Easton Book Festival 2025 - Saturday 10/18 at the IF Museum

Late Saturday afternoon and into the evening, there was a reading and Fusion Art event at the IF Museum on N. 4th Street. I emceed the reading, Shalom Neuman masterminded the art action. The first part of the reading, NYC based poets and writers, some notably from the Unbearables and Pink Trees Press, and the Fusion Art event was dedicated to the Unbearable, Hal Sirowitz, author of Mother Said: Poems and other books, who sadly passed away the day before. 

The readers in the first part were Allegra Parks, Ron Kolm, Anthony Haden-Guest, Dorothy Friedman August, Lee Klein, Leah Kogen-Elimeliah,  Jane LeCroy and the artist Karen Orange Neuman reading from Hal Sirowitz's book, Mother Said: Poems.

 

 

 

After the Fusionism event, there was an open mic, introduced by Lynn Alexander. The readers were Garrett Flanagan, Rebecca Reynolds, Ernest Woodley, Sienna Mae Heath, Marc Sloan, Willow Marsh and yours truly, who also emceed.

 

Patrick on electric piano and Bernard on acoustic upright bass provided very appropriate musical backgrounds.

I am happy to say that all the readers were terrific and their readings were excellent. It was an excellent event.

Delicious and much appreciated food and beverage was generously provided by Daddy's Place on Northampton Street and Antonio's Pizzeria and Restaurant on South 3rd Street.

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Easton Book Festival 2025 - Friday 10/17

I drove out to Easton PA on Friday. I got there early enough to pick up Ron Kolm at the bus station, We had a pleasant early supper at the Easton Public Market. Afterwards, we wandered over to the Centre Square- I don't know why but that's how they spell Centre - where an open mic was about to start. Crossing the street, Lynn Alexander, one of the organizers and a leading light of the Lehigh Valley literary scene saw me and waved me over. She was organizing the reading with Darrell Parry, another bright light of the Lehigh Valley Literary scene. Andy Laties, one of the founders of the festival and co-owner of Book & Puppet Co., an excellent bookstore and small event space, was wandering around, as well. The festival, in its seventh year has grown to be an October happening in Easton, a week-long series of engaging free readings, panels, performances and demonstrations mostly within downtown Easton.

The good and the bad of the open mic is some readers really have some great stuff to read, others go on too long, but everyone who wants to has their moment in front of the mic and we listen.

Here's a few photos from  around the reading. I got a good one of Darrell, an okay one of Andy taking a video with Ron sitting on the edge of the fountain deciding what he would read. The only shot I got of Lynn was her rushing in front of a reader adjusting the mic. Oh well.

There was an opening of local artists at the IF Museum's downstairs gallery.  Gaia, Andy's partner was there as was Anthony Haden-Guest. Leah Kogan-Elimeliah was there representing Pink Trees Press, whose founder and publisher Linda Kleinbub could not be there herself, along with her new friend, Allegra Parks.

At Centre Square

At the IF Musuem

Later, on the street, where I was stopped by three young fans of my storytelling.

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Radomer Mutual Culture Center Annual Yizkor Commemoration 9/28/2025

Our tradition of gathering on the Sunday between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur began after the Radomer survivors of the Holocaust formed the Radomer Mutual Society - now the Radomer Mutual Culture Center - purchased burial ground and erected a monument to those who were murdered by the Nazis and their allies during the Holocaust, in the mid-1950s.  Now, seventy-five years later there are very few survivors of the Shoah still alive. Their children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren continue the tradition and standing together continue to show that despite how many were slaughtered because they were Jews, we are still here, standing proudly and strong while remembering those who are no longer able to join us.

We were happy that the weather favored us with a beautiful, balmy morning. Standing together to chant Psalm 23, the Mourner's Kaddish and the El Malei Rachamin as well as commemorative readings is quite meaningful to us. We honor the past generations and still mourn in our hearts for those we never knew because they were killed.

As is my tradition, I brought my camera. Here is a selection of photos of attendees. You know who you are.

For the first time, I got everyone to stand for a group photo. Apologies to anyone whose face is obscured. I've never done this before. Next time I'll make sure the taller people are in the back and the shorter in front.

 

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RIP Charlie Kirk, inspiration for witch hunts

Charlie Kirk was killed, which was bad. He was assassinated, which was bad, I will not celebrate his death nor will I condone any political violence, but I will not mourn the man either. In my opinion he was not a good man. He was a bigot who wrapped himself in a distorted version of his faith and he found vast support from those who shared his bigoted views.

