I ought to be honest and admit that there just isn't enough time but the other thing is that I don't want to leave while they are still eating. It isn't a "sharing a meal" attitude at all, but just a paranoia that someone might choke. Anyway, it gave them time to bond with the babysitter and inadvertently set up for a peaceful night.

I picked up a local radio station on the border of Howell and Lakewood, airing children's bedtime stories, on Purim at the time. And a Persian woman in the children's program/drama was warning that if the Jewish people in the Persian Empire weren't kept in their place, kept like grains of sand underfoot, they would exalt themselves and become their rulers, like the stars in the sky. It was an amazing misapplication, turning God's promise into a slur. Maybe this happens often enough, but consider how familiar one would have to be with the tradition, only for the sake of maligning it. Maybe it's purely self-inflicted. Otherwise, it's all kinds of wrong.

Therefore, I was 20 minutes late for the lecture and driving over there, realizing I would be late, I was hoping Jim would be first up rather than miss anything of Dr. Schubert. But, instead, he was seated at the back of the room, jestured to the handouts, that I should help myself.

I came only so that Dr. Schubert could autograph my copy of her book. I tried on two other occasions to meet up with her but wasn't able to. I don't think that she remembered me until she was almost finished writing. For that reason, the inscription isn't personalized.

Her lecture was a preview for their summer institute. I have no interest in that. It would be impossible for me to get there if I was because we ought to be at Hershey that week. But I have to be honest that St. Elizabeth's summer institute (pdf) doesn't look very good. Fr. Boadt is supposed to be back but he isn't. The only one who looks remotely interesting is Fr. Felix Just, SJ, whom I know only from his website.

From 2/18/10.