Ugh!

My mind has been in a swirl and a little numb.  I know, how can it be both? But things are happening around me and all over the world which are making it more difficult to make complete sentences.  Reading the newspapers is bleak both locally and internationally.  Entertainment hasn't been thrilling recently to help take my mind off the darkness that exists.  

I recommended to my daughter to go ice skating at Bryant Park with her friend.  A beautiful area during the holiday/winter season.  The ice skating is free but the rental costs are great.  The snack costs are high, so "free" is relative.  Still cheaper than Wollman Rink in Central Park and probably cheaper than Rockefeller Plaza rink, but it ends up being a very pricey outing. They went, spent too much, had moderate fun.  That was Friday night.  Saturday night, the lead story was a shooting at the rink.  Seriously?  Why do I have to keep hearing about shootings?  Why can't we see that it's not just mentally ill people with guns? It's too many people with guns.  Another rude reality in an otherwise blissful location.  Ugh!

Watched Matt Lauer interview Sarah Palin the other morning.  It was a disgrace.  Did NBC get so shaken by Reince Prebus' threats of boycotting NBC over the Hilary Clinton movie, which has since been cancelled, that they just ask softball questions?  Matt Lauer let her say anything whether or not it was fact or fiction.  It was cozy and flirty.  Very uncomfortable to watch if you expect the Today Show to be a "news" program. I have hung in with them in the morning, but if they want to know what's wrong with the show, just put the Lauer/Palin interview on a loop.  I can't imagine George Stephanopoulis letting an interviewee get away with the crap that was spewing from Sarah Palin's mouth.  I'm not even sure why she even gets air time outside of Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck.  If she weren't a beauty, she'd be nowhere.  She is not getting by on her brains.  Ugh!

Sunday night, November 10th, was the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht.  Another day in history which is getting lost in footnotes, but it is one of the most defining days of the Nazi rise against the Jews.  There were many witnesses reporting what they saw.  Attention might have gone up, but not for long.  30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps, homes and businesses owned by Jews were ransacked and destroyed, Synagogues were burned and destroyed, and approximately 100 Jews were killed. Kristallnacht named for all the shattered window glass all over the streets.  The crime?  Being Jewish.  The young people don't know about so much of this event, much less the continuing brutalization to follow.  As the last few Jews to have witnessed the Nazi atrocities are dying, it becomes even more important for parents, clergy, and teachers to tell the history.  It shouldn't be up to the Jewish community alone.

And I can't end without acknowledging the people of the Philippines. The catastrophic event by the cyclone seems so far away and unimaginable.  Interesting that there hasn't been a huge outcry to donate….

Our first snow in NYC. That's all I got right now.  Happy Tuesday!