He spoke hateful words often about people he disagreed with, people whose way of life he did not approve even though they never did him any harm. And he said it was his right.

Charlie Kirk believed in free speech and defended the right of Americans to speak even hateful words, which he did frequently. On X, in May of 2024 he wrote, "Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There's ugly speech. There's gross speech. There's evil speech. And all of it is protected by the First Amendment."

I wonder what Charlie Kirk would say about the people who are pushing to suppress criticism of him and who he was. Would he back down on what he said about hate speech? Would he feel it's okay to direct "ugly speech... gross speech...evil speech"against others but don't you dare say anything against me? He enjoyed debating with liberals, people I see as more open-minded and fair-minded than he was. The witch hunters debase his legacy and besmirch his memory. Do these people who are pushing witch hunts against critics of Charlie Kirk know that they are hypocrites, care that they are hypocrites? Indeed they do not because they are the haters and these haters believe they are in possession of the only truth.

Indeed, he was willing to speak cruel, harsh words. The deaths of the innocents were justified in support of his beliefs.  We must remember what he said after the Christian Covenant School murders of children and adults in Nashville, Tennessee in 2023. Kirk said  at an event, "It's worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment."

Charlie Kirk is dead. He shares the fate of the children of Christian Covenant School, of Sandy Hook, of the victims of the Pulse Club, of Parkland High School, of the attendees of the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, and all those other innocents whose death by gun are the cost of us having Charlie Kirk's version of the Second Amendment. I wonder if he feels his own death is worth it so we can have the Second Amendment?

https://kayester.blogspot.com/2025/09/rip-charlie-kirk-inspiration-for-witch.html

Radomer Mutual Culture Center Holocaust Memorial. 2025

The Radomer Society was founded seventy years ago and is still functioning.

Very few of the founders are still alive, the youngest are in their 90s now but we are still here 80 years after the liberation of the survivors of the Nazi's genocide against the Jews and others.

We held our annual Holocaust Memorial on 4/27/25 at the Chabad Center of Northeast Queens. 

I've selected only the photos of the lighting of the Holocaust Menorah, commissioned by the society shortly after the society's founding. Six candles are lit as Yizkor candles for the six million murdered.

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How can we save America from Trump and his toadies? Also, a Quark Story

 I wish I knew a way to make Trump go away or barring that, just shut up. He may be the worst president we've ever had, certainly the most dangerous. He is only willing to know what he wants to know and anything that disagrees with this is not only wrong but a betrayal. He will take a bribe, his opponents aren't the loyal opposition, they are his enemies and if he thinks someone or something is an enemy, then they are criminals. And the criminals who support him are justified in his eyes, their crimes committed in support of his felonious activity.

It seems his administration acts with a highly destructive impulsivity modeled on their demented leader. If we can't make Trump go away, if we can't make him shut up, can someone make him aware that not only is he an old man who can die any day now, but that what he's doing is making America weak, disjointed and divided. He seems to fear and misunderstand diversity. Hey Donald, it's not a zero sum game. The more diverse a workplace, a school, social environments, the more positive things are generated. Is he afraid that the positive will reveal to people what he's really like?

The idea that there is such a thing as human dignity, for the religious human divinity is beyond his comprehension because it isn't about him. Does he know what integrity is? 

His personal ethos is what's good for Trump is good for the world, If his supporters love him then they share his delusions. He doesn't care about them, only about himself. Hilary Clinton was wrong when she called them deplorables. That was almost a compliment. In truth, like Trump, they are self-delusionals and their delusions are hurting not only them but too many others as well.

Enough. No more ranting.

Beside having a story published by Sensitive Skin Magazine this week (click on this to go to it),  I give you another, this one a tale of three quarks and electron who walk into a bar and photo of a bar. I am not sure I've got the science right.

An electron and three quarks walk into a bar. It was a quiet place until they arrived. The bartender looked up when both doors opened and all of the particles weren’t sure which door they would go through until the bartender looked up.

The electron sat down on a barstool unwilling to interfere with itself. The bartender looked hard at the quarks.

“I don’t know if you’re up or down, top or bottom but I’m positive you can’t stay here naked and exposed.

Indeed, the bartender had something. No quarks had ever been seen, only the things they made, two positive up quarks and one negative down quark to make a proton,

And each of them a different color.

The bartender smiled. “I am uncertain what I know but you’re positive right?”

“Strange,” said one of the particles.

“Bottom’s up,” said the second.

“Charmed,” said the other.

