The current T-Boy Society of Film & Music poll is devoted to our writers’ five favorite albums of all-time. An album is a collection of songs & music available in any forum: Vinyl, CD, Tape, etc. Initially, the theme of the poll was top five albums you’d take on a deserted island; but it made the poll a little confusing, plus we all understand the concept. It may be our most passionate poll, with some sending numerous revisions. And, yes; I was countlessly reminded by writers that their lists can change at the flip of a coin. What’s interesting is for readers to learn more about our writers in a very different capacity. And that includes me, as well.

You’ll find individual lists below, followed by results of top ten albums and selection of artists and bands. What did the lists tell me? Well, the years are passing too quickly.

• EB, Editor

MEMBERS: Selections in Order

T.E. Mattox

T-Boy Writer & Musician:

• Hard Again (1977) 
  Muddy Waters
• Father of the Folk Blues (1965)
  Son House
• Stronger For It (2012)
  Janiva Magness
• Together for the First Time Live (1974)
  B.B.King & Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland
• Masterpiece (2019)
  Albert Castiglia

Brom Wikstrom

Mouth Painter & T-Boy Writer:

• Rejuvenation (1974) – The Meters
• Kind of Blue (1959) – Miles Davis
• My Favorite Things (1961) – John Coltrane
• Swiss Movement (1969) – Les McCan and Eddie Harris
• Blonde on Blonde (1966) – Bob Dylan

Honorable Mention

East-West/Paul Butterfield Blues Band* Delaney, Bonnie & Friends on Tour with Eric Clapton/Delaney, Bonnie & Friends * Al Kooper/I Stand Alone * Revolver/The Beatles * The Harder They Come (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack/Jimmy Cliff * Lady Soul/Aretha Franklin

Mike Rand

T-Boy Writer & Musician:

• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
  The Beatles
• Let It Bleed (1969)
  The Rolling Stones
• The Joshua Tree (1987)
  U2
• The Bends (1995)
  Radiohead
• Appetite for Destruction (1987)
  Guns N’ Roses

Susan Breslow

T-Boy Writer:

• Moondance (1970)
  Van Morrison
• Blue (1971)
  Joni Mitchell
• You Want it Darker (2016)
  Leonard Cohen

Weave Cleveland

T-Boy Writer & Musician:

• The Nightfly (1982)
  Donald Fagen [I am going to regret not choosing a Beatles album]
• Halcyon Days (2004)
  Bruce Hornsby [I am going to regret not choosing some Vince Gill]
• Emancipation (1996)
  Prince [I am going to regret not choosing 5 Prince Albums]
• Seeds Of Love (1989)
  Tears for Fears [I am going to regret not choosing some Thelonious Monk]
• Djesse Vol. 3 (2020)
  Jacob Collier [I am going to regret not choosing VooDoo by D’Angelo]

Honorable Mention

Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique)/Tchaikovsky [And God will strike me down for not choosing any Stevie Wonder! May this island have no electricity!]

Terry Cassel

T-Boy Writer & Musician:

• A Love Supreme (1965)
  John Coltrane
• Kind of Blue (1959)
  Miles Davis
• The Best of the Bothy Band (1993)
  The Bothy Band
• Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
  Bob Dylan
• J.S. Bach: The Goldberg Variations (1955)
  Glenn Gould, piano

James Boitano

T-Boy Writer:

Tusk (1979) – Fleetwood Mac

The island for listening: Elephant island, Antarctica

Allan Smith

T-Boy Writer & Photographer:

• Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter (1977)
  Joni Mitchell
• Blonde on Blonde (1966)
  Bob Dylan
• Rubber Soul (UK) (1965)
  The Beatles
• The Nine Symphonies (1963)
  Ludwig von Beethoven, Herbert von Karajan, conductor
• Legend (The Best Of Bob Marley And The Wailers) (1984)
  Bob Marley & The Wailers

Emperor of Oldies

Musicologist:

• Sticky Fingers (1971)
  The Rolling Stones
• Bridge Over Troubled Water (1967)
  Simon & Garfunkel
• Help! (Capitol Records ) (1965)
  The Beatles
• Rubber Soul (Capitol Records ) (1965)
  The Beatles
• Sweet Baby James (1969)
  James Taylor

Honorable Mention (could be in my top five on any given day)

Every Picture Tells A Story/Rod Stewart * Who’s Next/The Who * Tommy/The Who * Four Way Street/Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young * Aqualung/Jethro Troll * Abbey Road/The Beatles * Get Yer Ya Yas Out/The Rolling Stones/ Harvest/Neil Young * Déjà Vu/Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young * Desperado/The Eagles * 461 Ocean Blvd/Eric Clapton * Blind Faith/Blind Faith * Greatest Hits/Linda Ronstadt * All Things Must Pass/George Harrison * Band on the Run/Paul McCartney And Wings

Jay Boggs

Historian & Musicologist:

• Electric Ladyland (1968)
  The Jimi Hendrix Experience
• Beggars Banquet (1968)
  The Rolling Stones
• Blues from Laurel Canyon (1968)
  John Mayall
• American Beauty (1970)
  The Grateful Dead
• Natty Dread (1974)
  Bob Marley & The Wailers

Honorable Mention

Monkey Man/Toots and the Maytals * Studio One Presents Burning Spear/Burning Spear

Roy Endersby

Philosopher:

• Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
  Bob Dylan
• Bitches Brew (1970)
  Miles Davis
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
  The Beatles
• Ladies of the Canyon (1970)
  Joni Mitchell
• A Love Supreme (1965)
  John Coltrane

Phil Marley

Montreal Poet:

• Beggars Banquet (1968)
  The Rolling Stones
• Are you Experienced? (1967)
  The Jimi Hendrix Experience
• Me Against the World (1995)
  2Pac
• Nevermind (1991)
  Nirvana
• Disraeli Gears (1967)
  Cream

Honorable Mention

Let it Bleed/The Rolling Stones/ * Who’s Next/The Who.* Ladies of the Canyon/Joni Mitchell * After the Goldrush/Neil Young * Strange Days/The Doors

Brent Campbell

T-Boy Writer & Musician:

• Modern Sounds of Country and Western Music (1962)
  Ray Charles
• Mingus Ah Um (1962)
  Charles Mingus
• Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. (1986)
  Dwight Yoakam
• Blood on the Tracks (1975 )
  Bob Dylan
• Made in USA (1986)
  The Beach Boys

Honorable Mention

Old 97s/Fight Songs * Pleased to Meet Me/The Replacements * Twisted/Del Amitri * #1 Record/Big Star * Time Traveller/The Moody Blues

Deb Roskamp

T-Boy Photographer:

• Bridge Over Troubled Water (1967)
  Simon & Garfunkel
• Peter, Paul and Mary (1962)
  Peter, Paul and Mary
• Moondance (1970)
  Van Morrison
• Canciones de Mi Padre (1987)
  Linda Ronstadt
• A Night at the Opera (1975)
  Queen

Raoul Pascual

T-Boy Writer & Illustrator:

• Sweet Baby James (1969)
  James Taylor
• All ‘N All (1977)
  Earth, Wind & Fire
• A Christmas Album (1983)
  Amy Grant
• A Chorus Line (1975)
  Original Broadway Cast Recording
• Thriller (1982)
  Michael Jackson

Ed Boitano

T-Boy Editor:

• Revolver (UK) (1966)
  The Beatles
  Sticky Fingers (1971)
  The Rolling Stones
• Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
  Bob Dylan
• Hejira (1976)
  Joni Mitchell
• London Calling (1979)
  The Clash

Honorable Mention

Darkness on the Edge of Town/Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band * The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust/David Bowie * Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols/Sex Pistols * Ladies of the Canyon/Joni Mitchell * Beggars Banquet/The Rolling Stones * Blonde on Blonde/Bob Dylan * Songs of Leonard Cohen/Leonard Cohen * Patti Smith/Land * Disraeli Gears/Cream

Top 10 albums selected

1. Beggars Banquet (1968)
   The Rolling Stones
2. Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
   Bob Dylan
3. Bridge Over Troubled Water (1967)
   Simon & Garfunkel
4. Sticky Fingers (1971)
   The Rolling Stones
5. Kind of Blue (1959)
   Miles Davis
6. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
   The Beatles
7. Moondance (1970)
   Van Morrison
8. Sweet Baby James (1969)
   James Taylor
9. A Love Supreme (1965)
   John Coltrane
10. Rubber Soul (UK) (1965)
    The Beatles

In order, Bands & Artists most frequently listed in the Top Five

• The Beatles
• Bob Dylan
• The Rolling Stones
• Miles Davis
• Joni Mitchell
• John Coltrane
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience
• James Taylor
• Van Morrison
• Simon & Garfunkel
• Prince
• Ray Charles

The post Five Favorite Albums of All-Time appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Curated by Ed Boitano

Richard Carroll — T-Boy writer:

The Grand Canyon

I very much have the yearning to hike the Grand Canyon again to enjoy the rocky switch-back trail that leads to the bottom of this incredible national park where the Colorado River is cutting an ageless path leaving in its wake a lasting mark. The fast-moving river was a convenient but treacherous highway for American trappers, mountain men, explorers, Native Americans, and later fun-loving rafting aficionados. The problematic river with tales to share includes the heart-break and disillusionment of the unknown when explorers with overloaded boats had no idea of the advancing challenges.

Throughout my visit I would spend time to fully appreciate the million years of geological history embedded in the towering walls, to understand that the Pueblo people and other Native America tribes have existed in the Canyon when the United States was just a jagged blob on European maps, and that some Native America’s to this day believe the Grand Canyon is a holy site. I would encompass a few leisurely days in the park with notebook and pin in order to fully appreciate the lingering sunsets, the merging colors, and irregular shadows that quickly transpose the massive landscape from a deep red to pastels. I recall the flickering and fading light touching on fantastic shapes, setting the mind’s eye to run wild. The Grand Canyon is both a scenic and historic jewel and on my next encounter I hope to be firmly enlightened.

Ed Boitano — T-Boy editor:

Twin Cities: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

A quick study revealed that the distinct urban cultures of Minnesota’s Twin Cities: Saint Paul and Minneapolis, sit apart by a mere seven-mile-long football pass – that is if the pass was thrown by Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback Fran Tarkenton. Built around the confluence of the Mississippi  and Minnesota rivers, St. Paul is considered the last city of the East, Minneapolis the first city of the West. Saint Paul is renowned for quaint neighborhoods of well-preserved late-Victorian architecture, while the more populated Minneapolis is considered a modern city with a relatively young downtown and trendy uptown. Saint Paul is also the state capital and the birthplace of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. His family home, described as a simple brownstone row house, is where he wrote his first published novel, This Side of Paradise, to prove that he would able to support the wealthy Alabama southern belle Zelda Sayre who would eventually become his bride.

Despite the blistering months of cold and snow, a car journey to Duluth would be in order to see the birth home of Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan, 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature). This would be followed by trip north and longer stay at Hibbing, where Dylan (Zimmy to friends), lived during his informative years from ages six to eighteen. Hibbing is famous for its Dylan heritage sites, which includes his family’s modest home, and also the site of the world’s largest iron ore mine. Why winter? For an ice fishing experience. After all, isn’t this the state of 1,000 lakes (actually 14,444 lakes). Imagine fishing in an ice hole in the comfort of a warm fishing shack, compete with a little stove, chairs, food and drink, and with Dylan songs on my phone and Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise in my hand. I guess a fishing pole would be in my other.

Ringo Boitano — T-Boy writer:

Oklahoma City

Often times in the past I would join press trips to places I’d never been or would probably never visit when it was on my own dime. This was true with my experience in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Cherokee Nation. I had an ignorant west coast conception that the entire state was one big dust bowl, based on Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath and John Ford’s film adaptation. I was proven wrong; the Tulsa area was fresh, green and vibrant, and I learned much at the very progressive Cherokee nation. On my flight to Seattle, I thought of an old NPR broadcast at the time of the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. Carried out by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the bombing killed 168 innocent people and injured more than 680 others. The broadcaster spoke of the emotional texture of its people; it went something like this: Very little happens in Oklahoma City that evokes national coverage from the press. The people are used to this lack of attention, but at time of the bombing its citizens displayed resilience, strength and empathy to one another.

Phil Marley — Poet:

Road Trip: Philadelphia to Pittsburgh

James Carville famously described Pennsylvania politically as Philadelphia in the East, Pittsburgh in the West, and Alabama in the middle. But why Alabama? Apparently, it’s due to this part of Pennsylvania’s mountainous central area is known as the Appalachian region where its local people and culture are politically more of the conservative kind than the urbanized East and West. The Appalachian region will be part of the landscape I plan on passing as I depart Philadelphia in my rental to Pittsburgh, the ancestral home of my friend, David. No doubt a stop in Pennsylvania Dutch Country (from German Deutsch), famous for its productive green farmlands, thanks to the Amish and the Mennonites, will be in order. I’ll have only half a day for Gettysburg National Military Park; for Steel Town is my goal of and I had planned on seeing as much of it as I could in two-days.  David has gushed about his city of 446 bridges, more than Venice, Italy, and its three rivers: the Allegheny River and Monongahela River united at Point State Park to form the Ohio River.

