Time for another installment of Alfalfa Sprouts? Hard to believe - it seems like forever since the last one. Or just yesterday - a little of both.
My family continues to thrive. Caitlyn is not yet taller than I am, but is close and will be before another edition. Isabel is a little live wire. Having her around is kind of like living with a mischievous badger: cute but dangerous. Both girls have a number of interests beyond harassing their old man (their very favorite sport), but swimming has been the most prominent this hot summer. That and playing with their new cousin Mitch.
Anne has been drafted into chairing her department, a job for which she shows a scary aptitude. I see little enough of her as it is, and I joke that it'll only get worse when she is dean. Which is not really funny, as she already qualifies as She Who Must Be Obeyed.
My own career has treated me well enough, albeit with a large dynamic range between highs and lows. Had my first sabbatical (spent at Case Western to be near home) and have been successful with obtaining NSF grants to support my students and our observations at Kitt Peak. Have had plenty of opportunity to travel, including to a lengthy workshop at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a fabulous, wonderful, atmospheric city, both ancient and modern. And that's aside from its obvious quality as the focus of the major Western religions. Sure hope it doesn't get blown up. There was a bus bombing the day I left. Had been at the Wailing Wall and heard it go off. Not surprisingly, security was tightened immediately afterwards, which had a side effect that would be amusing were the whole situation not so sad. I had arranged to share a taxi to Tel Aviv with a colleague who happened to be on the same flight. He is of south Asian extraction, and the Israeli authorities have no hesitation about engaging in what we would call racial profiling. If I had been alone in the cab with my pale white face, I'm sure I'd never have been stopped. (I could see many people who weren't.) But Raja got us pulled over at every conceivable checkpoint. Never any trouble, and he put up with it very well (though I didn't ask what went on behind that little curtain once we finally got to the airport. If you think security here is thorough, imagine having every single item in your suitcase swabbed for explosives residue.)
Well, that is but one of many experiences since our last newsletter, but I've already written too much. The biggest complaint I have right now is that the local school board has decided to close our local elementary school. It is bad enough to suffer total morons in the highest offices of the land completely screwing up everything imaginable. But we're used to that. When local officials make brain-dead decisions that directly impact the immediate welfare of your children is seems much more personal.
C, F, & S,