The Burial

It was Sunday, 1pm. We have some older cousins who were on their second funeral of the day. Can you imagine?

Good crowd, if small. Shiva was at my uncle's. Good food. Deli tray and a fish tray.

Got some Philly soft pretzels, too. Those things are like crack cocaine.

Grandma Doris graduated high school at 15, in 1937. Got her accounting degree at 19. Her grandmother, Flora, was the first woman to pass the New York Bar, in her late thirties, after raising 5 kids. Grandma and Grandpa, while not blood related, met at a mutual cousin's Bar Mitzvah. They were married on October 10, 1943. Grandpa Les then went to Germany to fight the Battle of the Bulge. Having survived, he came back and raised 3 kids with Doris. They had 5 grandkids. Thus far, 1 great-grandchild.

Newton may have stood on the shoulders of giants, but I'm not doing too shabby, either.

Grandma Doris died...

...last night around midnight. I left work for an extended lunch to visit her yesterday since we spent a long weekend in Seattle. Good thing. She looked good, if drugged out of her gourd. I figured she'd last till Sunday and longer.

Guess not.

The best magazine published in the US.

As my overfull bookcases can attest to, I'm a voracious reader. I also tear through magazines as often as I can, and, in my not-so-humble opinion, the New Yorker is the best magazine there is. I've been an off-and-on subscriber for the last 15 years, only halting my subscription when the stack of backissues starts to tower over me (24 cover-to-cover issues annually can tax the most speedy of readers).

The highest compliment I can pay the magazine is that I cannot recall ever finding a single copy error: spelling, punctuation, or otherwise. However, beyond their magnificent copy staff, they write about simply every topic under the sun, and they write it well. They also eschew the "continued on page X" abominations that pepper most periodicals. Everyone should read their weekly Talk of the Town segment.

For two wildly disparate examples of their journalistic prose, check out two of my favorite pieces of the decade: David Remnick's "The Experiment" on democracy in Turkey and Louis Menand's "Cat People" on Dr. Seuss.

Enjoy.