Growing Up Bookish—My latest column in jweekly.com

Growing Up Bookish

My latest column-- 50 years later: memories of Kennedy, pain and hope

Column in j. the Jewish news weekly

The Column | Confronting fears in Tanzania amid roaming beasts | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

The Column | Confronting fears in Tanzania amid roaming beasts | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

Lot's Wife

Lot's Wife, a poem I wrote several years ago, has finally been published, and I have a "double-header" in the August 2 issue of j. the Jewish news weekly.

Here is the poem:

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Lot’s Wife

Thursday, August 1, 2013 | by janet silver ghent

I.
Petrified in an unforgiving land, pilloried by an unforgiving God
I stand in silence, robbed of name and voice
for the sin of looking back, toward a home I must leave.
Tears turn to bitter crystal, hardening on chiseled cheeks.
Sunk in desert sand, I can no longer follow.

My nameless daughters, my compromising husband, make their beds,
ensuring notoriety in a timeless tale.
Left behind, an anonymous link,
I’m remembered as the one who failed to hear God’s warning,
paralyzed under a piercing desert sun
that shows no pity.

II.
They heed the warnings and leave for New York,
first husband, then daughters,
while I stay back to close the family home.
I fill a steamer trunk with memories —
Shabbas candlesticks, lace tablecloths, photos and letters, even my wedding dress.
My mementos make the crossing, landing later in a museum
where witnesses weep.
Lingering too long, I scour the bath, cover furniture, close curtains,
set valises at the door,
and wait for a taxi that comes too late.

Janet Silver Ghent, former senior editor at j., is a freelance editor, columnist and feature writer. She lives in Palo Alto and is a member of Congregation Beth Am, where she was struck by the story of Lot’s Wife in a weekly Torah study class. At a local JCC, she had seen the contents of a woman’s steamer trunk that had made the crossing to the United States in preparation for its owner’s arrival. Sadly, before her departure, the woman was taken to the camps. The juxtaposition of the two narratives inspired the poem.

Wake Up and Smell the Sheets

In my garden, I look out on cream and plum-colored dahlias, tiny blue lobelias, tomatoes, basil, and a crisscross of green plastic rope that spans the back lawn. It’s our solar dryer. Some call it a clothesline.

Visitors chuckle, noting that their mothers or grandmothers used to hang laundry. Our 4-year-old grandson, Ryan, lets us know that his mother has a washer and dryer. So do we, we told him, but when we hang the wash, the sun is our dryer and on a summer day, it does a pretty good job.

My friend Judy, who sells real estate, seems slightly appalled at the sight of sheets and underwear gracing the backyard. “You could never do that if your house were on the market!” she says. Others admire our dedication to the environment, but say they couldn’t possibly take the time to hang wash.

The truth: Taking the time is why I do it. Years ago, when my children were small, I started hanging sheets in the summertime because I loved the fresh fragrance of air-dried linens. Later, as I became environmentally conscious, I recognized that a clothes dryer consumes quite a bit of electrical power and can heat a home on a hot summer day. But those are no longer my main reasons. Now it’s about slowing down. As I pin the clothes, I listen to the singing mockingbirds, watch a spinning hummingbird and I pause, imbibing the sounds, scents and shades that fill my garden: rosemary for remembrance, lavender for quietude, thyme for meditation.

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Ruminations on my column

Hi, welcome to my new blog. I'd love your feedback.

I've had quite a response to my latest column in j. weekly, titled Religious? Spiritual? What's it all about?

Here's my expansion on that theme:

Some of my best friends are spiritual but not religious, and vice versa.  My parents were good people--they helped others in need and followed the Golden Rule-- but they had no use for religion OR spirituality. Meanwhile, I know of religious people who do nothing to better the world.

I am not opposed to living with a spiritual component, which can provide the energy for doing the "work" that our faiths ask us to do. For some people, a free-form spirituality can provide the impetus to spur mitzvot. It  can involve taking AND giving back. But we live in a world with many takers and we need more givers.

That's the point of my column. That, and the importance of community.

The Column | Religious? Spiritual? What’s it all about? | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

The Column | Religious? Spiritual? What’s it all about? | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

The Column | What’s in a name, and why did I change mine? | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

The Column | What’s in a name, and why did I change mine? | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

Who needs 613? Mother had her own litany of mitzvot

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/68235/the-column-who-needs-613-mother-had-her-own-litany-of-mitzvot/

Homage to my mother

Why we celebrated our 50th anniversary—37 years early

Celebrations | Time’s a-wastin’: Let’s rejoice in our blessings | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

Connecting myself to a worldwide family—through the roots

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/67507/the-column-connecting-myself-to-a-worldwide-family-through-the-roots/