I’ve read that Pittsburgh’s ethnic enclaves are slowly disappearing since David’s departure, but still exist with the Germans of Millvale, Italians of New Castle, Slovaks of Munhall, Hungarians of Hazelwood and Ukrainians of the South Side. Plus, there’s hills galore to climb with magnificent views of the city to see.

During a much earlier trip to what would be become Pittsburg’s Point State Park, Lieutenant George Washington of the Virginia militia,  negotiated with the French during the French and Indian War of 1753.  He wrote about Point State Park in his journal.

As I got down before the Canoe, I spent some Time in viewing the Rivers, and the Land in the Fork; which I think extremely well situated for a Fort, as it has the absolute Command of both Rivers. The Land at the Point is 20 or 25 Feet above the common Surface of the Water; and a considerable Bottom of flat, well-timbered Land all around it, very convenient for Building: The Rivers are each a Quarter of a Mile, or more, across, and run here very near at right Angles: Aligany bearing N. E. and Monongahela S. E. The former of these two is a very rapid and swift running Water; the other deep and still, without any perceptible fall.”

Four different forts were built at the forks of the Ohio within a period of five years. In 1754, French forces captured an outpost known as Fort Prince George at the Point that had been erected by a force of Virginians. George Washington led British forces to recapture the fort, but suffered his first and only surrender at Fort Necessity, 50 miles to the south.

Deb Roskamp — T-Boy photographer and writer:

I have friends who vacation once a year to Sanibel Island, located along the Gulf of Mexico, just a short drive from Fort Myers, Florida. Their enchanting description of its sunsets, lighthouse and beaches harkens to  emotional thoughts of calm, peace and rejuvenation. They spoke of the island’s most popular activity known as shelling; Sanibel Island has the 3rd richest seashell beaches on earth. Apparently, you barely can walk a step on the beach without indulging in the so-called “Sanibel Stoop” in search of its shells. Research informed me that the most secluded beach on the island is Bowman’s Beach; there are no hotels in sight and the beach has a “pristine and quiet” atmosphere.

James Boitano — T-Boy writer:

Isle Royale

• Hawaii Volcanos
• Lassen Volcanic
• Gates of the Arctic

US Cities: Just picking 4 random larger cities I have not been to. No particular draw specifically: just that I have not been to them.

• Kansas City, MO & KS
• Wichita, KS
• Little Rock, AR
• El Paso, TX

US towns/Villages

• Barrow, AK (most northern)
• Pago Pago, American Samoa (most southern)
• Derby Line, VT (town divided into two by Canadian border)

Sites

• National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, TN (where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated)
• Appomattox Courthouse, VA (where Civil War Ended)
• Meteor Crater, AZ

Skip Kaltenheuser — T-Boy writer:

A Bucket List is any trip, anytime, anywhere.

The term “Bucket List” gives me the willies. I’m not ready to strike a bargain, have it fulfilled and shuffle off, none of that “To see Paris and die” stuff, I just want to go on seeing, the list eternal. And I can think of a worse afterlife, the Flying Dutchman finally allowed make any port of call he desires.

But I’ve plenty of domestic locales high up on my wish list for the here and now. Many of them are national or state parks and the environs around them. Some are repeats from when I was young, including places my parents took me that left indelible memories – of places, of them, of my awe. Living in a suburb of Kansas City, we usually headed West in my traveling salesman dad’s Buick of the moment. Car and man joined together as a driving cyborg, or a genie with a bit of flying carpet, gifting an endless flow of national parks and roadside attractions, another day another natural wonder, or two or five.

Many of the roads were pre-Interstate, before fascinating arteries like Route 66 withered, when roadside attractions were still legion. Where water flowed uphill and gravity was iffy. Before the Buick was air-conditioned, summer climate figured in, going across Death Valley at night, though the night sky was still something to gawk at. Kansas could get pretty hot and steamy, so soaking up the cool of the mountains counted. I think we tended to favor the West because we were lucky to have a couple horses we kept in a rented pasture that kept moving outward with the suburban sprawl, and though cowboy was a stretch the image was still internalized, polished up with a Boy Scout’s interest in all things outdoors. Plus, as driving was a parental pleasure, wide-open spaces with sudden, map-inspired detours were magnetic. The serendipity of what looked enticing on a map. No cell phones then, thank God. I still use a map.

Revisiting Jackson Hole with a then-small boy, his first downhill ski, and a dog sled in the Tetons, I realized how many repeaters I’d like to share. That was a lovely continuum stretching from my own childhood visit. Though my kids are now young adults, I’d like to share more of those memories with them, to watch them form their own impressions as they react to the beauty and the menace of places like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. To watch them explore the Rockies, where I once camped on a mountain ridge for a summer, working down below in Estes Park. When I was young Colorado alternated with the Ozarks as the family default, the excitement of topographical relief coming into view after the hundred mile-an-hour car ride across the Kansas flat. And I’d like to re-experience some of the skiing in the Rockies, the high ground views whispering “Are you sure?”, before my knees go on strike over bad working conditions. Is 69 really rounding the bend, just shy of April Fools? Other things now compete for my kids’ time, so any window of travel opportunity with them is gold.

My family didn’t exclusively drive West. Other child memories I’d like to refresh and share include the Everglades, and the underwater views of the coral reefs along the Florida Keys. These destinations seemed exotic to a boy from Kansas. Because they were exotic. Driving east one Spring, we took in “the educational” in a DC adorned with blossoms, leaving impressions that might have later helped draw me to the city where my family resides.

Beyond the grand repeaters, framed this time with a whiz-bang camera, locales I wish for include sites that will be new to me. Yosemite waits in my imagination with Ansel Adams. California’s skyscraper redwoods, with my hopes that climate-induced fires won’t imperil them. I’d like Death Valley to be well-bathed in rain so I can see a big Spring flower desert bloom. Hiking and biking through some of the canyons in Utah that look so surreal. I’m not a snob for elevation, I’d like to see how the Kansas Tall Grass Prairie has grown, and visit deserts like the Sonoran.

As I write this, I realize my parents also had bucket lists, with me lucky to help fulfill parts. After Dad died Mom lived with us in DC until she passed away at 101 1/2. Nothing excited her more than getting in the car for any trip, anytime, anywhere.

During the microbe onslaught, everything got relative fast. Over the last year, when they could cobble time for a break, I took my kids on local road trip explorations, appreciating the poor man’s Rivieras in state parks and coastal areas, the valleys by the Blue Ridge, a scenic winery, etc… Anything for relief from online study rigors and pandemic isolation, to break up the scenery as best one can do in two or three days or even just a day trip. I just took my son to Solomon’s Island, MD, catching roadside attractions along the way like the northernmost cyprus swamp, (who knew?).

One is never stuck for a place to go as long as the wish list is any trip, anytime, anywhere.

Arthur Lim — IT Professional: 

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Following the arrival of railroads beginning in 1871, Colorado Springs’ location at the base of Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountain made it a popular tourism destination. The Summer of 1975 was when I visited Colorado Springs, but that was a while back and am primed for a revisit.  Aside from the many mountainous streams, two places of interest stood up in my mind: the Glen Eyrie Castle, and the United States Air Force Academy. Glen Eyrie Castle is a Tudor styled castle built by General William Jackson Palmer in 1871. He founded Colorado Springs. The United States Air Force Academy is nearby. It houses a beautiful interdenominational chapel and has an overall futuristic feel.

Roy Endersby — Philosopher:

The Mississippi Delta: Birthplace of the Blues and Vicksburg National Military Park

In a New Orleans rental car I traveled through Louisiana’s Cajun Country for lunch in Houma at Abear’s Café; a Cajun and Creole mom & pop café, famous for their specialty: alligator piquant and potato salad. The café’s founder, owner, chef and Houma native,  Albert “Curly” L. Hebert ( (1933- 2017) politely shuffled around us, expressing concern that the dish might seem rather funny to us Yankees, before proudly proclaiming that the very dish won an award at a county fair. The next two nights it was Lafayette (pronounced ‘Laugh-yet’) for a little Cajun and zydeco flavor, and then Breaux Bridge; the crawfish capital of the world.

My time was limited in Mississippi, so my final destination was a night in Natchez, home to one of the largest  collection of Antebellum (“pre-Civil War”) mansions, with many open for tours. The next morning, I decided to forego the tours and simply bask in the enchanting ambiance of a Natchez park, hanging high on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. I had a long and taxing day ahead of me; driving to New Orleans for a flight back to L.A. would be tiresome. I measured the distance on my map, and noticed I was close to both the Mississippi Delta and Vicksburg National Military Park. With more time allowed, I would have adored a ride further up the Natchez Trace Parkway  to the Vicksburg National Military Park. And then, further out, Highway 61 would take me to the holy grounds of the Mississippi Delta. Once home to Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield), and singer-songwriter and guitarist, Robert Johnson, considered since the 1960s as a maestro of Delta blues and an important influence on many rock musicians. Yes, they are gone today, but their spirit and music lives on.

The Mississippi Delta

About an hour south down Highway 61, you’ll find Clarksdale, Mississippi — better known as the Blues Crossroads. Legend has it that’s where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. Visit the Hopson Plantation and spend the night at the ShackUp Inn. The evenings are filled with blues at Ground Zero, Red’s or the Juke Joint Chapel. An amazing cultural and musical emersion you’ll want to experience again and again. Robert Nighthawk, Sunnyland Slim, James Cotton, Chester Burnett (Howlin’ Wolf) Bukka White, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Big Bill Broonzy, Carey Bell, Tommy Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Charley Patton, Son House… some made their names in Chicago, some made their names in the South, but all were born in Mississippi.

— T.E. Mattox, Traveling Boy’s Blues Aficionado

Birthplace of the Blues

Courtesy Visit the Delta

The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from north to south between Memphis, Tennessee, and Vicksburg, Mississippi, and from east to west between the Yazoo River and the Mississippi River. The Mississippi Delta is historically famous for its fertile soil and the poverty of its farm workers. More famous blues musicians have come from this area than any other region (or state for that matter) combined. Today, you can still feel that authentic vibe of Mississippi Delta blues history.

Vicksburg National Military Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Courtesy Vicksburg National Military Park

Gibraltar of the Confederacy

Confederate President Jefferson Davis remarked, “Vicksburg is the nail-head that holds the South’s two halves together.” At the start of the Civil War, Confederates controlled the Mississippi River south of Cairo, Illinois all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. With its valuable commercial port and railroad hub, the city was of tremendous importance. From points west of the Mississippi River, men, food, salt, and weapons, funneled through Mexico, made their way to Vicksburg and Confederate armies in the West.

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The post The T-Boy Society of Film & Music’s Domestic Bucket List Destinations appeared first on Traveling Archive.

This Top-Rated North Carolina Restaurant is Actually at a Gas Station

Courtesy Catherine Smith

People rarely rave about the meals they eat at gas stations, but that is not the case in Franklin, North Carolina. Hungry diners – locals and tourists alike – happily line up in the Hot Spot gas station parking lot, waiting for a table at Caffe Rel, a European bistro offering a one-of-a-kind culinary experience.

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Random Acts of Canine Kindness

Cedric the Dog heals his wounds after an ill fated attempt to shut down an illegal puppy mill in Tennessee.

You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog. – Harry S. Truman

MORE Dog Quotations

10 Walking Mistakes You May be Making

Courtesy Wendy Bumgardner

Walking is great exercise: It’s easy on joints and doesn’t require special gear or a gym membership. There’s more to an effective walking workout than simply putting one foot in front of the other though. Learn how to correct these common trip-ups.

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Branding for a Changing World

Courtesy Gary Szenderski, Book of Szen

Ever wonder what happens behind the scenes of a great brand? Have you thought it must be some kind of “secret sauce” or unique algorithm that makes it so great? What about your own brand? Are you sure how to take advantage of what makes it special? You have questions. We have answers. Join me beginning April 1st as we explore the science and art of branding.

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Mushing Mania

This winter kicks off mushing season in Alaska, with festivals and races that are legendary worldwide. Here’s how to have an adventure with these animal athletes any time of year.

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Some Very Interesting World War II Facts

Four of every five German soldiers killed in the war died on the Eastern Front.

Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe.

Had it been necessary for a third atom bomb, the city targeted would have been Tokyo.

The Siege of Stalingrad resulted in more Russian deaths (military and civilian) than the United States, Canada and Britain sustained (combined) in all of World War II.

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Meet the Woman Who Helped Book Hotel Rooms for 80 Homeless People in Freezing Chicago

View Video Here

11 Etiquette Rules You Probably Didn’t Realize You Should Follow When Flying

Courtesy Carina Wolff

When it comes to traveling, most of us spend our time trying to figure out what to pack and what our itinerary looks like. With all that hustle and bustle, we can sometimes get so caught up in ourselves that we forget some etiquette rules to follow when flying. Spending long hours in a cramped space can cause some sticky situations, but if you’re doing your best to be courteous and polite, you’ll help yourself and everyone have around you have a more enjoyable journey. Plus, you would want everyone else to act the same, right?

