Stuff and Schmaltz:

First off:

Be there, or be a...well, ya know...

Secondly...Fred Radtke goes all gray on Dr Bob. Apparently, the man painted over a sign next to the X/O Gallery at Dauphine and Press Streets, not far from this mural:

link to massmoga's photo courtesy of casa

More of my own photos on this and some examples of the gray as canvas are coming soon.

Thirdly: Lot of talk on my Queens synagogue's listserve about AgriProcessors and an ongoing debate about social justice vs., or in tandem with, upholding the laws of kashrut or kosher eating.
We don't keep strict kosher ourselves, but we tried to do so when we were in NYC. Through the listserve, I've been getting a picture of how pervasive the AgriProcessors products are and how difficult it is right now for those who want to keep kosher, but don't want to buy the Rubashkin's or Aaron's products because of the company's labor practices - people are now mostly bypassing the steaks, roasts, and ground beef and going for Empire chicken more and more, and this is in NYC, where there are more sources of the different varieties of kosher meats. Here in New Orleans, there's only one source in town for a greater variety of kosher meat - and most of it, with the exception of some cold cuts and hot dogs from Best's Kosher and Hebrew National, comes from AgriProcessors.

Anyway, somebody forwarded this latest advisory on food from some kashrut powers-that-be:

This is the recent news regarding strawberries. The rabbanim say that they are assur to eat, because even after proper cleaning they still contain LIVE bugs, yes live!!! So therefore it is FORBIDDEN TO EAT THEM. Please e-mail and send this link to all that you know, because eating bugs goes against a Torah prohibition (an issur mi'dorayta).

The rabbi from our Queens synagogue (an egalitarian Conservative shul, in the parlance of the denominational hairsplitting that is happening these days) responded thusly:

There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating strawberries. Like all fruit and vegetables, they should be washed before eating. Looking for not-visible insects on fruit and vegetables is above and beyond what is required, and this is just a first cousin of the whole business of declaring water not-kosher because of invisible microbes.

Please- the real challenge is to be kosher, which is hard enough. Being neurotically kosher is just a distortion of rabbinic Judaism. Let's focus on the real challenge!

Amen to that.

Fourth: NOAH's website is gone with the wind....among other NOAH news. E's all over this like copepods in NYC's drinking water. (I would say "like the oil slick all over the Mississippi" but that's a little too close for comfort right now...) Plus, Clancy DuBos gives Karen Gadbois some link love. 'Bout time...

And finally: Rising Tide III! Click on the graphic below and register now!!!!

Or, if you cannot attend, donations towards making the event bigger and better than ever are always greatly appreciated.