No, not on the edge as in excitement and fun. More on the edge of sleep about 24 hours a day. Never really awake, never really able to sleep well. Living with a baby, and the brain suffers.

So there we were, ready to get ready to dress up to go to the special reception to meet John and Teresa Heinz Kerry on their book tour. We had told our son, Jacob, that we were meeting John Kerry and he was excited. He has no idea who Kerry is, but he remembers meeting Bill Clinton and he LOVED that. So he was excited. "We are go-ing to meet John Ker-ry...going to take a TRAIN." Yeah, taking a train was also part of the excitement.

So we were all ready to meet Kerry.

Until I saw Michael Bouldin's diary describing the very event we were about to go to...which actually happened yesterday.

D'oh! Only that is the polite version of what I said upon realizing I had gotten the day wrong.

Sleep deprevation is par for the course when you have a baby. And sleep deprevation is cumulative. It has been well over 2 years since I routinely got a good night's sleep and the cumulative effects show...memory declines, motivation declines. About the only thing that can get us to Manhattan in the evenings these days is Bill Clinton or John Kerry. I can assure you Hillary or Chuck wouldn't be enough to inspire us to make the trek and give up even a small amount of sleep.

The Washigton Post reported yesterday that Hillary Clinton is fighting tooth and nail to keep her husband's impeachment out of any discussions involving her presidential bid :

Clinton Fights to Keep Impeachment Taboo - washingtonpost.com:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has a new commandment for the 2008 presidential field: Thou shalt not mention anything related to the impeachment of her husband.

With a swift response to attacks from a former supporter last week, advisers to the New York Democrat offered a glimpse of their strategy for handling one of the most awkward chapters of her biography. They declared her husband's impeachment in 1998 -- or, more accurately, the embarrassing personal behavior that led to it -- taboo, putting her rivals on notice and all but daring other Democrats to mention the ordeal again.

Funny because at the nail salon, the republican feminist lady that was getting a french manicure was saying that it did matter to her.

A lot.

January first is, of course, New Year's Day in the Western world. Most people really focus on the night before and are hung over and/or lazy on New Year's Day itself.

For me, January 1st is my grandmother's birthday. Were she still alive, she would be 104 years old. In reality she died ten years ago in 1997 at the very respectable age of 94.

My family tends to live a long time. Many live into their 80's and 90's and several have lived into their 100's.

My grandmother, was born Celia Luban in 1903 in the small town of Rezekne, Latvia. For more on Rezekne itself, please see a previous diary I wrote about my attempts to find my roots and to preserve one small part of those roots. Her parents were an ill-matched couple whose squabbles spanned generations. Dora (Dweira) Luban was born in the city of Dvinsk to a rabbinical family who had hit hard times. How hard? When Dora's brother, David, turned 13 he was sent off to South America to find his fortune because their parents couldn't afford to support him. Dora and her sister, Ida, were sent off to live with relatives who had an inn "outside of town." I am not sure which town that was. Perhaps it was the town of Rezekne this referred to because later it was in Rezekne that Dora married. That inn was ruined by pogroms, though our family was warned by the Latvians in time to hide so that we wouldn't be killed because we were Jews they happened to like.

'Tis been the season of home-made, gluten-free and cow-dairy-free goodies like kashkaval and manouri cheese pizza, vegetarian lasagna with chevre, virgin mojitos, soy nog, pumpkin cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and chocolate sprinkle butter cookies.

'Tis been the season of 10 hours straight of Halo, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2, Happy Gilmore followed by Monster House, a round of Life game a-la Pirates of the Caribbean, new digital cameras, a scooter, Bionicles, felt reindeers and my son learning how to knit with needles.

'Tis been the season for the guys first shopping experience for me wherein they wisely chose a "Hello Kitty" bathrobe because I'd look cute in it (and they know I like all things Hello Kitty).

'Tis been also the season of explaning to the kids why we enjoy so much the mythology of Jesus even though we don't believe in the christian concept of god.

All in all, 'tis been a good, calm, quiet season (but for Tara's story, crickey).

I guess it helps that I've given my kids the biggest gift of all ...

In school your payoff comes from giving up your personal responsibility, just doing what you're told by strangers even if that violates the core principles of your household.
Shocking Origins of Public Education, John Taylor Gatto

I will be coming out soon from a gag order I've been on about anything having to do with education. I have been reticent about writing on the subject for a whole variety of reasons. When we were homeschooling, or may I say "unschooling", life became our learning platform and as many of you know by my writing there's not a lot I write about my private life, especially when it comes about my kids. It's hard to write without including massive details about the spawnage. I do believe children have a right to privacy.

Now that my kids have been in school since September, I am ready to explode. I have been biting my fingers and tongue because, grock, I hate the culture of schools.

Homeschooling in New York is a double full time job for secular parents with no church groups to pick up the slack of classes, workshops, study groups or just plain old playtime and baby-sitting. If you are one of the thousands of evangelicals, mormons or conservative jews homeschooling in New York, you will have a church, tabernacle or temple as a support system that's got your back. If you are an atheist like us, good luck.

I have written about the need to support candidates who support the community. I have written about Eric Adams, who was a police captain. I have written about Bill Batson, who has served with the NYCLU and on Community Board 8 and has helped preserve buildings that were stops on the Underground Railroad.

But sometimes community service can be simply helping out citizens who need some help. During the primary my wife and I spent an evening discussing candidates with a friend and neighbor. In the end we convinced her to vote for Chris Owens and Velmanette Montgomery, our main goals. But during the discussion our friend discussed the single politician who impressed her by being there when needed.

