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Day on the Lawn

About a month ago, my wife had a work event in Central Virginia, so we used it as enough of a reason to visit Charlottesville. I went to UVA and have tons of fond memories of my time there, and I really enjoyed the city itself, so I often went back. For myriad reasons, I hadn’t been back since a quick jaunt for the Messiah Sing-In in 2017. [Yes, this Jew loves that event. It’s not the music itself, but the event is magical. I joined virtually one year, and I’ll be back at some point.] As we met in 2019, my wife had never been to Charlottesville. We had a lovely time – wandering the city market and Downtown Mall, seeing the various places I lived, and eating very, very well (see this new WEDS post for more). I had to work hard not to fall into too much nostalgia while touring Grounds; our options were to stop at each place for 5 minutes (quick tour) or 5 hours (wave of memories and stories). I spared her that fate. I say that all as context for what happened this past week, when I we...
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My Local Lulav (2025 Edition)

The more I write, the more likely it is you’ll notice a theme of how I moved around a lot for about 20 years. Perhaps I’ll focus on that at some point, just talk through the timeline of the adventures I’ve been fortunate to have and the places school, work, and life have taken me. Wherever I have been, I’ve tried to find familiarity while being open to how that place can change me, how I can learn and grow. That feels fancier than it is; usually, that has manifested by me trying a bunch of fun restaurants and breweries. It has also meant a lot of great hikes and other outdoor adventures. For today, I just want to focus on the walk I just finished. Well, I’ll focus on that shortly. Give me a minute to add context. Another throughline is my Jewish practice. All three words are important. It’s what I have chosen to do to explore and reflect how I connect with Judaism. [Note that I’m excluding walking alongside Amy on her conversion journey. We’re still building what our Jewish practices ...
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USDA relocation plan

On July 24, USDA announced a broad reorganization plan. The email to workers and the public announcement came out at the same time, blindsiding many of us, including apparently much of the leadership, even more than a few levels above me. There is a lot in here that is going to cause long-term problems for USDA and the people we serve (read: everyone). The building I work in, the George Washington Carver Center, is explicitly named as one of the locations that will eventually be vacated. It's possible they'll tell me I have to start reporting downtown. Based on what has been shared - which is mostly the announcement itself , some quotes to a range of media outlets, and the Deputy Secretary's testimony to the Senate Ag committee that is so full of gaslighting I threw my headphones down in anger in less time than it takes to make ramen - it seems likely they'll ask me to move to Raleigh or Fort Collins. Those are both nice places, but as I said in the inaugural post , I...
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Songs and memories

I was watching random things while washing dishes, and one of them stopped me: Call Me (Weird) Al At first, I thought it was the joke—how he softballs it in there and how excited the audience is when they realize what’s happening—but as he kept going, it was clear there was something else. I missed playing this song. It was one of the more fun Pep Band songs, and it’s responsible for one of my favorite Pep Band memories. I’m still figuring out what this site will do for me. At least today, it’s a place to get out a story. Maybe I’ll write more about the band, but for now, I’ll point you to Elmo’s old site . In the Pep Band, we played about two dozen songs regularly, and we played them a lot . Some of the mellophone parts weren’t the most critical, so we could play around a little, maybe play the written part most of the time but add in some fun lines here and there. I say this because I want to illustrate just how well-worn those tracks were, how easy it was to memorize (at least ...
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Dogsleds, and why I’m not moving

I started writing this after the announcement about the USDA relocation plan . The link is light on details and heavy on gaslighting, so read at your own peril. I’m working on another post about that, including the letter I’m writing to USDA and my representatives, but for the purposes of this post and launching this effort, it boils down to this: They are planning to move over 2,600 of the 4,600 DC-area USDA employees out of the National Capital Region. They are vacating the building I’ve been working in since February. This does not necessarily mean that my job is moving. Details are essentially nonexistent, but the intent (read: threat) is clear. My job might move. So, I’ll state it plainly: I am not moving. This experience and other related ones started me thinking about dogsleds. About eight and a half years ago, in the middle of a breakdown, I started to really put words into an internal framework that helped me understand why I was unraveling what to do about it. The metapho...
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