View Video Here

LA Road Trippin’ – A Musical Map of Los Angeles

Courtesy Air New Zealand

When you think of Los Angeles, it’s easy to imagine sun-drenched streets, impossibly-beautiful people – and, of course, great music. This is a guide to the top musical hotspots in LA which continue to inspire today’s musicians, from areas which launched rap superstars to the cities which have inspired thousands of great songs.

If you’re flying to LA, take some time out to explore its musical history and get closer to the places which inspired the music you love.

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Paul McCartney’s Lost ‘Bruce McMouse Show’ Film Heading to Theaters

By Jon Blistein/RollingStone

The Bruce McMouse Show opens with Wings performing “Big Barn Bed,” after which the camera travels through the stage into an animated world where the McMouse family lives. While Bruce McMouse shares stories from his past with his family, his son runs in and informs him that Wings are currently playing right above them. Bruce decides that the band needs his help as a producer, and as the concert continues, a host of animated mice flock to the stadium to enjoy the show.

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The Coolest New Things Coming to America This Year

Courtesy Thrillist Travel

As a species, we are forever enamored of new things. As we look ahead to what 2019 will bring, we at Thrillist get particularly hyped about what new attractions we can expect.

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How to Meditate

Courtesy David Gelles

Meditation is a simple practice available to all, which can reduce stress, increase calmness and clarity and promote happiness. Learning how to meditate is straightforward, and the benefits can come quickly. Here, we offer basic tips to get you started on a path toward greater equanimity, acceptance and joy.

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A Taste of Iceland

Courtesy Tony Tedeschi, Never Stop Traveling

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8 Popular Destinations Where Air Pollution Could Ruin Your Trip

Air pollution does a lot more than cause canceled or postponed vacations — it kills millions of people worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization. Some of the worst places for air pollution are also home to bucket-list-worthy sights. But missing them might be the least of your problems if smog ramps up during your visit: Symptoms of air pollution sickness include nausea, coughing, headache, itchy eyes — and air pollution can cause long-term breathing problems.

Here are some of the worst destinations for smog, especially if you already suffer from asthma or other respiratory problems.

India

The Taj Mahal attracts thousands of travelers every day, but the city it’s in is one of the worst in the world for air pollution. Smog in Agra can cut visibility so dramatically that you can’t see much more than an outline of the giant tomb, and visitors who don’t cancel their trip during a period of heavy smog can be seen wearing face masks to visit.

MORE

Nude Resort Etiquette Rules You Need to Know

Courtesy Patricia Magaña

Aside from a few key considerations, nude resort etiquette is general resort etiquette. There’s also the fact that most everyone is naked. Skip the potential awkwardness at a clothing-optional experience and go with an open mind, plus these helpful tips.

Dont’ stare

Nude resort newbies may experience initial shock at the sight of a sea of nakedness. It’s fine to look. What is not OK, however, is to stare. You’ll quickly get the hang of it, but if you’re not used to engaging in eye-contact and conversation with someone who’s totally exposed, wear sunglasses whenever appropriate.

MORE

Question: The Beatles pioneered electric guitar feedback on what hit single?

Scroll down for the answer

Beginner’s Guide to Train Holidays: Swiss Glacier Express

There is something glamorous about taking a train holiday. You’re traveling the world, but you also get the chance to relax and enjoy the journey. Sip tea, listen to live music, enjoy a five-star meal, all while the gorgeous scenery provided by Mother Nature glides past. The Swiss Glacier Express is all that and more.

MORE

The World’s Most Sung About Cities

An interesting piece of research has revealed The World’s Most Sung About Cities and 12 of the top 20 are in the US.

With a total of 161 songs mentioning The Big Apple, New York has been officially revealed as The Most Sung About City In The World, with LA and Miami also appearing in the top five.

Over 200,000 songs have been analyzed to create Music Mapped – a first-of-its-kind interactive music map that plots the places around the world that have been  mentioned the most in songs since the 1960s.

MORE

Live the Dream on a Romantic Adventure in Africa with African Travel, Inc.

There’s nothing more magnificent than celebrating a special romantic occasion in Africa. Whether you’re planning a honeymoon, wedding or anniversary, you’ll experience the romantic trip of your dreams with African Travel, Inc. by touching an ancient culture, discovering the magic of the wild and relaxing in spectacular luxury.

MORE

Martin Scorsese’s Film on Bob Dylan’s ‘Rolling Thunder Revue’ To Be Released

By Chris Willman, courtesy Variety

Netflix describes Scorsese’s look at Dylan and famous friends in ’75 as part documentary, part concert movie and part “fever dream.”

For years, rumors have circulated among Bob Dylan fans that a documentary about his legendary, star-studded “Rolling Thunder Revue” tour of 1975-76 was in the works, and occasional whispers had a name attached: Martin Scorsese. Now, the cat can come officially out of the bag. Variety has exclusively learned that Netflix plans to release the movie in 2019, with the director’s name actually in the title: “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.”

MORE

Revolutionize Your Healthy Travel Game

Courtesy Well and Away

Traditional guidebooks are handy for learning about museums and city landmarks. But would you ever reach for one to explore a new city like a local?

We had this challenge, and for years traveled with bookmarked pdfs and digital lists from friends, but the research that went into curating the perfect itinerary that balanced cool hidden gems with healthy destinations. So together with a small team of travelers, designers and wellness junkies, I’ve created Well + Away to offer the guidebook of the future: one that will show you a new city from the point of view of a hip-healthy local.

MORE

Typical French Restaurant Vocabulary: How to Order in Paris

Words and Phrases You’ll Need to Eat Out

Courtesy Courtney Traub

Are you a bit nervous about eating out in Paris or elsewhere in France, worried you may not be able to get by without fluent French? Use this guide to learn basic expressions and understand most signs and menu headings at restaurants in Paris.

MORE

15 Surprising Things TSA Allows Past Airport Checkpoints

By Benet Wilson

Some items — like guns (real or replica), large scissors and flammable liquids — are never allowed. But the agency continues to make changes when it comes to what can get past the checkpoint.

Below are 15 surprise items you can actually take past the checkpoint. But in case you still have questions, you can take a photo of the item and send it to either AskTSA on Facebook Messenger or via Twitter. Staff are online with answers from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET during the week and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends and holidays

MORE

Burping Is Good Manners & 25 Other Global Etiquette Surprises

Courtesy The Daily Meal Staff

In Italy, Never Order A Cappuccino After A Meal

When you’re dining the Italian way, be sure to order an espresso or a coffee after a meal. Do not order a cappuccino, as Italians believe milk beverages slow down digestion.

Inuit Tribes: Passing Gas

You’re probably not visiting any Inuit tribes soon, but it’s interesting to know that this culture shows appreciation through… flatulence? Yup, a good meal is praised by letting one rip afterward.

MORE Global Etiquette Surprises

The Spring

By Lord Byron

Now that the winter’s gone, the earth hath lost
Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost
Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;
But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,
And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth
To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree
The drowsy cuckoo and the humble-bee.
Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
In triumph to the world the youthful spring.
The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array
Welcome the coming of the long’d-for May.
Now all things smile; only my love doth lour;
Nor hath the scalding noonday sun the power
To melt that marble ice, which still doth hold
Her heart congeal’d, and makes her pity cold.
The ox, which lately did for shelter fly
Into the stall, doth now securely lie
In open fields; and love no more is made
By the fireside, but in the cooler shade
Amyntas now doth with his Chloris sleep
Under a sycamore, and all things keep
Time with the season; only she doth carry
June in her eyes, in her heart January.

Send Deb your favorite travel poems

Beatle Beat Trivia Answers

Question: The Beatles pioneered electric guitar feedback on what hit single?

Answer: In the opening note of the 1964 song, “I Feel Fine,” Paul plucks a note on his bass, which causes John to get amplifier feedback from his guitar.  The idea was the brainchild of John, who plays the lead-guitar intro riff.

The post Nude Resort Etiquette, Walking Mistakes, Branding appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Mushing Mania

This winter kicks off mushing season in Alaska, with festivals and races that are legendary worldwide. Here’s how to have an adventure with these animal athletes any time of year.

MORE

Some Very Interesting World War II Facts

Four of every five German soldiers killed in the war died on the Eastern Front.

Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe.

Had it been necessary for a third atom bomb, the city targeted would have been Tokyo.

The Siege of Stalingrad resulted in more Russian deaths (military and civilian) than the United States, Canada and Britain sustained (combined) in all of World War II.

MORE

Meet the Woman Who Helped Book Hotel Rooms for 80 Homeless People in Freezing Chicago

View Video Here

11 Etiquette Rules You Probably Didn’t Realize You Should Follow When Flying

Courtesy Carina Wolff

When it comes to traveling, most of us spend our time trying to figure out what to pack and what our itinerary looks like. With all that hustle and bustle, we can sometimes get so caught up in ourselves that we forget some etiquette rules to follow when flying. Spending long hours in a cramped space can cause some sticky situations, but if you’re doing your best to be courteous and polite, you’ll help yourself and everyone have around you have a more enjoyable journey. Plus, you would want everyone else to act the same, right?

View Video Here

LA Road Trippin’ – A Musical Map of Los Angeles

Courtesy Air New Zealand

When you think of Los Angeles, it’s easy to imagine sun-drenched streets, impossibly-beautiful people – and, of course, great music. This is a guide to the top musical hotspots in LA which continue to inspire today’s musicians, from areas which launched rap superstars to the cities which have inspired thousands of great songs.

If you’re flying to LA, take some time out to explore its musical history and get closer to the places which inspired the music you love.

MORE

Paul McCartney’s Lost ‘Bruce McMouse Show’ Film Heading to Theaters

By Jon Blistein/RollingStone

The Bruce McMouse Show opens with Wings performing “Big Barn Bed,” after which the camera travels through the stage into an animated world where the McMouse family lives. While Bruce McMouse shares stories from his past with his family, his son runs in and informs him that Wings are currently playing right above them. Bruce decides that the band needs his help as a producer, and as the concert continues, a host of animated mice flock to the stadium to enjoy the show.

MORE

The Coolest New Things Coming to America This Year

Courtesy Thrillist Travel

As a species, we are forever enamored of new things. As we look ahead to what 2019 will bring, we at Thrillist get particularly hyped about what new attractions we can expect.

MORE

How to Meditate

Courtesy David Gelles

Meditation is a simple practice available to all, which can reduce stress, increase calmness and clarity and promote happiness. Learning how to meditate is straightforward, and the benefits can come quickly. Here, we offer basic tips to get you started on a path toward greater equanimity, acceptance and joy.

MORE

Burping Is Good Manners & 25 Other Global Etiquette Surprises

Courtesy The Daily Meal Staff

In Italy, Never Order A Cappuccino After A Meal

When you’re dining the Italian way, be sure to order an espresso or a coffee after a meal. Do not order a cappuccino, as Italians believe milk beverages slow down digestion.

MORE Global Etiquette Surprises

8 Popular Destinations Where Air Pollution Could Ruin Your Trip

Air pollution does a lot more than cause canceled or postponed vacations — it kills millions of people worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization. Some of the worst places for air pollution are also home to bucket-list-worthy sights. But missing them might be the least of your problems if smog ramps up during your visit: Symptoms of air pollution sickness include nausea, coughing, headache, itchy eyes — and air pollution can cause long-term breathing problems.

Here are some of the worst destinations for smog, especially if you already suffer from asthma or other respiratory problems.

India

The Taj Mahal attracts thousands of travelers every day, but the city it’s in is one of the worst in the world for air pollution. Smog in Agra can cut visibility so dramatically that you can’t see much more than an outline of the giant tomb, and visitors who don’t cancel their trip during a period of heavy smog can be seen wearing face masks to visit.

MORE

Beatle Beat Trivia Answers

Question: Paul McCartney is gifted with a remarkably high tenor vocal range. Which performance features Paul’s highest modal (non falsetto) vocal note in a Beatles recording?

Answer: In the last line of “Oh! Darling” Paul hits an astonishing High D above High C.

The World’s Most Sung About Cities

An interesting piece of research has revealed The World’s Most Sung About Cities and 12 of the top 20 are in the US.

With a total of 161 songs mentioning The Big Apple, New York has been officially revealed as The Most Sung About City In The World, with LA and Miami also appearing in the top five.

MORE

Live the Dream on a Romantic Adventure in Africa with African Travel, Inc.

There’s nothing more magnificent than celebrating a special romantic occasion in Africa. Whether you’re planning a honeymoon, wedding or anniversary, you’ll experience the romantic trip of your dreams with African Travel, Inc. by touching an ancient culture, discovering the magic of the wild and relaxing in spectacular luxury.

MORE

Random Acts of Canine Kindness

Cedric the Dog takes a well-earned break after distributing organic dog biscuits to a series of illegal puppy mills in Wyoming.