My friend actually knows many politicians, having worked with some. She has, as a mother and Brooklyn resident, had three occasions to write elected officials for help getting something accomplished. She has found that almost across the board, from city council to Senator, she got no responses. She either got nothing or she got promises of call backs that never came. The first two times she needed help she never got it. Just two more cases of NYC being tough.

The third time she got the same lack of results, until contacting Assemblywoman Joan Millman's office. Joan Millman came through and gave her the help she needed.

Joy and I have been at it since 8 AM and are only now taking a break. Some anecdotes from today:

One of Velmanette Montgomery's volunteers feeding Joy and me Popeye's fried chicken, saving us from fainting since we had only had a couple of donuts by lunch time. We reciprocated by sprining for the beverages.

Boyland's Ratner-funded army: Boyland's crew were wearing orange T-shirts. ACORN people wear similar orange T-shirts. More than a coincidence?

Jacob, my 2 year old, picking up on what we all were saying while flyering: "Don fo-get oo vote" and "Bason fo Bookyn."

Yassky volunteers using part of my flyer (which has Chris Owens topping the bill) as reference for the good judicial candidates: Dena Douglas and Jackie Williams. Some things we ALL can agree on.

My wife, while trying to convince a voter to vote Chris instead of Yassky, so angered Yassky's wife, who was nearby, she went off in a huff. Joy was not trying to be insulting but giving her honest opinion, but Yassky's wife took it personally.

The right wing appearing guy in a 9/11 memorial T-shirt, ex-cop and Iraq vet, seeing our Owens buttons and telling us at length how great Chris is and how we need someone like Chris to stand up to Bush. Showed my how you can't always judge someone by his appearance. The guy was GREAT!

Joy and I have been canvassing for Chris, as no one will be surprised. We have been exclusively in Park Slope, covering both South and North Slope. In all we have done some or all of four election districts in different areas of the Slope. I want to share a few obeservations, all anecdotal, so of course take them with appropriate measures of salt.

First off, I am amazed at how thin Yassky's support is in Park Slope. Don't get me wrong, he still has his support base and I would expect him to take a good chunk of the vote here. But in two thirds of the Slope I'd say his support is far weaker than I was expecting. Central Slope, as I now think of my own neighborhood, is still solid Yassky country with smatterings of Owens and Clarke support. No signs of Andrews support.

Go much North or South of that central part and people are not that interested in Yassky much. Maybe I was assuming more unanimity in the Slope, but I found far more Clarke and Andrews support throughout the Slope than I had imagined. Chris has a core of avid supporters, but the problem seems to be getting the word out. People like him but haven't heard much from him. With the exception of Central Slope, people are thankful for information on Chris because he is the one candidate they have heard least from. Many actually hear us out and seem to be sold on Chris. We are sure we convinced four people who know us and hadn't heard much about Chris yet. The up shot is I am not sure Chris yet has the support in the Slope that he will need, but it really seems like Yassky's support is thinner than I, at least, had expected. I don't even see as many signs for Yassky as I had expected at this stage. A handful of Yassky signs, somewhat fewer Chris signs, and no Clarke or Andrews signs. Again this is anecdotal and impressionistic and based on 4 EDs within the Slope.

I tend not to have a problem with major development projects; I like big shiny things (it's a boy thing), and I'm aware, as some seem not to be, that this City will add another million residents in the next two decades, two over the next four. Our grandchildren will live in a behemoth of ten million souls, all of whom will need to be fed, clothed, housed, and entertained. Unless the pre-existing population is willing to double up still further, and see our already appalling vacancy rate of 3% citywide shrink still further, we will need to build new housing. This new housing, if we care about the environment and our carbon footprint, will need to increase the density of the City, and that in turn implies a larger number of high-rises, ideally serviced by public transport. One thing is for certain: those two million new New Yorkers will create dislocations for those of us already here; and considering how many of us came from elsewhere (I'm not a native either), we should welcome these new arrivals, and prepare for them. New York City is a global metropolis, and draws to itself the talent and vigor of every continent; that process has been the engine of our growth for two hundred years, and whether we deplore or celebrate it, it will continue. The least we can do is be prepared.

All of that said, I can't support the Atlantic Yards development any longer. That project amounts to the urban equivalent of rape.

This is adapted from a talk I gave to the Latvia Special Interest Group luncheon at the Jewish Genealigical Conference in NYC this week. I don't know how much it will resonate with a general readership, but it means something to me and to those who heard it. It's adapted from a Powerpoint presentation, so the format is different than what I normally do.

1. SEARCHING FOR JEWISH IDENTITY: Preserving our Heritage; Preserving our Identity

Today I don’t just want to talk about my efforts to save a small, sad synagogue in a corner of Eastern Latvia. I also want to talk about why I am trying to save that synagogue. It is a story that, for me, looks at the thorny question of Jewish identity and Jewish heritage and the value of preserving that identity and heritage.

2. “Your origin and your birth are of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite, you’re your mother a Hittite.” (Ezekiel 16:3)

Genetic evidence confirms the belief that most Jews are closely related and that ultimately we all have roots in the land of Israel or at least its general region. Even an isolated black South African tribe that claims Jewish descent, the Lemba, have genetic traits that point to a common Jewish ancestry. Archaeology shows that the original Jews, if I can use that term for people living so long ago, lived in a small group of poor and isolated villages from around 1200 BCE in what is now the West Bank whose only unique characteristic we can detect archaeologically is that they didn’t eat pork. In all other ways these original Jews were typical Canaanites archaeologically. But they gave up pork. In those tiny, pork-shunning villages we all probably have distant ancestors.