The electron was looking rather hazy.

The bartender turned on the TV. The strangest baseball game was on the screen.

The playing surface was a field, the electromagnetic field, several baryonic disturbances  there and where the photon should be, a perturbed Higgs field dragging on all the others. Permalink

Odd thoughts on the universe while thinking how best to survive in Trump's version of purgatory

Yes, the ugly, turd-brained bankrupt real estate developer is president again and after two months he's showing himself to be even less mindful of unintended consequences than he was the first time around. Is he suffering from dementia?

You would hope both he and his sycophantic butt-lickers would've learned, but no. So now we have to work very hard to take back Congress in 2026 and work hard locally to keep some sanity in state and local governments, and look to our courts to keep the separation of powers and the rights of states before themselves.

I won't go into the BS that Musk, who ought to know better is involved it. I think part of his brain had enough so it got up and went.

Anyway, a couple of photos of a barn in Iowa I shot last summer and a brief essay on the asymmetry of our universe.

 

            Don’t look for symmetry because it isn’t there. If there was symmetry in the universe we wouldn’t be here. What do I mean, you ask? Simple. In the beginning, at the moment when the big began to bang there was matter and there was anti-matter and every time matter mat antimatter – kaboom, they annihilated each other. What’s that got to do with symmetry and us being here, you ask? Well, in the beginning when the big nothing got banged, there should’ve been equal amounts of matter and antimatter and all of it should’ve met and been kaboomed. In a symmetrical universe, no matter, no nothing except the occasional pair of virtual, antithetical particles popping in and little kabooming out of existence.

 

            But in our universe at the beginning when the big banged there was a slight asymmetry – not much, probably one part in a quadrillion billion but enough so that when matter met antimatter, there were enough particles without a dance partner, standing around the punchbowl and snack table, virtual wallflowers, unmatched, unkaboomed, that a universe full of matter could expand and then inflate and expand some more and 14 billion years later I can tell you there is no symmetry in our universe,, at least not true symmetry, only something that looks like an attempt at seeming symmetrical. Let’s call it quasi-symmetry and be glad that this is how it is.

 

 

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Rutt's Hut for Hot Dogs in Clifton NJ

If anyone is wondering why I haven't posted in several months it's because in September I broke my ankle while riding on my scooter. It slid out from under me as I descended a steep hill with a sharp curve at the bottom. In short, I was arguing with Isaac Newton. The lesson is, he really knew his shit.

On Saturday, February 21 my youngest child, who's not so young, already in their mid-30s and I drove to Clifton, NJ to eat the famous Ripper hot dogs at Rutt's Hut. 

What's so special about Rutt's Hut? It's been around for a long time and they do something different with their dogs, they deep fry them. I first heard of the place more than 25 years ago while watching Rick Sebak's wonderful documentary, "A Hot Dog Program." In the show's enthusiastic hour Mr. Sebak traveled around the USA sampling the regional and local frankfurters of note in those places. He was careful to say that he wasn't claiming they were the best, only that they were excellent examples of the locale. He ate in Atlanta, Chicago, Fairfield CT, Alaska, Los Angles, NYC and at Rutt's Hut in Clifton NJ.

My kid heard about it when they read a book by  Jamie Loftus called Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs in which she took a road trip to eat hot dogs around the country while also exploring their history and nature. I noticed in a review I read of her book that she visited several of the same ones that Sebak highlighted back in the 1990s leading me to wonder if she was at all inspired by his film.

Rutt's Hut is one of those roadside restaurants that evolved from a stand. The parking lot was full but turnover was rapid. Inside the sit-down restaurant side there were a few tables open but people kept coming in behind us to fill them while others ate, paid and left. Nobody seemed angry or unhappy. At the table next to us, one of the patrons knew the Loftus book but not the Sebak movie.

We had a pretty standard order of two Rippers each with a side of french fries and fried onions. It was definitely a high-fat meal.

Rippers come in three varieties depending on whether you're a poppa bear, momma bear or baby bear. At one extreme are the Cremators, fried until they are black. On the other end, the In-and-Out, quickly fried. In between, the standard Ripper, which is what we had. On the table, their mustard and relish which work very well with the dogs.

We both liked them. They are different from other famous and somewhat more obscure hot dogs I've tried since seeing the Sebak program. Super Duper Weenies stand out for their toppings, Buffalo Texas Red Hots from Ted's are not hot spicy but strong with their garlickiness. All of them are yummy and while I don't eat hot dogs often any more, when I do I want them to be special. This was a special frank.

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