I Picked an Interesting Weekend to Come Home

Driving home, I had to deal with the heaviest rainfall I have ever seen in normal life. I could see little except the car in front of me, for several significant chunks of time. It is not an experience I would like to repeat- but I very well may need to when I drive back tomorrow. (Wish me luck.) Honestly, there was a small truck one lane over and just a bit in front of me, and I just matched speeds with that truck and kept it in my sights because I had no other idea of how to handle that rain at first. A few cars had their hazard lights on for a bit just for better visibility, I think, at one point. It struck me as a good idea, although I didn't try it- any insights there from more experienced drivers?

Shabbos was pretty restful: I didn't make it to shul, but I stuffed blintzes after Dad did the crepes (I wonder where one gets farmer cheese around Boston: I'm almost feeling inspired enough to try it on my own sometime this summer, after encountering so many folks who'd only had frozen ones around Shavuot. Blintzes are an ethnic food that I feel strongly about- both because Dad and I have always made them together and because they were something that the one great-grandmother that I remember at all used to make, although she'd stopped by the time I knew her. And well, I Like them.)

This evening we watched several episodes of the West Wing after Shabbat ended, and then I subjected my very tired parents to a discussion of Affirmative Action and the social ills of the USA. It keeps coming back to this uncomfortable feeling of "well, my ancestors, some not too far back, made good lives for themselves after growing up in poverty, so why can't other people?", which I Know is an unfair question, especially for me, the child of two successful professionals, to be asking. And I know there are all sorts of cultural aspects to things. But there's something very uncomfortable about the issue that isn't just a matter of a lack of fairness from the get-go, although that's pretty darn uncomfortable too. We're going to talk about it more tomorrow. But I dislike the idea that all the things the government and people are supposedly doing to make things better don't actually fix problems, and I dislike the idea (much earlier in the conversation) that a supposed meritocracy (i.e. the academic system) isn't one on either side (rich or poor): although I'd rather have it be easier for the poor than the rich.

I Picked an Interesting Weekend to Come Home

Driving home, I had to deal with the heaviest rainfall I have ever seen in normal life. I could see little except the car in front of me, for several significant chunks of time. It is not an experience I would like to repeat- but I very well may need to when I drive back tomorrow. (Wish me luck.) Honestly, there was a small truck one lane over and just a bit in front of me, and I just matched speeds with that truck and kept it in my sights because I had no other idea of how to handle that rain at first. A few cars had their hazard lights on for a bit just for better visibility, I think, at one point. It struck me as a good idea, although I didn't try it- any insights there from more experienced drivers?

Shabbos was pretty restful: I didn't make it to shul, but I stuffed blintzes after Dad did the crepes (I wonder where one gets farmer cheese around Boston: I'm almost feeling inspired enough to try it on my own sometime this summer, after encountering so many folks who'd only had frozen ones around Shavuot. Blintzes are an ethnic food that I feel strongly about- both because Dad and I have always made them together and because they were something that the one great-grandmother that I remember at all used to make, although she'd stopped by the time I knew her. And well, I Like them.)

This evening we watched several episodes of the West Wing after Shabbat ended, and then I subjected my very tired parents to a discussion of Affirmative Action and the social ills of the USA. It keeps coming back to this uncomfortable feeling of "well, my ancestors, some not too far back, made good lives for themselves after growing up in poverty, so why can't other people?", which I Know is an unfair question, especially for me, the child of two successful professionals, to be asking. And I know there are all sorts of cultural aspects to things. But there's something very uncomfortable about the issue that isn't just a matter of a lack of fairness from the get-go, although that's pretty darn uncomfortable too. We're going to talk about it more tomorrow. But I dislike the idea that all the things the government and people are supposedly doing to make things better don't actually fix problems, and I dislike the idea (much earlier in the conversation) that a supposed meritocracy (i.e. the academic system) isn't one on either side (rich or poor): although I'd rather have it be easier for the poor than the rich.