You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog. – Harry S. Truman

MORE Dog Quotations

Question: Paul McCartney is gifted with a remarkably high tenor vocal range. Which performance features Paul’s highest modal (non falsetto) vocal note in a Beatles recording?

Scroll down for the answer

Martin Scorsese’s Film on Bob Dylan’s ‘Rolling Thunder Revue’ To Be Released

By Chris Willman, courtesy Variety

Netflix describes Scorsese’s look at Dylan and famous friends in ’75 as part documentary, part concert movie and part “fever dream.”

For years, rumors have circulated among Bob Dylan fans that a documentary about his legendary, star-studded “Rolling Thunder Revue” tour of 1975-76 was in the works, and occasional whispers had a name attached: Martin Scorsese. Now, the cat can come officially out of the bag. Variety has exclusively learned that Netflix plans to release the movie in 2019, with the director’s name actually in the title: “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.”

MORE

Revolutionize Your Healthy Travel Game

Courtesy Well and Away

Traditional guidebooks are handy for learning about museums and city landmarks. But would you ever reach for one to explore a new city like a local?

We had this challenge, and for years traveled with bookmarked pdfs and digital lists from friends, but the research that went into curating the perfect itinerary that balanced cool hidden gems with healthy destinations. So together with a small team of travelers, designers and wellness junkies, I’ve created Well + Away to offer the guidebook of the future: one that will show you a new city from the point of view of a hip-healthy local.

MORE

Typical French Restaurant Vocabulary: How to Order in Paris

Words and Phrases You’ll Need to Eat Out

Courtesy Courtney Traub

Are you a bit nervous about eating out in Paris or elsewhere in France, worried you may not be able to get by without fluent French? Use this guide to learn basic expressions and understand most signs and menu headings at restaurants in Paris.

MORE

15 Surprising Things TSA Allows Past Airport Checkpoints

By Benet Wilson

Some items — like guns (real or replica), large scissors and flammable liquids — are never allowed. But the agency continues to make changes when it comes to what can get past the checkpoint.

Below are 15 surprise items you can actually take past the checkpoint. But in case you still have questions, you can take a photo of the item and send it to either AskTSA on Facebook Messenger or via Twitter. Staff are online with answers from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET during the week and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends and holidays

MORE

A Taste of Iceland

Courtesy Tony Tedeschi, Never Stop Traveling

MORE

A Supermarket in California

By Allen Ginsberg

What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.

         In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
         What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?

         I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.
         I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?
         I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective.
         We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

         Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?
         (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)
         Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely.
         Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?
         Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?

Berkeley, 1955

Allen Ginsberg, “A Supermarket in California” from Collected Poems 1947-1980. Copyright © 1984 by Allen Ginsberg. Reprinted with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Send Deb your favorite travel poems

The post Mushing Mania, World’s Most Sung About Cities appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Seven Sweet Vancouver Valentine’s Day Ideas 2019

Love is in the air! In need of a few ideas for Valentine’s Day this year? Don’t stress, we’ve got you covered. Here is a list of seven Vancouver Valentine’s Day date night ideas for you and your special someone.

MORE

Meet the Woman Who Helped Book Hotel Rooms for 80 Homeless People in Freezing Chicago

View Video Here

11 Etiquette Rules You Probably Didn’t Realize You Should Follow When Flying

Courtesy Carina Wolff

When it comes to traveling, most of us spend our time trying to figure out what to pack and what our itinerary looks like. With all that hustle and bustle, we can sometimes get so caught up in ourselves that we forget some etiquette rules to follow when flying. Spending long hours in a cramped space can cause some sticky situations, but if you’re doing your best to be courteous and polite, you’ll help yourself and everyone have around you have a more enjoyable journey. Plus, you would want everyone else to act the same, right?

View Video Here

LA Road Trippin’ – A Musical Map of Los Angeles

Courtesy Air New Zealand

When you think of Los Angeles, it’s easy to imagine sun-drenched streets, impossibly-beautiful people – and, of course, great music. This is a guide to the top musical hotspots in LA which continue to inspire today’s musicians, from areas which launched rap superstars to the cities which have inspired thousands of great songs.

If you’re flying to LA, take some time out to explore its musical history and get closer to the places which inspired the music you love.

MORE

Paul McCartney’s Lost ‘Bruce McMouse Show’ Film Heading to Theaters

By Jon Blistein/RollingStone

The Bruce McMouse Show opens with Wings performing “Big Barn Bed,” after which the camera travels through the stage into an animated world where the McMouse family lives. While Bruce McMouse shares stories from his past with his family, his son runs in and informs him that Wings are currently playing right above them. Bruce decides that the band needs his help as a producer, and as the concert continues, a host of animated mice flock to the stadium to enjoy the show.

MORE

The Coolest New Things Coming to America This Year

Courtesy Thrillist Travel

As a species, we are forever enamored of new things. As we look ahead to what 2019 will bring, we at Thrillist get particularly hyped about what new attractions we can expect.

MORE

How to Meditate

Courtesy David Gelles

Meditation is a simple practice available to all, which can reduce stress, increase calmness and clarity and promote happiness. Learning how to meditate is straightforward, and the benefits can come quickly. Here, we offer basic tips to get you started on a path toward greater equanimity, acceptance and joy.

MORE

A Taste of Iceland

Courtesy Tony Tedeschi, Never Stop Traveling

MORE

Burping Is Good Manners & 25 Other Global Etiquette Surprises

Courtesy The Daily Meal Staff

In Italy, Never Order A Cappuccino After A Meal

When you’re dining the Italian way, be sure to order an espresso or a coffee after a meal. Do not order a cappuccino, as Italians believe milk beverages slow down digestion.

MORE Global Etiquette Surprises

8 Popular Destinations Where Air Pollution Could Ruin Your Trip

Air pollution does a lot more than cause canceled or postponed vacations — it kills millions of people worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization. Some of the worst places for air pollution are also home to bucket-list-worthy sights. But missing them might be the least of your problems if smog ramps up during your visit: Symptoms of air pollution sickness include nausea, coughing, headache, itchy eyes — and air pollution can cause long-term breathing problems.

Here are some of the worst destinations for smog, especially if you already suffer from asthma or other respiratory problems.

India

The Taj Mahal attracts thousands of travelers every day, but the city it’s in is one of the worst in the world for air pollution.

MORE

Beatle Beat Trivia Answers

Question: Paul McCartney is gifted with a remarkably high tenor vocal range. Which performance features Paul’s highest modal (non falsetto) vocal note in a Beatles recording?

Answer: In the last line of “Oh! Darling” Paul hits an astonishing High D above High C.

Live the Dream on a Romantic Adventure in Africa with African Travel, Inc.

There’s nothing more magnificent than celebrating a special romantic occasion in Africa. Whether you’re planning a honeymoon, wedding or anniversary, you’ll experience the romantic trip of your dreams with African Travel, Inc. by touching an ancient culture, discovering the magic of the wild and relaxing in spectacular luxury.

MORE

Random Acts of Canine Kindness

Cedric the Dog takes a well-earned break after distributing organic dog biscuits to a series of illegal puppy mills in Wyoming.

You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog. – Harry S. Truman

MORE Dog Quotations

Lovebirds Fly to NYC and Los Angeles for Valentine’s Day
Americans Traveling Internationally Choose Mexico and Canada for Romantic Getaways

New York City and Cancun reign supreme as the most popular domestic and international romantic destinations for Valentine’s Day travel in 2019, with NYC claiming the top spot for the third year running and Cancun for the fifth year in a row.

MORE

Question: Paul McCartney is gifted with a remarkably high tenor vocal range. Which performance features Paul’s highest modal (non falsetto) vocal note in a Beatles recording?

Scroll down for the answer

Martin Scorsese’s Film on Bob Dylan’s ‘Rolling Thunder Revue’ To Be Released

By Chris Willman, courtesy Variety

Netflix describes Scorsese’s look at Dylan and famous friends in ’75 as part documentary, part concert movie and part “fever dream.”

For years, rumors have circulated among Bob Dylan fans that a documentary about his legendary, star-studded “Rolling Thunder Revue” tour of 1975-76 was in the works, and occasional whispers had a name attached: Martin Scorsese. Now, the cat can come officially out of the bag. Variety has exclusively learned that Netflix plans to release the movie in 2019, with the director’s name actually in the title: “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.”

MORE

Revolutionize Your Healthy Travel Game

Courtesy Well and Away

Traditional guidebooks are handy for learning about museums and city landmarks. But would you ever reach for one to explore a new city like a local?

We had this challenge, and for years traveled with bookmarked pdfs and digital lists from friends, but the research that went into curating the perfect itinerary that balanced cool hidden gems with healthy destinations. So together with a small team of travelers, designers and wellness junkies, I’ve created Well + Away to offer the guidebook of the future: one that will show you a new city from the point of view of a hip-healthy local.

MORE

Typical French Restaurant Vocabulary: How to Order in Paris

Words and Phrases You’ll Need to Eat Out

Courtesy Courtney Traub

Are you a bit nervous about eating out in Paris or elsewhere in France, worried you may not be able to get by without fluent French? Use this guide to learn basic expressions and understand most signs and menu headings at restaurants in Paris.

MORE

15 Surprising Things TSA Allows Past Airport Checkpoints

By Benet Wilson

Some items — like guns (real or replica), large scissors and flammable liquids — are never allowed. But the agency continues to make changes when it comes to what can get past the checkpoint.

Below are 15 surprise items you can actually take past the checkpoint. But in case you still have questions, you can take a photo of the item and send it to either AskTSA on Facebook Messenger or via Twitter. Staff are online with answers from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET during the week and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends and holidays

MORE

A Supermarket in California

By Allen Ginsberg

What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.

         In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
         What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?

         I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.
         I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?
         I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective.
         We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

         Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?
         (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)
         Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely.
         Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?
         Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?

Berkeley, 1955

Allen Ginsberg, “A Supermarket in California” from Collected Poems 1947-1980. Copyright © 1984 by Allen Ginsberg. Reprinted with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Send Deb your favorite travel poems

The post Vancouver Valentines, Flight Etiquette, Romantic Africa appeared first on Traveling Archive.

LA Road Trippin’ – A Musical Map of Los Angeles

Courtesy Air New Zealand

When you think of Los Angeles, it’s easy to imagine sun-drenched streets, impossibly-beautiful people – and, of course, great music. This is a guide to the top musical hotspots in LA which continue to inspire today’s musicians, from areas which launched rap superstars to the cities which have inspired thousands of great songs.

If you’re flying to LA, take some time out to explore its musical history and get closer to the places which inspired the music you love.

MORE

Martin Scorsese’s Film on Bob Dylan’s ‘Rolling Thunder Revue’ To Be Released

By Chris Willman, courtesy Variety

Netflix describes Scorsese’s look at Dylan and famous friends in ’75 as part documentary, part concert movie and part “fever dream.”

For years, rumors have circulated among Bob Dylan fans that a documentary about his legendary, star-studded “Rolling Thunder Revue” tour of 1975-76 was in the works, and occasional whispers had a name attached: Martin Scorsese. Now, the cat can come officially out of the bag. Variety has exclusively learned that Netflix plans to release the movie in 2019, with the director’s name actually in the title: “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.”

MORE

Question: Paul was known as the left-handed Beatle, however another one of the group was also left-handed but learned to play right-handed. Who was that Beatle?

Scroll down for the answer

The Coolest New Things Coming to America This Year

Courtesy Thrillist Travel

As a species, we are forever enamored of new things. As we look ahead to what 2019 will bring, we at Thrillist get particularly hyped about what new attractions we can expect.

MORE

How to Meditate

Courtesy David Gelles

Meditation is a simple practice available to all, which can reduce stress, increase calmness and clarity and promote happiness. Learning how to meditate is straightforward, and the benefits can come quickly. Here, we offer basic tips to get you started on a path toward greater equanimity, acceptance and joy.

MORE

Random Acts of Canine Kindness

Cedric the Dog takes a well-earned break after distributing organic dog biscuits to a series of illegal puppy mills in Idaho.

You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog. – Harry S. Truman

MORE Dog Quotations

8 Popular Destinations Where Air Pollution Could Ruin Your Trip

Air pollution does a lot more than cause canceled or postponed vacations — it kills millions of people worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization. Some of the worst places for air pollution are also home to bucket-list-worthy sights. But missing them might be the least of your problems if smog ramps up during your visit: Symptoms of air pollution sickness include nausea, coughing, headache, itchy eyes — and air pollution can cause long-term breathing problems.

Here are some of the worst destinations for smog, especially if you already suffer from asthma or other respiratory problems.

India

The Taj Mahal attracts thousands of travelers every day, but the city it’s in is one of the worst in the world for air pollution. Smog in Agra can cut visibility so dramatically that you can’t see much more than an outline of the giant tomb, and visitors who don’t cancel their trip during a period of heavy smog can be seen wearing face masks to visit.

