Other items in today’s column include:
*Ben Gurion University, Salk Institute to engage in brain and spine research
* Political bytes
*Coming our way
*In Memoriam
SAN DIEGO – Many of our readers may remember Art Linkletter’s television show Kids Say the Darndest Things. In classrooms throughout the nation, their parents say even darnder things. Just ask Cheryl Kolker and Jan Landau, longtime teachers at the San Diego Jewish Academy who have collected anecdotes from 30 of their colleagues in American public and private schools and put them all into a humorous book Teachers Have You Ever..!!@#*!!
So as not to violate teacher-student confidentiality, the book is constructed in such a way that the teacher telling the story and the school where it occurred are left unidentified.
The first part of the 89-page volume offers 211 anecdotes in which teachers ask each other whether they’ve ever had a similar experience. I’ll quote a few to give you the flavor:
* Had a parent tell you not to be concerned with his son’s poor aptitude and attitude for math because Aaron is assured a job in the family business—just not in the finance department?
* Had a Russian parent advise you that when her son exhibits oppositional defiant behavior, to just take him aside and harshly whisper in his ear, “Siberia, Siberia, Siberia”?
* Had parents insist that their third-grade son could read and comprehend an adult level biography about Albert Einstein for his book report? After all, they said, I told them at the last teacher conference that I was delighted that their son, who was just about reading at grade level at the beginning of the school year, was now assessed to be reading above grade level?
In this Kolker-Landau collaboration, kids also continue in the Art Linkletter tradition. Teachers, had you ever…
* At the dedication of a beautiful garden on our campus in memory of a beloved teacher who had recently died, overheard one child tell her friend, “This is where all the teachers will get buried when they die”?
* Taken fourth-grade students on an airplane trip to Sacramento, California’s state capital, and have one of them comment, “I’ve never flown economy before”?
* Had a seventh-grade public school student ask if you are Jewish because you were out of school the first two days of the Jewish holiday of Passover? When you replied, “Yes,” he said, “You don’t look like you just came out of the desert.”
You might say these and other anecdotes (some R-rated) are the appetizers for the second part of the book, which relate other experiences in far greater detail.
My favorite concerns a girl who tearfully told her teacher that she didn’t turn in her homework because the Russian mob stole it. The girl’s mother came to school to back up and greatly embellish upon her story.
If ever you’ve wondered what teachers talk about in their “break room,” if you read this book, you’ll know. And you’ll enjoy the experience. It retails for $16.95 and is available on Amazon.
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Ben Gurion University, Salk Institute to engage in brain and spine research
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $14.3 million, five-year grant to researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Ben Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev to study how the brain controls arm, wrist, and hand movement via the cervical spine, which is located in the neck.
The research team will include David Golomb of the BGU Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience and Inter-Faculty Brain Science School, and a Salk Institute contingent consisting of Martyn Goulding, Samuel Pfaff, Tatyana Sharpee, Axel Nimmerjahn, and Eiman Azim.
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Political bytes
*Congresswoman Susan Davis, in her capacity as a senior member of the House Administration Committee, has won approval by the full House of a resolution to permit the House Counsel to retain outside legal counsel as the impeachment process against President Trump proceeds.
*Mayor Kevin Faulconer has endorsed attorney Joe Leventhal in the race for the open 5th Council District. ““Voters can count on Joe to fight for fiscal reform, keep government accountable to the public, and provide real solutions to our homelessness crisis.,” the mayor said.
*Three political volunteers who were active in the “Flip the 49th Campaign” that saw freshman Democratic Congressman Mike Levin’s victory in 2108 have endorsed Terra Lawson-Remer in the 3rd Supervisorial District. “We can count on Terra to protect our environment, combat climate change, reduce traffic congestion, improve access to public health care and keep local government as open, clean and accessible as our north county beaches,” stated Harold Standerfer, Steve Bartram and Ed McFadd.
* Port Commissioner Rafael Castellanos has been endorsed in the open 1st County Supervisorial District by the San Diego County Probation Officers Association. Scott Laudner, the group’s president, said Castellanos “understands that we are all safer when communities and law enforcement are working together as partners.”
*San Diego City Councilman Chris Ward, who is running for state Assembly in the open 78th District, said he favors putting a $900 million housing bond issue on the city’s November ballot to build approximately 7,500 affordable housing units to serve the homeless, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities. “The housing crisis exacerbates homelessness, making our attempts to address it more challenging,” he said. “We have built shelters, expanded outreach efforts, opened storage facilities, and invested in rapid re-housing and workforce development programs. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, the only way to end someone’s homelessness is to house them.”
*The nomination to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas of former San Diego Union-Tribune publisher Doug Manchester, after a long delay in the U.S. Senate, has been withdrawn at his request by the White House.
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Coming our way
StandWithUs sponsors a speech by Hussein Aboubakr, an Egyptian Arab who now is a supporter of Israel, at 7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 17 at the San Diego State University Student Union, 3rd floor Visionary Suite. RSVPs via this website.
In Memoriam
The following deaths were reported by Am Israel Mortuary in San Diego:
* Alice Brand, 99, died Nov. 14, just 8 days before her 100th birthday. Graveside funeral services will be conducted by Rabbi Avram Bogopulsky of Beth Jacob Congregation 1t 11 a.m., Friday, Nov. 15 at Home of Peace Cemetery, 3668 Imperial Avenue, San Diego.
*Marcia E. (Forim) Baldwin, 78, died Nov. 10. Graveside funeral services will be conducted at 10 a.m., Friday, Nov. 15 by Rabbi David Castiglione of Temple Adat Shalom at El Camino Memorial Park, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road, San Diego.
*Eugene Irwin Rissman, 84, died Nov. 13. Born in Montreal,Canada, to Usher and Ruth (Cohen) Rissman, he moved with his wife Marlene (Shatsky) Rissman and sons Robert and Jeffrey to the United States in 1981. Graveside services will be conducted by Rabbi David Kornberg of Congregation Beth Am at 1 p.m., Nov. 15, at Garden of Eden Orthodox Lawn at El Camino Memorial Park, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road, San Diego.
*Eva Erika (Zentai) Szames, 77, died Nov. 13. Rabbi Baruch Greenberg of the Chabad Jewish Center of Oceanside/ Vista will conduct funeral services at 2 p.m., Friday, Nov. 15, at El Camino Memorial Park, 5600 Carroll Canyon Road.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com