New Addition to the Family!

 Levi Nat Reiser Gordon, 7 lbs. 11 ounces, son of our daughter, our baby. He feels like a small and precious miracle, like Jake and Ella did, nine years and six years ago respectively. I am proud of the journey Samantha and Josh will now embark on, for it is indeed a journey, a roller-coaster of a ride with ebbs and flows and sometimes just stationary.

Indeed, though, it is a new beginning, and there is such positive energy in the world today, with the possibility of the first female president of color, and a world where the mean and bullies are on the downside of the roller-coaster ride. It is a world of possibilities for Samantha, Josh and Levi.

Ira and I have hope for this little boy, and our other precious ones-Ella and Jake. May the world embrace you with decency, integrity, loving-kindness and hold all of your dreams in the palm of its hands. May the future be good, better, best, and may you navigate all that is good and right with the world--like this new little guy, and our other two. May you dream big and may those dreams be honored. We will always love you--forever and a day!

Amen.

Positive Messaging

 Watching the DNC has been a sheer joy, and it is not just the fact that Kamala Harris is my candidate of choice, and also Tim Walz is a pleasure to watch, it is also because I love language, and the messaging has been positive. I am not just talking about the upbeat messaging of moving forward,  but the body language. There is so much embracing and hugging and celebration on the faces of its audience. People are smiling, not frowning, and they are speaking of a future, a positive future, a world I would be proud to live in. The other side is dour; they are deadly and destructive in the words they use. As a teacher of rhetoric, I am on to what they are saying, and their words have every intention of producing fear, even terror, the minds of their audience. I must say they are successful, since even though they are brining back a world where women are impotent, back in the kitchen, Handmaid's, I still saw a sign the other day: Women For Trump. I'd like to quote Ira who says, "What is wrong with this picture? I know men can be stupid, but what is wrong with a woman who wants her bodily rights taken away?" Wish I could give an answer.

I will not dwell on the negativity of the other party, but instead revel on the joy, the laughter, the push forward that this Democratic ticket has provided. I would be a fool to say it is perfect; no ideology ever is. Still, I can rejoice in this laughter, this positivity, dare I say hope

Today I celebrate hopefulness. And what a day to celebrate" the birth of my newest grandson happened this morning. New details to come.

Turning Seventy

 In two weeks I will be turning seventy, and I am filled with a myriad of feelings. On the one hand, there is the excitement of my retirement, the political energy and thrill of the possibility of having a woman of color as president and her Jewish husband as first gentleman. On the other hand, I have witnessed the world gone beserk as a former president goes on a rampage to destroy all the norms and decency of human behavior. I am filled with grief as I witness  political bullets flying over the world's stage, but I can protest--and will--to make the world the kind, safe place I want my children and grandchildren to grow up in. And I will.

I now have time and energy to fight for the causes I believe in, and the blessing of this time is it has filled me with convictions I have never had before. SEVENTY means you know who you are, for better or worse, so you can be that person, without an apologies. I never fit in a box, but now I don't care to be anything other than who I am. There is freedom in seventy--time to continue your passions (political and writing for me), and the leisure--with retirement--to read all the books I want to, but also  indulge in the joy of doing absoutely nothing at all.  I can go to the theater or museum with my husband, a friend, or just go solo.Or I can spend quality time with my grandchildren, and experience the sheer pleasure of that. And soon there will be a third, and I await his presence with an open-heart.

Of course, as my mind continues to stay active, I can not deny my body is not the same. Sleep is more often disrupted and sometimes my body betrays me--an ache, some pain, even as I get up in  the morning, I need to exerecise myself out of bed. I know it will ony get harder, but I am a fighter, I have always been, and so I will do what I need to do.

Indeed, in so many ways this is a good age, so even with the changes in my body, I will continue to take pleasure in the many joys that anchor me, and will fight even harder to make this world one I want to continue to live in for many years to come.

Happy birthday to me and to a new and better world that is waiting beyond the horizon!

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz: Excitement in the Air

 Michelle Goldberg from the NYT wrote an editorial the other day, suggesting the last time there was this political excitement was when Obama ran during his first term. I agree; I am feeling politically excited for the first time in a long time, particularly when I hear states like Florida and Texas have reported political fundraising like never before. My friend in Austin, Texas, has shared the blue-inspired mood with young people on campus, and I am seeing and hearing young people everywhere--coast to coast--vowing to vote. The record -breaking numbers of young new voters is awe-inspiring. They are motivated by the message of HOPE. This ticket represents all the issues they care about, and is delivered with joy and humor and compassion.

Did you hear the speeches of Walz, Shapiro and Harris tonight in Philadelphia? You should tune in--the message was clear. These were not words of venom and derision; they spoke the language of inspiration and positivity and humor, of a world moving forward, not backwards. Women and men today want equality and compassion; they want their rights and freedoms; they want their books and their bodies and their social security and their medicare and the right to say Donald Trump is not fit to be president; he never was. And Vance is already presenting as second liar-in-chief.

But now, today, I believe in possibilities. We can only move forward and keep on moving. That is where our country belongs. Pay it forward--keep the positive energy burning!