MORE

Beatle Beat Trivia Answers

Question: Paul was known as the left-handed Beatle, however another one of the group was also left-handed but learned to play right-handed. Who was that Beatle?

Answer: Ringo was a leftie, but learned to play on a right-handed drum kit, which is why he adopted the then unique “matched grip” of the drum sticks that was soon imitated by most rock drummers.  It’s also why he would roll backwards (counter-clockwise) around the drum set.  An example of this is heard near the end of Day Tripper when he starts a roll on the lower-pitch floor tom-tom and finishes the roll on the higher-pitch mounted tom-tom, impossible for most right-handed drummers.

Top Films of 2018

Zama (Argentina/Brazil/Spain) by Lucrecia Martel scored top film of 2018 by Film Comment’s contributors and editors.

See the full list

Read José Teodoro’s interview with Lucrecia Martel

Paul McCartney’s Lost ‘Bruce McMouse Show’ Film Heading to Theaters

By Jon Blistein/RollingStone

The Bruce McMouse Show opens with Wings performing “Big Barn Bed,” after which the camera travels through the stage into an animated world where the McMouse family lives. While Bruce McMouse shares stories from his past with his family, his son runs in and informs him that Wings are currently playing right above them. Bruce decides that the band needs his help as a producer, and as the concert continues, a host of animated mice flock to the stadium to enjoy the show.

MORE

Revolutionize Your Healthy Travel Game

Courtesy Well and Away

Traditional guidebooks are handy for learning about museums and city landmarks. But would you ever reach for one to explore a new city like a local?

We had this challenge, and for years traveled with bookmarked pdfs and digital lists from friends, but the research that went into curating the perfect itinerary that balanced cool hidden gems with healthy destinations. So together with a small team of travelers, designers and wellness junkies, I’ve created Well + Away to offer the guidebook of the future: one that will show you a new city from the point of view of a hip-healthy local.

MORE

Typical French Restaurant Vocabulary: How to Order in Paris

Words and Phrases You’ll Need to Eat Out

Courtesy Courtney Traub

Are you a bit nervous about eating out in Paris or elsewhere in France, worried you may not be able to get by without fluent French? Use this guide to learn basic expressions and understand most signs and menu headings at restaurants in Paris.

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Burping Is Good Manners & 25 Other Global Etiquette Surprises

Courtesy The Daily Meal Staff

In Italy, Never Order A Cappuccino After A Meal

When you’re dining the Italian way, be sure to order an espresso or a coffee after a meal. Do not order a cappuccino, as Italians believe milk beverages slow down digestion.

MORE Global Etiquette Surprises

15 Surprising Things TSA Allows Past Airport Checkpoints

By Benet Wilson

Some items — like guns (real or replica), large scissors and flammable liquids — are never allowed. But the agency continues to make changes when it comes to what can get past the checkpoint.

Below are 15 surprise items you can actually take past the checkpoint. But in case you still have questions, you can take a photo of the item and send it to either AskTSA on Facebook Messenger or via Twitter. Staff are online with answers from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET during the week and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends and holidays

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A Taste of Iceland

Courtesy Tony Tedeschi, Never Stop Traveling

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A Supermarket in California

By Allen Ginsberg

What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.

         In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
         What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?

         I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.
         I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?
         I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective.
         We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

         Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour. Which way does your beard point tonight?
         (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)
         Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely.
         Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?
         Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters of Lethe?

Berkeley, 1955

Allen Ginsberg, “A Supermarket in California” from Collected Poems 1947-1980. Copyright © 1984 by Allen Ginsberg. Reprinted with the permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Send Deb your favorite travel poems

The post Music, Movies and Meditation appeared first on Traveling Archive.

In Bob Dylan’s famed August 1965 interview with Nora Ephron and Susan Edmiston many silly questions were asked: “Where did you get that shirt?” At one point, Ephron had the gumption to ask Dylan, “Who is Mr. Jones in ‘Ballad of a Thin Man?’”

In his typical toying way, Dylan arched the answer way over his interrogator’s head: “He’s a real person. You know him, but not by that name… Like I saw him come into the room one night and he looked like a camel.

He proceeded to put his eyes in his pocket. I asked this guy who he was and he said, ‘That’s Mr. Jones.’ Then I asked this cat, ‘Doesn’t he do anything but put his eyes in his pocket?’ And he told me, ‘He puts his nose on the ground.’ It’s all there. It’s a true story.”

Although he was merely deflecting a stupid question in a clever way, his elusiveness only spurred an even greater curiosity. Suddenly, “Who is Mr. Jones?” became the running debate.

Possible Contenders

Since the release of “Ballad of a Thin Man” on the 1965 album, “Highway 61 Revisited,” Dylan has never revealed the true identity of the actual Mr. Jones. However, at a 1986 concert in Japan, he prefaced a performance of the song by saying, “This is a song I wrote in response to people who ask questions all the time. You just get tired of that every once in a while.”

That statement immediately debunks the theory that the song is about Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones.

In the haze of amphetamine paranoia preceding his death, Jones believed he was indeed the Thin Man of Dylan’s rock ballad.

Over time, it has become widely accepted that Mr. Jones was inspired by a clueless journalist who pestered Dylan with naive questions during an interview. And the song’s opening lines tend to support this theory.

You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, who is that man?
You try so hard
But you don’t understand
Just what you will say
When you get home

Because something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

The Real Mr. Jones?

Music journalist and later film professor, Jeffrey Jones, has long publicly claimed that he was, in fact, the character in Dylan’s song. Over time he became the officially accepted Mr. Jones by the media.  A young intern for ​​TIME magazine, Jones interviewed Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival the day he went electric, allegedly perturbing Dylan with a line of stupid questioning.

Another possibility is Max Jones of Melody Maker magazine, who first interviewed Dylan in May 1964. Dylan specifically asked for the British music journalist at a 1965 London press conference. The scribe even appears in D.A. Pennebaker’s color film footage shot during Dylan’s 1966 world tour, which eventually became the unreleased film, “Eat the Document.”

In Todd Haynes’ 2007 film “I’m Not There,” actor Bruce Greenwood plays the role of straight-edged music journalist “Keenan Jones” (ostensibly the real-life Max or Jeffrey Jones), who chases Dylan around Britain, pestering him with questions.

After its 1965 release, “Ballad of a Thin Man” took on as many interpretations as it had listeners. This was back in the day when groups of friends would sit around and quietly listen to Dylan’s songs, then have lengthy discussions about them long into the night.

With its sword swallower, carny freaks, and nightmarish spin, the song evoked instant comparisons to Edmund Goulding’s 1947 psychological thriller, “Nightmare Alley,” starring Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell.

In some ways, the song was simply a darker variation on “Like a Rolling Stone.” Rather than Miss Lonely, now it’s Mr. Jones who is suddenly faced with the superior vista of Dylan’s disillusioning pen.

Dylan said as much in 1965 when, after finishing the song, he told his Carnegie Hall audience, “That was about Mr. Jones,” quickly adding “This one is for Jones,” and launching into “Like a Rolling Stone.”

On a political note, at one point the song became an anthem of sorts for the militant Black Panther Party. The group’s leaders believed the lyrics symbolically addressed the black struggle in white society.

Founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale listened to the song obsessively, playing it over the PA system before and after they gave speeches. And Seale – who described the song as referring to hell – said, “You’ve got to understand that this song is saying a hell of a lot about society.”

As for the real Mr. Jones? Dylan put it best when he told biographer Robert Shelton, “I could tell you who Mr. Jones is in my life, but, like, everybody has got their Mr. Jones.”

The post Who Is Mr. Jones in Bob Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man”? appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Beatles’ Rare Fan-Club Christmas Records: A Complete Guide

Band’s brief, whimsical holiday discs – released from 1963 through 1969 and newly reissued – offer a glimpse into their stunning evolution

In honor of a new reissue, Rolling Stone takes a detailed look at the Beatles’ whimsical series of fan-club-only Christmas records.

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Oyster Stew on Christmas Eve

Early Americans were absolutely oyster crazy. When the first English settlers arrived at Plymouth Rock, oysters were a reliable and tasty source of nutrition. Coastal American Indian Nations had already been harvesting them for at least 3,000 years. As the young colony’s population grew and spread to cover much of the East Coast, folks along the shores devoured oysters. In stuffings, chowders, pan roasts and on the half shell, both rich and poor enjoyed as many oysters as they could eat. America’s oldest still operating restaurant, the Union Oyster House of Boston, opened in 1826 to showcase the bivalve. And New York City pushcarts sold the by the bushel, freshly harvested from the Hudson Bay. A whopping 700 million were harvested from the Bay in 1880 alone.

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56 Essential Christmas Cookies

Courtesy Genius Kitchens

From classic sugar cookies to gingerbread men, these top recipes will sweeten your holiday – and make you the darling of all your cookie swaps.

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How the Wrong Holiday Gift Traumatized Me as a Transgender Child

Giving the perfect gift can be stressful for anyone during the holidays. Regardless of your religion, if you do participate in the tradition of giving gifts, there are children who want to receive toys based on their preferred gender identity — not necessarily the one they were assigned at birth. Throughout my 24 years of wish lists, I have always wanted more feminine presents, and I know the importance of receiving a gift that will bring pure joy.

MORE

Mark Twain’s “A Letter From Santa Claus”

In 1875, Mark Twain wrote a letter to his daughter Susie, who was 3 years old at the time, which he signed “Your loving Santa Claus.” You can read it in its entirety below, but first a little bit of pretext. Twain was very close to his daughter, all the way up to her untimely death at age 24 in 1896, and that year she had written her first letter to Santa Claus. Twain, being a writer, couldn’t stand for his young daughter to feel like her work went unheard, so he decided to pen the following letter to “My Dear Susie Clemens” from “The Man in the Moon” himself.

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He’s Back: Adam Sandler — “The Chanukah Song, Part 4”

I did a show with some friends in San Diego and recorded a new one for you.

Have a great holiday season.

— Adam Sandler

Saturnalia & the History of Christmas

The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. Many people rejoiced during the winter solstice, when the worst of the winter was behind them and they could look forward to longer days and extended hours of sunlight.

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A Timeline of the Shocking True Story of the Modern Latke

Warning: This may be upsetting to traditionalist latke lovers.

Courtesy Gabe Friedman

The latke is one of those Jewish foods that feels steeped in tradition, as if it’s been made the same way since the days of the Maccabees.

But in a revelatory article, Atlantic senior editor Yoni Appelbaum explains that the latke as we know it — grated potatoes fried in olive oil — is a relatively new culinary invention. Here, in brief, is the Hanukkah staple’s origin story.

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The Modern Day Chanukah Potato Latke & Recipe

Latke (pronounced LOT-keh, LOT-kah or LOT-kee) is Yiddish for “pancake.” On Chanukah, it is traditional to serve latkes (most often potato) fried in oil to celebrate the Chanukah miracle, which involved the oil of the Temple menorah lasting for eight days instead of just one. Jews eat foods that reflect the significance of a holiday — such as matzah on Passover and apples dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah — and Chanukah is no exception. For at least the last thousand years, Jews have traditionally eaten oily foods on Chanukah.

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The Deeper Meaning of the Chanukah Oil Miracle

The Paradoxes of Oil as a Guide for Living

By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

Dedicated by David and Eda Schottenstein
In the loving memory of:
Rabbi Levi Yitzchok ben Zalman Yuda Deitsch and Alta Shula Swerdlov
And in honor of the birth of their daughter Yetta Alta Shula, “Aliyah”

Why Celebrate Oil?

The kindling of a menorah during the eight days of Chanukah commemorates an ancient miracle that occurred in our Jerusalem Holy Temple, some 2300 years ago. Following the victory of the Jews over their Greek oppressors who desecrated the Temple and attempted to destroy Judaism, a little cruse of unsoiled olive oil found in the Temple lasted and burned for eight days, till the Jews managed to purchase new pure oil for the daily kindling of the Temple Candelabra. To commemorate this display of Divine grace in a world usually enslaved to nature, the sages of Israel instituted the eight-day holiday of Chanukah, in which we kindle a menorah each night.

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Christmas Around the World

Discover how Christmas is celebrated in different countries and cultures around the world!

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The Greatest Christmas Film for the Ages

With apologizes to the fans of the Frank Capra classic, It’s A Wonderful Life, our pick is Ernst Lubitsch’s stunning 1941 masterpiece, The Shop Around the Corner.

Random Acts of Canine Kindness

Cedric the Dog takes a well-earned break after organizing a protest at an alt–right Neo-Nazi rally in Idaho.

Dog Quotations

Would You Live in ‘The Best Airport in the World’ for a Month? This Guy Just Did!

Courtesy Ashley Rossi

Survivor meets The Truman Show. As a pretty clever marketing ploy, the Helsinki Airport invited Chinese actor and TV personality, Ryan Zhu, to live in the city’s airport for 30 days.

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Hard Day’s Night 2017

The Story of Chanukah (Hannukah)

Courtesy Chabad.org

Under Syrian Rule

More than 2000 years ago there was a time when the land of Israel was part of the Syrian-Greek Empire, dominated by Syrian rulers of the dynasty of the Seleucids.

