forced to endure one of the most claustrophobic rides I can remember - and not because of the conversation. I think that even our resident claustrophile ([livejournal.com profile] mysticengineer) would agree that this was not a pleasant ride. I thought I would be the last one into the train, because I barely fit. In fact, I was concerned my bag would get caught in the doors. Then the crowd pushed forward, and I was pushed further in. Not one, but two more layers of people squashed in behind me, pushing me up against the arm of the person in front of me, such that my head was turned to the right, almost too far. My body was also bent at a weird angle. I was rather relieved when a few people got out at 72nd st. Had I been in that position much longer, I think I would have strained more than one muscle.
taylweaver: (Default)
2005-07-15 06:04 pm

Yet another difficult teaching moment

Again, related to violence, but this time closer to home. Yesterday, one of my students, whom I shall call J, closed a door on the finger of one of my other students (in a different class), whom I will call F. F had to leave school, because the cut was so deep she got stitches. Today, she came in with a thick gauze bandage on her finger. I eat lunch with the fourth graders, including F, and often end up conversing with them. F and B (her friend, whom J teases) told me that they are scared of J. I was not there when the incident happened. I do not know what J's intentions were, or if he really wanted to hurt F. I had no idea what to say when she told me she was afraid of him. She feels threatened by him. He is also a student, so I feel like I can't say anything negative about him to her. All I could say was, "I understand why you are afraid of him." In a way, F's comments were harder to deal with than the questions of the students the other day.

Of course, I also got some interesting questions in my folktales/drama games class. I was explaining a bit about what folktales are, and some kid asked me if Jesus was real. I had an answer for this, but it probably went over their heads (fifth grade.) I answered that we know he existed, historically, and that he was crucified, but whether or not he came back to life depends on what you believe. I said that different people believe different things, and that a belief is different from a fact, because a fact can be proven, and a belief can't, which is why different people can believe different things. But, as I said, it probably went over their heads.

Today, I also made a kid cry - because he made another kid cry. H made L cry, from what I can tell. This, based on the story the other kids told me - that H and C caused L to cry. C blamed it on H, and so did A, who was also there. It seems H did not want L to look at C's gameboy, so he pushed L away. H claims he neither said anything nor pushed anyone, but the fact that he then called L a crybaby - I did not witness this either, but enough other students told me this - leads me to believe that he was not being truthful with me. I asked him to leave the crowd looking at C's gameboy. I explained that he and L needed to be in different places. His response was to feel that I was yelling at him, and to feel that I had punished him by sending him outside. Then he was crying and wouldn't stop. I told him I was not punishing him and that I was not angry. Throughout all of this, I did not raise my voice. I don't think that made much of a difference, though. He was crying, and nothing I said would calm him down, so I left him there to calm down on his own, which didn't work either. I couldn't think of anything else that I could do about it.

Teaching is quite the experience. So many unexpected thoughts, reactions and questions. Every day I am surprised. But it's such a wonderful challenge.