Would you turn me away if the walls were all I could see in your face?

[sovay]

I do somewhat resent that the first time I remember my dreams in weeks, they are nightmares about attending a convention, having to fight off a serial killer, and then contracting some kind of life-threatening alien infection, which is definitely way too high a ratio of pulp to anxiety if you ask me.

On the other hand, I spent much of the afternoon being interviewed by a grad student for her master's thesis in folklore: she is studying the music of Jewish partisans in WWII and the creation of liminal spaces through song and I felt like a one hundred and ten percent ringer and I had a wonderful time.

The recording I made for Jeannelle M. Ferreira can now be found with author's notes on her blog: "October Ghosts and Minor Resurrections: An Audio Excerpt."

The world continues fractured and frightening, but people build fires, and within the circle of the light, even if only for a little while, things may be all right.

Comments

[sara]

I just feel down a Wikipedia hole and you probably already know about this guy but I didn't and wow: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmerke_Kaczerginski

[sovay]

I just feel down a Wikipedia hole and you probably already know about this guy but I didn't and wow

It counts that you're discovering him now! We sing his "Yugnt-himn" in A Besere Velt. He was a zamler as well as a writer and that matters to me.

[sara]

I also learned "zamler" tonight and that is a great word, speaking as someone who does a lot of that kind of work. Do you think that is a word one can use about non-Jewish assembly of old things, or do you think it is one of those culturally bound words?

[sovay]

Do you think that is a word one can use about non-Jewish assembly of old things, or do you think it is one of those culturally bound words?

I've never seen it used outside of a Jewish context. It means "collector" in Yiddish, זאַמלען‎—it was given its current meaning in 1891 by Simon Dubnow, one of the first major Jewish historians/ethnographers of Jewish history and culture. [edit] If I saw it extended to other marginalized cultures, I would hackle much less than if it were picked up by mainstream white Christian America.

[selkie]

Big Boss is very proud that his name is what it is, because zamler. He considers it one of the profession-names like Feld or Shechter.

[sovay]

Do you think that is a word one can use about non-Jewish assembly of old things, or do you think it is one of those culturally bound words?

Revisiting this question: I think these people were fucking zamlers for America. They saved the truth when they didn't know how it was going to end.

[sara]

He's not my senator right now but I am proud to have voted for him. And of course the Oregonians grabbed the paperwork on their way out the door. We are a sensible people.

[sovay]

And of course the Oregonians grabbed the paperwork on their way out the door. We are a sensible people.

The record matters. I am glad of your Oregonians.