In order to relate the story that led up to Chanukah, we shall start with Antiochus III, the King of Syria, who reigned from 3538 to 3574 (222-186 B.C.E.). He had waged war with King Ptolemy of Egypt over the possession of the Land of Israel. Antiochus III was victorious and the Land of Israel was annexed to his empire. At the beginning of his reign he was favorably disposed toward the Jews and accorded them some privileges.

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Christmas Facts

Each year, 30-35 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States alone. There are 21,000 Christmas tree growers in the United States, and trees usually grow for about 15 years before they are sold.

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The 12 Days of Christmas

The 12 Days of Christmas start on Christmas Day and last until the evening of the 5th January – also known as Twelfth Night. The 12 Days have been celebrated in Europe since before the middle ages and were a time of celebration.

The 12 Days each traditionally celebrate a feast day for a saint and/or have different celebrations:

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Twelfth Night of Christmas

Twelfth Night was a time of great celebration with people holding large parties. During these parties, often the roles in society were reversed with the servants being served by the rich people. This dated back to medieval and Tudor times when Twelfth Night marked the end of ‘winter’ which had started on 31st October with All Hallows Eve (Halloween).

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A Retired Couple Travel 12,000 Miles from Oxford to Hong Kong Using Only Public Transport

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Time Capsule Cinema

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage – A Look Back

By Walt Mundkowsky

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Hands down, this Canadian gem is our pick for the most hilarious, madcap travel show on the cybersphere.

Here’s a look back as the Travel Guys take on the Yukon.

WATCH Travel Guys Take on the Yukon

Song Facts: Tangled Up in Blue by Bob Dylan

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This Holiday Season Pay Respects to Liz Taylor, Walt Disney at this Glitzy Graveyard to the Stars in Glendale

LA Times

This is one of the grand cemeteries in the world — in setting, in scope, in star power. Step inside Forest Lawn Glendale and honor the memories of Elizabeth Taylor, Walt Disney and Jimmy Stewart, among dozens of other famous names.

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The post Humor, Facts & Stats, Trivia and More appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Mark Twain’s “A Letter From Santa Claus”

In 1875, Mark Twain wrote a letter to his daughter Susie, who was 3 years old at the time, which he signed “Your loving Santa Claus.” You can read it in its entirety below, but first a little bit of pretext. Twain was very close to his daughter, all the way up to her untimely death at age 24 in 1896, and that year she had written her first letter to Santa Claus. Twain, being a writer, couldn’t stand for his young daughter to feel like her work went unheard, so he decided to pen the following letter to “My Dear Susie Clemens” from “The Man in the Moon” himself.

“A Letter From Santa Claus” by Mark Twain

My Dear Susie Clemens,

I have received and read all the letters which you and your little sister have written me…I can read your and your baby sister’s jagged and fantastic marks without any trouble at all. But I had trouble with those letters which you dictated through your mother and the nurses, for I am a foreigner and cannot read English writing well. You will find that I made no mistakes about the things which you and the baby ordered in your own letters — I went down your chimney at midnight when you were asleep and delivered them all myself — and kissed both of you, too…But…there were…one or two small orders which I could not fill because we ran out of stock…

There was a word or two in your mama’s letter which…I took to be “a trunk full of doll’s clothes.” Is that it? I will call at your kitchen door about nine o’clock this morning to inquire. But I must not see anybody and I must not speak to anybody but you. When the kitchen doorbell rings, George must be blindfolded and sent to the door.

You must tell George he must walk on tiptoe and not speak — otherwise he will die someday. Then you must go up to the nursery and stand on a chair or the nurse’s bed and put your ear to the speaking tube that leads down to the kitchen and when I whistle through it you must speak in the tube and say, “Welcome, Santa Claus!” Then I will ask whether it was a trunk you ordered or not. If you say it was, I shall ask you what color you want the trunk to be…and then you must tell me every single thing in detail which you want the trunk to contain. Then when I say “Good-by and a merry Christmas to my little Susy Clemens,” you must say “Good-by, good old Santa Claus, I thank you very much.” Then you must go down into the library and make George close all the doors that open into the main hall, and everybody must keep still for a little while. I will go to the moon and get those things and in a few minutes I will come down the chimney that belongs to the fireplace that is in the hall — if it is a trunk you want–because I couldn’t get such a thing as a trunk down the nursery chimney, you know…If I should leave any snow in the hall, you must tell George to sweep it into the fireplace, for I haven’t time to do such things.

George must not use a broom, but a rag — else he will die someday…If my boot should leave a stain on the marble, George must not holystone it away. Leave it there always in memory of my visit; and whenever you look at it or show it to anybody you must let it remind you to be a good little girl. Whenever you are naughty and someone points to that mark which your good old Santa Claus’s boot made on the marble, what will you say, little sweetheart?

Good-by for a few minutes, till I come down to the world and ring the kitchen doorbell.

Your loving Santa Claus
Whom people sometimes call
“The Man in the Moon”

He’s Back: Adam Sandler — “The Chanukah Song, Part 4”

I did a show with some friends in San Diego and recorded a new one for you.

Have a great holiday season.

— Adam Sandler

How the Wrong Holiday Gift Traumatized Me as a Transgender Child

Courtesy of Corey Rae

The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter. Many people rejoiced during the winter solstice, when the worst of the winter was behind them and they could look forward to longer days and extended hours of sunlight.

Giving the perfect gift can be stressful for anyone during the holidays. Regardless of your religion, if you do participate in the tradition of giving gifts, there are children who want to receive toys based on their preferred gender identity — not necessarily the one they were assigned at birth. Throughout my 24 years of wish lists, I have always wanted more feminine presents, and I know the importance of receiving a gift that will bring pure joy.

True story: I asked for a Cinderella dress and a Barbie at the age of two. When I was around four, my grandparents sought advice from a psychologist about me asking for female-targeted toys. The psychologist recommended enforcing “boy toys,” like cars and action figures. On Hanukkah I unwrapped presents with my family, including my brother and twin cousins (a girl and boy only five months older than I) at my grandparents’ home.

To my dismay, I got a Batman toy, the same as my male cousin, while my female cousin got a baby doll. Upon unwrapping it, I immediately said, “I didn’t want that.” My grandma looked up at my mom and repeated what I had just said. My mother, who had asked my grandparents not to listen to the psychologist’s advice and reiterated that I wanted a Barbie, said, “Corey, that’s not polite—you just say thank you and we’ll take it to the store and get another one. Why don’t you say thank you anyway.” As you can see in the video below, I started tugging at the vest I was wearing in frustration (subconsciously trying to strip myself of my male exterior), and asked my cousin to play with her new doll.

There’s a debate over how to raise a child who has transgender tendencies, and whether or not to allow that child to choose their own gender. Some parents believe the gender assigned at birth should indicate the type of toys their child should play with. Other parents, like my mom, believe in allowing their children to grow into themselves on their own. My brother and I are prime examples proving that children should be allowed to express themselves freely at any age. My brother, who played with cabbage patch dolls when he was very little, grew into a cisgender man, and I stayed on my path of femininity.

I watched a fascinating BBC documentary called “Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best?” showcasing both points of view. I’ve preached that transgender people have always been a part of human society, which Cheri DiNovo, member of the Provincial Parliament in Ontario, confirms. In the video, Dr. Norman Spack of Boston Children’s Hospital explains, “The variance in gender identity and expression are not psychiatric differences, they are differences in the human condition.”

Presents can create crucial memories and shape how that child views themselves and the world. If you or someone you know is struggling with what to give a transgender child, please remember that unwrapping presents can create crucial memories for children and shape how that child views themselves and the world around them. It’s extremely important to bring joy to any child through a present they truly desire.

The recipient’s happiness should come before anything else when considering a gift. If you’re unsure of what to get, consider books or gender-neutral toys. Through self-discovery, some children will go through different interest phases (like my brother), and some, like me, will continue to break gender binaries.

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The Story of Chanukah (Hannukah)

Courtesy Chabad.org

Under Syrian Rule

More than 2000 years ago there was a time when the land of Israel was part of the Syrian-Greek Empire, dominated by Syrian rulers of the dynasty of the Seleucids.

In order to relate the story that led up to Chanukah, we shall start with Antiochus III, the King of Syria, who reigned from 3538 to 3574 (222-186 B.C.E.). He had waged war with King Ptolemy of Egypt over the possession of the Land of Israel. Antiochus III was victorious and the Land of Israel was annexed to his empire. At the beginning of his reign he was favorably disposed toward the Jews and accorded them some privileges.

Later on, however, when he was beaten by the Romans and compelled to pay heavy taxes, the burden fell upon the various peoples of his empire who were forced to furnish the heavy gold that was required of him by the Romans. When Antiochus died, his son Seleucus IV took over, and further oppressed the Jews.

Added to the troubles from the outside were the grave perils that threatened Judaism from within. The influence of the Hellenists (people who accepted idol-worship and the Syrian way of life) was increasing. Yochanan, the High Priest, foresaw the danger to Judaism from the penetration of Syrian-Greek influence into the Holy Land. For, in contrast to the ideal of outward beauty held by the Greeks and Syrians, Judaism emphasizes truth and moral purity, as commanded by G‑d in the holy Torah. The Jewish people could never give up their faith in G‑d and accept the idol-worship of the Syrians.

Yochanan was therefore opposed to any attempt on the part of the Jewish Hellenists to introduce Greek and Syrian customs into the land. The Hellenists hated him. One of them told the King’s commissioner that in the treasury of the Temple there was a great deal of wealth.

The wealth in the treasury consisted of the contributions of “half a shekel” made by all adult Jews annually. That was given for the purpose of the sacrifices on the altar, as well as for fixing and improving the Temple building. Another part of the treasury consisted of orphans’ funds which were deposited for them until they became of age. Seleucus needed money in order to pay the Romans. He sent his minister Helyodros to take the money from the treasury of the Temple. In vain did Yochanan, the High Priest, beg him not to do it. Helyodros did not listen and entered the gate of the Temple. But suddenly, he became pale with fright. The next moment he fainted and fell to the ground. After Helyodros came to, he did not dare enter again.

The Madman: Antiochus

A short time later, Seleucus was killed and his brother Antiochus IV began to reign over Syria (in 3586 – 174 B.C.E.). He was a tyrant of a rash and impetuous nature, contemptuous of religion and of the feelings of others. He was called “Epiphanes,” meaning “the gods’ beloved.” Several of the Syrian rulers received similar titles. But a historian of his time, Polebius, gave him the epithet Epimanes (“madman”), a title more suitable to the character of this harsh and cruel king.

Desiring to unify his kingdom through the medium of a common religion and culture, Antiochus tried to root out the individualism of the Jews by suppressing all the Jewish Laws. He removed the righteous High Priest, Yochanan, from the Temple in Jerusalem, and in his place installed Yochanan’s brother Joshua, who loved to call himself by the Greek name of Jason. For he was a member of the Hellenist party, and he used his high office to spread more and more of the Greek customs among the priesthood.

Joshua or Jason was later replaced by another man, Menelaus, who had promised the king that he would bring in more money than Jason did. When Yochanan, the former High Priest, protested against the spread of the Hellenists’ influence in the Holy Temple, the ruling High Priest hired murderers to assassinate him.

Antiochus was at that time engaged in a successful war against Egypt. But messengers from Rome arrived and commanded him to stop the war, and he had to yield. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, a rumor spread that a serious accident had befallen Antiochus. Thinking that he was dead, the people rebelled against Menelaus. The treacherous High Priest fled together with his friends.

The Martyrs

Antiochus returned from Egypt enraged by Roman interference with his ambitions. When he heard what had taken place in Jerusalem, he ordered his army to fall upon the Jews. Thousands of Jews were killed. Antiochus then enacted a series of harsh decrees against the Jews. Jewish worship was forbidden; the scrolls of the Law were confiscated and burned. Sabbath rest, circumcision and the dietary laws were prohibited under penalty of death. Even one of the respected elders of that generation, Rabbi Eliezer, a man of 90, was ordered by the servants of Antiochus to eat pork so that others would do the same. When he refused they suggested to him that he pick up the meat to his lips to appear to be eating. But Rabbi Eliezer refused to do even that and was put to death.

There were thousands of others who likewise sacrificed their lives. The famous story of Hannah and her seven children happened at that time.

Antiochus’s men went from town to town and from village to village to force the inhabitants to worship pagan gods. Only one refuge area remained and that was the hills of Judea with their caves. But even there did the Syrians pursue the faithful Jews, and many a Jew died a martyr’s death.

Mattityahu

One day the henchmen of Antiochus arrived in the village of Modiin where Mattityahu, the old priest, lived. The Syrian officer built an altar in the marketplace of the village and demanded that Mattityahu offer sacrifices to the Greek gods. Mattityahu replied, “I, my sons and my brothers are determined to remain loyal to the covenant which our G‑d made with our ancestors!”

