Happy Jew Year!

Sorry for the delay. Life just seems to take over sometimes.

The past two weeks saw the coming and going of two major holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This was the first time since high school I've been home for the new year, and it was AMAZING. Even though I was only home for one day, it was fantastic just to relax and spend time with my family. And eat the five pounds of mashed potatoes my mom made.

As I learn more Spanish, I think more about the context and meanings of the vocabulary I study. For instance, the word "esperar" has two meanings: to hope, and to wait.

And during the high holy days this year, the relationship between those two words kept coming back to me, and how amazing it is that in Spanish they are one. As the new year comes we are waiting and hoping for a better year than the last. We are waiting and hoping for this year to be the one we are in Jerusalem. We are waiting and hoping for the Messiah to arrive and usher in a new era. Esperar.

To combine the two words, to wait and to hope, somehow makes the word "wait" all the more fragile. When you're hoping for something, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is going to come. But when you're waiting, you're pretty positive that it's on its way. So in a way, esperar also makes "hope" stronger, in that it's paired with something so concrete.

Does this make any sense? I'm running on about five hours of sleep here.

So ANYWAY...my first weekly project for digital journalism is on the Ithacan's Web site!

I know, I left the Ithacan my freshman year with guns (and middle fingers) blazing, but since I need to submit stuff to the paper for class, I figured I'd just go with it. Hey, at least I'm getting some clips on the Web.

And my partner and I get to choose our own weeklies. Our first one was about the Iron Chef competition at AppleFest. Even though it took about eight torturous hours to cut together, attending the event itself was a lot of fun. You can check out our soundslide of the event here.

Apples to Apples

If heaven exists, it would be an apple orchard.

Across the street from a peanut butter factory.

And I, armed with a knife and a spoon, would have unlimited access to both.

Yesterday I went with Hillel to Littletree Orchards in Newfield, NY for some pre-Rosh Hashanah apple picking. And being that apples are one of my favorite foods, I was like a kid with a golden ticket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: very hungry and a little crazy.

Then again, I'm always hungry and crazy so I guess this wasn't out of the norm for me.


The plan was for everyone to work together to pick three bushels of apples: one for use to share, one to share with students on Rosh Hashanah, and one to donate to Loaves and Fishes, which is a local soup kitchen.

Unfortunately, not too many of the apples seemed ready for picking yet. It was safe to taste the apples right off the trees, and I didn't encounter any that were particularly delicious. We managed to get three bushels, but it was tough work and I can't say how many of those apples are actually going to taste good.


Although the pears were very tasty.

Oh well, Applefest is in two weeks.

A weekend-long festival dedicated to my favorite food. I am the luckiest kid on earth.

Gorge Hike

Every year since I started at Ithaca, I've been going on Hillel's hike down Buttermilk Falls on Labor Day. I love this event, it's always a chance to meet new people and go swimming without lifeguard supervision :)

It's a shame it's my last hike with Hillel. This year we had over 40 people attend, the most that I've ever seen. It was amazing to see so many Jews from campus concentrated in one place! And not on Yom Kippur, when suddenly everyone gets a case of the guilts for not attending services!

Anyway, on a less depressing note here's some photos!


Standing in a circle for the customary pre-hike getting to know you questionnaire. This year's special question: If you had a pet platypus, what would you name it? I said Napoleon, although there was a proliferation of Shlomos, Chaims, and Moses this year.



Katie in nature.







Josh took one for the team and went into the COLD water first.






Me and Katie. We want to make a photo collage of all the pictures we have together from our gorge hikes.


I love my macro lens!


This coming weekend should be a good one. Having Shabbat dinner at Boss House with Katie, Brian, Britt, and a bunch of other people, then Farmer's Market and a Sufferjets roller derby game on Sept. 12. Digital journalism workshop assignments start on Monday, so I'm enjoying life as much as I can until then.