Thereupon, a Hellenistic Jew approached the altar to offer a sacrifice. Mattityahu grabbed his sword and killed him, and his sons and friends fell upon the Syrian officers and men. They killed many of them and chased the rest away. They then destroyed the altar.

Mattityahu knew that Antiochus would be enraged when he heard what had happened. He would certainly send an expedition to punish him and his followers. Mattityahu, therefore, left the village of Modiin and fled together with his sons and friends to the hills of Judea.

All loyal and courageous Jews joined them. They formed legions and from time to time they left their hiding places to fall upon enemy detachments and outposts, and to destroy the pagan altars that were built by order of Antiochus.

The Maccabees

Before his death, Mattityahu called his sons together and urged them to continue to fight in defense of G d’s Torah. He asked them to follow the counsel of their brother Shimon the Wise. In waging warfare, he said, their leader should be Judah the Strong. Judah was called “Maccabee,” a word composed of the initial letters of the four Hebrew words Mi Kamocha Ba’eilim Hashem, “Who is like You, O G‑d.”

Antiochus sent his General Apolonius to wipe out Judah and his followers, the Maccabees. Though greater in number and equipment than their adversaries, the Syrians were defeated by the Maccabees. Antiochus sent out another expedition which also was defeated. He realized that only by sending a powerful army could he hope to defeat Judah and his brave fighting men.

An army consisting of more than 40,000 men swept the land under the leadership of two commanders, Nicanor and Gorgiash. When Judah and his brothers heard of that, they exclaimed: “Let us fight unto death in defense of our souls and our Temple!” The people assembled in Mitzpah, where Samuel, the prophet of old, had offered prayers to G‑d. After a series of battles the war was won.

The Dedication

Now the Maccabees returned to Jerusalem to liberate it. They entered the Temple and cleared it of the idols placed there by the Syrian vandals. Judah and his followers built a new altar, which he dedicated on the twenty-fifth of the month of Kislev, in the year 3622 (139 B.C.E.).

Since the golden Menorah had been stolen by the Syrians, the Maccabees now made one of cheaper metal. When they wanted to light it, they found only a small cruse of pure olive oil bearing the seal of the High Priest Yochanan. It was sufficient to light only for one day. By a miracle of G‑d, it continued to burn for eight days, till new oil was made available. That miracle proved that G‑d had again taken His people under His protection. In memory of this, our sages appointed these eight days for annual thanksgiving and for lighting candles.

After Chanukah

The brightness of the first Chanukah light had dwindled down. But the holy fires on the altar burnt again in the Beit Hamikdash, from morning to morning, as prescribed by the Law. The priests were again busily officiating in the old customary ways, and day in, day out they prepared the offerings. Order and peace seemed established.

The Jewish farmer longed to return to his land after two years of hardship, privation and danger in the victorious Jewish army. It was high time to break the ground and to till the soil, if the barley was to grow and ripen in time for “Omer-offering” on Passover. The Jewish farmers had left their ploughs to rally about the heroic Chashmonaim. The first victories had drawn even the hesitant into the ranks of the enthusiastic Jewish rebels, led by the sons of Mattityahu. Farmers had forsaken their land, merchants and tradesmen their stores and shops. Even Torah students had emerged from the four walls of the Bet Hamidrash to join the fight against the oppressors.

But the songs of victory, which had filled the reclaimed Holy Temple with praise and gratitude for the merciful G‑d, had ceased. The goal of the battle seemed reached, and Torah again was supreme law in Israel.

One man, though, realized that the time for a return to normal living had not yet come. Israel could not yet afford to relax; it would have to stand ready and prepare to carry on the fight against the overwhelming odds of the enemy. This man was Judah Maccabi. His name was upon everyone’s lips and in every Jewish heart. He was admired as a hero, as a man with the heart of a lion and the simple piety of a child; as the one whose mighty armies fought and conquered, yet who never failed to pray to G‑d, the Master of all battles, before he entered the fray.

It was not the spirited warrior’s joy that made Judah Maccabi stay in camp. His heart, too, longed to return to his former peaceful life, to Modiin, the quiet town of priests, which held the grave of his adored father. Bloodshed and battle meant a hard and unwanted profession for the men of Judea, who preferred peace to strife. Yet this was no time for relenting. Not only had he to stay, but with all the persuasion of his magnetic personality he had to hold back his comrades-at-arms. His own reasoning and his two wise brothers, Shimon and Yonatan, told him that only the first phase of this war of liberation had passed. Hard and desperate times were yet to come. Clever enemies merely needed an extended lull to prepare new assaults with more troops and better equipment. And there were enemies all about Judea, besides the defeated Syrians. The neighboring countries begrudged the dazzling victories of the small Jewish armies. They would much rather have seen the people of Judea oppressed and humiliated, than armed and spirited, a threat to their own lands. Whence had come the sudden source of strength, courage and fortitude? What was there in this nation that made history in proud seclusion and isolation from other nations? Old hatred was revived. The descendants of Edom (the Idumeans), the Ammonites, the Philistines and Phoenicians, they all revived their ancient jealousies.

Messengers arrived from Gilead. The pagan people joined forces to destroy Judea. From Galilee came the bad news of similar evil intentions and active preparations in Ptolemais, Tyre and Zidon. The messengers found Judah Maccabi already at work. Fortifications had to be thrown up around Zion. Towers, walls, battlements and moat had to be constructed opposite the fort still held by their worst enemies, the Hellenistic Jews, under the leadership of the false priest Menelaus. These hated everything Jewish, and lived in the hope of the return of the Syrian masters. Judah Maccabi prepared Jerusalem against them and against imminent assault by the troops of Antiochus. Under his supervision the Jewish people worked feverishly to refill their arsenals and turn the whole country into a stronghold.

Once this most important task was accomplished, Judah Maccabi led his freshly trained troops to the aid of the regions and villages harassed by the spiteful neighbors of Judea. He drove the Idumeans from Hebron, which they had annexed, and he punished the people who had acted with hostility towards the Jewish settlers. Then he led his army across the Jordan River against the Ammonites. Their capital fell before the furious onslaught of the Jewish troops, and so did their fortress, Yaeser. Judah’s brother Shimon led an army north to aid the plagued Jews of Galilee. He defeated the enemy and cleared the Jewish land. At his urging, a great many of the Jewish settlers who had fled to Jerusalem, returned to rebuild in safety what had been destroyed during the years of weakness. Judah Maccabi and Yonatan joined forces and marched against Gilead, where they were met with the toughest resistance. By Shavuot, this campaign was successfully concluded.

Judea was again free, and all parts captured by the neighboring nation had been recovered. Celebrations and festivity transformed Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, hardly half a year after the victories over the Syrian armies. The Jewish people expressed their joy and gratitude to G‑d in the form of psalms and offerings. For He had restored glory and liberty to the Jewish land.

Christmas Facts

• Each year, 30-35 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States alone. There are 21,000 Christmas tree growers in the United States, and trees usually grow for about 15 years before they are sold.
• Today, in the Greek and Russian orthodox churches, Christmas is celebrated 13 days after the 25th, which is also referred to as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. This is the day it is believed that the three wise men finally found Jesus in the manger.
• In the Middle Ages, Christmas celebrations were rowdy and raucous — a lot like today’s Mardi Gras parties.
• From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was outlawed in Boston, and law-breakers were fined five shillings.
• Christmas was declared a federal holiday in the United States on June 26, 1870.
• The first eggnog made in the United States was consumed in Captain John Smith’s 1607 Jamestown settlement.
• Poinsettia plants are named after Joel R. Poinsett, an American minister to Mexico, who brought the red-and-green plant from Mexico to America in 1828.
• The Salvation Army has been sending Santa Claus-clad donation collectors into the streets since the 1890s.
• Rudolph, “the most famous reindeer of all,” was the product of Robert L. May’s imagination in 1939. The copywriter wrote a poem about the reindeer to help lure customers into the Montgomery Ward department store.
• Construction workers started the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition in 1931.

A Timeline of the Shocking True Story of the Modern Latke

Warning: This may be upsetting to traditionalist latke lovers.

Courtesy Gabe Friedman

The latke is one of those Jewish foods that feels steeped in tradition, as if it’s been made the same way since the days of the Maccabees.

But in a revelatory article, Atlantic senior editor Yoni Appelbaum explains that the latke as we know it — grated potatoes fried in olive oil — is a relatively new culinary invention. Here, in brief, is the Hanukkah staple’s origin story.

As early as the 14th century: Deep-fried ricotta cheese

That’s right. Latkes were originally an Italian cheese dish.

According to Appelbaum, they were inspired by The Book of Judith, set hundreds of years before the Maccabean Revolt. The book, from the Catholic Bible, tells the story of a daring widow who seduced and killed the Assyrian general Holofernes to save Israel from invaders.

In an obscure Hebrew version of the story, Judith distracted Holofernes in part by feeding him pancakes “salted and mixed with cheese.” Italian Jews adopted the custom of deep-frying cheese pancakes on Hanukkah to honor the story, which they apparently conflated with that of the Maccabees.

Up to the 19th century: Grain pancakes

Appelbaum notes that potatoes were originally cultivated in South America and weren’t introduced to Europe by Spanish explorers until the second half of the 16th century. Potatoes weren’t widely grown and consumed in Eastern Europe — the Old World from which many Jews emigrated to the United States — for a couple more centuries.

Until the early 19th century, Eastern European Jews made pancakes from grains, such as buckwheat and rye, according to food historian Gil Marks. Those were among the few crops available to them during the frosty early winter, when Hanukkah is celebrated.

The 19th century: Potatoes fried in schmaltz, not oil

In the 1800s, even after potatoes took root in Eastern Europe, latkes were still not fried in olive oil (as they are today, providing a convenient link to the oil-rich story of Hanukkah). Olive trees were uncommon in the region, and people cooked with schmaltz, fat rendered from chickens, geese or beef.

In fact, schmaltz remained a traditional latke ingredient well into the 20th century. Appelbaum cites a stipulation from a 1927 issue of The American Mercury magazine (which he says includes the first mention of the word “latke” in English) that the potato pancakes be “fried in schmaltz.”

From the 20th century: Today’s latke — potatoes fried in oil

The advent in 1911 of Crisco, the first shortening made entirely of vegetable oil, changed the way latkes (and many other fried foods) were made. Kosher, Crisco was once marketed as the miracle for which the “Hebrew race had been waiting 4,000 years.”

When Crisco “fell from favor,” as Appelbaum writes, olive oil took its place at the Hanukkah table — and the modern latke was born.

“So what’s a latke?” asks Appelbaum.

Simple: “It’s a shredded Andean tuber, fried like a buckwheat pancake, which was substituted for Italian cheeses, once eaten to honor a mistaken reading of obscure variants of an apocryphal text.”

But it’s crispy, and delicious.

The Modern Day Chanukah Potato Latke & Recipe

Latke (pronounced LOT-keh, LOT-kah or LOT-kee) is Yiddish for “pancake.” On Chanukah, it is traditional to serve latkes (most often potato) fried in oil to celebrate the Chanukah miracle, which involved the oil of the Temple menorah lasting for eight days instead of just one. Jews eat foods that reflect the significance of a holiday — such as matzah on Passover and apples dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah — and Chanukah is no exception. For at least the last thousand years, Jews have traditionally eaten oily foods on Chanukah.

Why Latkes Go With Sour Cream

Potato latkes are traditionally served with applesauce and/or sour cream, but they are perfectly tasty with nothing at all In addition to being delicious with fried foods, sour cream is symbolically significant. Dairy treats are reminiscent of the milk-based (and intoxicating) meal that the brave Judith fed the Greek general before she decapitated him in his sleep.

Ingredients:

5 large potatoes, peeled
1 large onion
3 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. pepper
¾ cup oil for frying

Use: 10-inch skillet
Yields: 4 to 6 servings

Grate potatoes and onion on the fine side of a grater, or in a food processor; or put in a blender with a little water.

Strain grated potatoes and onion through a colander, pressing out excess water. Add eggs, flour, and seasoning. Mix well.
Heat ½ cup oil in skillet. Lower flame and place 1 large tablespoon batter at a time into hot sizzling oil and fry on one side for approximately 5 minutes until golden brown. Turn over and fry on other side 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove from pan and place on paper towels to drain excess oil. Continue with remaining batter until used up, adding more oil when necessary.

Serve with applesauce and/or sour cream on the side.

The 12 Days of Christmas

The 12 Days of Christmas start on Christmas Day and last until the evening of the 5th January – also known as Twelfth Night. The 12 Days have been celebrated in Europe since before the middle ages and were a time of celebration.

The 12 Days each traditionally celebrate a feast day for a saint and/or have different celebrations:

• Day 1 (25th December): Christmas Day — celebrating the Birth of Jesus
• Day 2 (26th December also known as Boxing Day): St Stephen’s Day. He was the first Christian martyr (someone who dies for their faith). It’s also the day when the Christmas Carol ‘Good King Wenceslas‘ takes place.
• Day 3 (27th December): St John the Apostle (One of Jesus’s Disciples and friends)
• Day 4 (28th December): The Feast of the Holy Innocents — when people remember the baby boys which King Herod killed when he was trying to find and kill the Baby Jesus.
• Day 5 (29th December): St Thomas Becket. He was Archbishop of Canterbury in the 12th century and was murdered on 29th December 1170 for challenging the King’s authority over Church.
• Day 6 (30th December): St Egwin of Worcester.
• Day 7 (31st December): New Years Eve (known as Hogmanay in Scotland). Pope Sylvester I is traditionally celebrated on this day. He was one of the earliest popes (in the 4th Century). In many central and eastern European countries (including Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland and Slovenia) New Years Eve is still sometimes called ‘Silvester’. In the UK, New Years Eve was a traditional day for ‘games’ and sporting competitions. Archery was a very popular sport and during the middle ages it was the law that it had to be practised by all men between ages 17-60 on Sunday after Church! This was so the King had lots of very good archers ready in case he need to go to war!
• Day 8 (1st January): 1st January — Mary, the Mother of Jesus
• Day 9 (2nd January): St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, two important 4th century Christians.
• Day 10 (3rd January): Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. This remembers when Jesus was officially ‘named’ in the Jewish Temple. It’s celebrated by different churches on a wide number of different dates!
• Day 11 (4th January): St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint, who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the past it also celebrated the feast of Saint Simon Stylites (who lives on a small platform on the top of a pillar for 37 years!).
• Day 12 (5th January also known as Epiphany Eve): St. John Neumann who was the first Bishop in American. He lived in the 19th century.

The Deeper Meaning of the Chanukah Oil Miracle

The Paradoxes of Oil as a Guide for Living

By: Rabbi YY Jacobson

Dedicated by David and Eda Schottenstein
In the loving memory of:
Rabbi Levi Yitzchok ben Zalman Yuda Deitsch and Alta Shula Swerdlov
And in honor of the birth of their daughter Yetta Alta Shula, “Aliyah”

Why Celebrate Oil?

The kindling of a menorah during the eight days of Chanukah commemorates an ancient miracle that occurred in our Jerusalem Holy Temple, some 2300 years ago. Following the victory of the Jews over their Greek oppressors who desecrated the Temple and attempted to destroy Judaism, a little cruse of unsoiled olive oil found in the Temple lasted and burned for eight days, till the Jews managed to purchase new pure oil for the daily kindling of the Temple Candelabra. To commemorate this display of Divine grace in a world usually enslaved to nature, the sages of Israel instituted the eight-day holiday of Chanukah, in which we kindle a menorah each night.

In that sense, oil embodies the essence of the Chanukah narrative and serves as the main focus of the festival of lights. Indeed, in many a Jewish household, the Chanukah lamps consist of wicks dipped in olive oil, replicating the Temple Menorah lamps. Throughout the holiday we eat various foods soaked in oil, from latkes to donuts (oy, the calories).

This is strange. The miracle of the oil, it would seem, was of minor significance relative to the military victory. Besides the fact that this was a miracle that occurred behind the closed doors of the Temple with only a few priests to behold, it was an event concerning a religious symbol without any consequences on life, death and liberty. If the Jews would have been defeated by the Greeks, there would be no Jews today; if the oil would have not burnt for eight days, so what? The menorah would have not been kindled. Would the latkes taste any worse?

Why did the main focus of the Chanukah become oil?

Many insights have been offered. In this essay, we present a symbolic explanation, relating to the inner psychological universe of man. It is based on a pre-Chanukah letter penned by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1947.[1]

Four Qualities of Oil

Olive oil contains four interesting qualities.

A) Olive oil is produced by crushing and beating ripe olives. The olive must be severely “humbled” and pressed in order to emit its oil.

B) Olive Oil, as many other oils extracted from minerals, plants and animals, penetrates solid substances deeply. We all know how difficult it is to remove the oily grease that makes its way into our fingers or our clothes. Various oils have been used throughout history as remedies for bodily wounds and diseases, since oil penetrates the body far beyond its external tissue.

C) Oil does not mix with other liquids. When you attempt to mix, say, oil with water, the oil will remain distinct and will not dissolve in the water.

D) Not only will oil not mix and become dissolved in other liquids, rather staying in place or sinking downward, but furthermore, the oil will rise, floating atop any other liquids.

On a symbolic level, these appear as paradoxical characteristics. Is oil “humble” or “arrogant?” It is beaten badly, yet it rises to the top!

From Spiritual to Physical

In the writings of Jewish Mysticism, all physical properties of any existing object are seen as continuums of their metaphysical properties. Every object originates in the realm of the spirit, embodied by a particular sublime energy. Then the energy evolves to assume a physical reincarnation, giving rise to particular physical characteristics that mirror their spiritual source.

This, parenthetically, constitutes an extremely rich component of Judaism. From the vantage point of Torah, the truths of science, physics, chemistry, biology etc. and the truths of philosophy, spirituality and psychology are merged together in a perfect mosaic, since the physical evolves from the spiritual.

The same principle applies to oil as well. The four above-mentioned qualities displayed in oil are essentially a physical manifestation of four spiritual and psychological attributes from where oil originates. They, in turn, evolve and assume the four physical forms of expression outlined above.

Four Cardinal Principles

In our lives, we must learn how to become “oil”-like. We must learn to cultivate the four properties characterizing oil.

A) The crushing and pressing of the olives, which allows you to become oil, represents the notion of humbleness, the antithesis of arrogance and self-inflation. Seeing ourselves for who we really are, being open to discover our biases, blind spots and errors, allows us to genuinely grow.

B) The direct result of this “pressing” is your ability to become oil-like and, just like oil, penetrate others deeply. When you’re haughty and pompous (usually because of a lack of self-confidence and hence the need to create a delusional self-confidence), you are incapable of sharing yourself with others, or allowing them to share themselves with you. You hide in a bubble, afraid of being vulnerable and authentic. You can’t be in a real relationship. Only when your fake ego is crushed a little bit, either by choice or by life’s circumstances, you have the courage to show up in the world, and to show up to other people, with the real “you.” You can then connect with other people’s hearts profoundly.

C) Humility and genuine relationships must never allow you to be pulled down and completely defined by the relationships. You must never forfeit your individual identity and to dissolve in the emotions or choices of the other person. The beauty and magic of a relationship lay precisely in the fact that two distinct individuals choose to share themselves with each other. Just like oil, you know how to feel and experience another human being deeply, while still not becoming consumed and nullified by the other’s identity. Like oil, you must always retain your distinctiveness.

The holy master Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787-1859) once remarked: “If I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, I am not I and you are not you; but if I am I because I am I and you are you because you are you, then I am and you are.” Now we can begin to schmooze.

D) This threefold process of crushing yourself, bonding with others and at the same time retaining your distinctiveness – should ultimately cause you to rise—just like oil—to the top, and “float” head and shoulders above all which is around you. Realizing that you are a “Piece of the Divine,”[2] and that at every moment you are an ambassador of G-d to our world, allows you to experience yourself as invincible, wholesome and way above the gravel that you may encounter in yourself or others. This comes not from arrogance but from realizing that your core is part of the infinite. Just like oil, you, too, rise to the top.

The Talmud states,[3] “The messenger of a person is just like sender.” If G-d chose you and sent you on a mission to this world, you are G-dlike! If you can only identify that space within yourself, nobody can compare to you.

This was the deeper mystical significance of a miracle that caused oil to increase. And it is why we celebrate with focusing on oil, for this story captures the rhythm of life. For me to become a glowing menorah, casting light in me and around me, and lighting up the world, I must be oil-like: First, I must discover the art of humility and integrity; second, I must allow myself to show up in my relationships genuinely and wholesomely; third, I must retain my distinctiveness and individuality; fourth, I must always recognize that part in me which is always “on the top.”

Judaism, particularly its festival of Chanukah, comes to teach ordinary human beings how to become oil-like. If we wish to ignite a fire in our lives, we ought to take a good and deep look at the olive oil in our Menorahs

Happy Chanukah – but let’s go easy on the physical oily foods, but not on the spiritual message of oil.

Twelfth Night of Christmas

Twelfth Night was a time of great celebration with people holding large parties. During these parties, often the roles in society were reversed with the servants being served by the rich people. This dated back to medieval and Tudor times when Twelfth Night marked the end of ‘winter’ which had started on 31st October with All Hallows Eve (Halloween).

At the start of Twelfth Night the Twelfth Night cake was eaten. This was a rich cake made with eggs and butter, fruit, nuts and spices. The modern Italian Panettone is the cake we currently have that’s most like the old Twelfth Night cake.

A dried pea or bean was cooked in the cake. Whoever found it was the Lord (or Lady) of Misrule for night. The Lord of Misrule led the celebrations and was dressed like a King (or Queen). This tradition goes back to the Roman celebrations of Saturnalia. In later times, from about the Georgian period onwards, to make the Twelfth Night ‘gentile’, two tokens were put in the cake (one for a man and one for a women) and whoever found them became the the ‘King’ and ‘Queen’ of the Twelfth Night party.

In English Cathedrals during the middle ages there was the custom of the ‘Boy Bishop’ where a boy from the Cathedral or monastery school was elected as a Bishop on 6th December (St Nicholas Day) and had the authority of a Bishop (except to perform Mass) until 28th December. King Henry VIII banned the practise in 1542 although it came back briefly under Mary I in 1552 but Elizabeth I finally stopped it during her reign.

During Twelfth Night it was traditional for different types of pipes to be played, especially bagpipes. Lots of games were played including ones with eggs. These included tossing an egg between two people moving further apart during each throw — drop it and you lose and passing an egg around on spoons. Another popular game was ‘snapdragon’ where you picked raisins or other dried fruit out of a tray of flaming brandy!

The first monday after Christmas feast has finished was known as ‘Plough Monday’ as this was when farming work would all begin again!

In many parts of the UK, people also went Wassailing on Twelfth Night.

Twelfth Night is also known as Epiphany Eve. In many countries it’s traditional to put the figures of the Wise Men/Three Kings into the Nativity Scene on Epiphany Eve ready to celebrate Epiphany on the 6th January.

It’s also traditional to take your Christmas decorations down following Twelfth Night.

Twelfth Night is also the name of a famous play written by William Shakespeare. It’s thought it was written in 1601/1602 and was first performed at Candlemas in 1602, although it wasn’t published until 1623.

Would You Live in ‘The Best Airport in the World’ for a Month? This Guy Just Did!

Courtesy Ashley Rossi

Survivor meets The Truman Show. As a pretty clever marketing ploy, the Helsinki Airport invited Chinese actor and TV personality, Ryan Zhu, to live in the city’s airport for 30 days.

As noted on the campaign website, the Helsinki Airport is the most-connected airport in Northern Europe and it serves over 18 million passengers each year. It’s also been awarded the best airport in the world by Travellink. To find out if it really is the “best airport in the world,” you can follow Zhu’s journey on social media with the hashtag, #LIFEINHEL. Each of the 30 days is made into a short video, which you can find here.

From following checked luggage to experiencing a Helskini stopover, Zhu discovered the ins and outs of everything “the best airport in the world” has to offer in 30 days.

Zhu moved in on October 10 and completed the 30 days last week. He slept in a small cabin set up for him inside the airport terminal. His prize? A trip to the up-and-coming Finnish Lapland with friends and family.

This Holiday Season Pay Respects to Liz Taylor, Walt Disney at this Glitzy Graveyard to the Stars in Glendale

LA Times

This is one of the grand cemeteries in the world — in setting, in scope, in star power. Step inside Forest Lawn Glendale and honor the memories of Elizabeth Taylor, Walt Disney and Jimmy Stewart, among dozens of other famous names.

The 300-acre cemetery dates to 1917 when Hubert Eaton took it over in hopes of celebrating eternal life. It hosts funerals, art shows and weddings. Ronald Reagan married Jane Wyman in one of its chapels.

Grab a map from the info booth as you enter the lush and hilly cemetery. Out of respect for privacy, the map will not guide you to the stars’ graves, but other resources offer maps.

From the front gate, follow signs to the wonderfully gothic Great Mausoleum, where Elizabeth Taylor is buried and honored by a giant angel at the end of the hallway. L. Frank Baum, of “Wizard of Oz,” fame is buried to the west of the Great Mausoleum, with a hefty tombstone.

Michael Jackson? He rests in a private section not open to the public.

But Jimmy and Gloria Stewart are marked by humble graves that are open to public viewing – though not easy to find.

As you face the Wee Kirk O’ the Heather chapel, they reside up the hill to your left: space 2, lot 8, small markers near the statue of a man holding an arrow.

Clustered at the Freedom Mausoleum, you’ll spot the graves of Walt Disney, Spencer Tracy, Errol Flynn, George Burns and Nat “King” Cole.

Where: 1712 S. Glendale Ave., Glendale, Calif., about 15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles, in Los Angeles County.

How much: Free

Info: Forest Lawn Glendale, (323) 254-3131

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