Blog'jour: Notes from the Front

Blog'jour: Notes from the front:
From Friday February 12 - Friday, February 19th. 2010


My new strategy for this blog:

My days are so full that I plan to use this blog as an update of my thoughts and activities during the week with video clips and links.


I am finding that if I don't write these things down right away, they get lost and never get done. And my weeks are really full.

So here goes starting with today and going back one week to last Friday. I hope you find it interesting enough to come along on my journey.

I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU THE HIGHLIGHTS.

FRIDAY FEB. 12TH
3 -5PM

A once in a lifetime opportunity to INTERVIEW SUSAN WEIDMAN SCHNEIDER, Chief editor of LILLITH MAGAZINE: http://www.lilith.org/about.htm?PHPSESSID=cefc972d8a1127aeeca4c70b7c14a7e7

I grabbed a cab and picked up FRAMBOISE BABULOT and SONIA SARAH LIPSYC.
We had a Tunisan cab driver on the way there. he immediately icked up Sonia Sarah's North African French accent.


SHABBAT RETREAT at DORSHEI EMET:

Pot luck Friday night and the opportunity to listen and interact with Susan Weidman Schneider

SATURDAY NIGHT:

BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR LEA BENEGBI AT MY PLACE WITH
ALBERT NIRENBERG LAUGHOLOGIST EXTRAORDINAIRE , FILMMAKER AND
GAZETTE COLUMNIST

MONDAY;
Work at home feverishly to find a caretaker for my sister for when she returns from day surgery tomorrow.

TUESDAY:
surgery cancelled: work at home with Framboise

5:15 I grabbed a cab and pulled out my camera. (I have been systematically recording my cab rides and conversations with cab drivers, they are an amazing source of wisdom and very cooperative.) This time it was a Jewish Morrocan cab driver, pretty much the same demographic that we were about to discuss. He gave me his name and it is on the video which he said I could feel free to use and I will post it later for those of you who want to share my cab ride.

5:30 focus group at CJA Federation on developing future services for seniors

As I walked into the Gelber center (5151 Cote St. Catherine) I said hello to a woman entering and as we gave each other a second look we both realized that we did not know each other. I asked her where she was going and she told me she was going to a meeting of the LYMPHODEMA SOCIETY !!!!

WOW....
My sister has been dealing with this for the last three months. Nobody knows how to treat it. I had to take two minutes to check this out.

Sure enough the Lymphodema society was having its meetings: one in
English: one in French: They meet 3-4 times per year and have some very nice handouts and a permanent office and tel. number:

514-979-2463
AQL/LAQ
Association québécoisedu lymphoedème
Lymphodema Association of Quebec
I also got the number of this sweet woman to give to my sister for a personal contact. thank you.

The FEDERATION meeting was lively, approx.10 people from various areas of Montreal and varying demographic configurations.
TERRY TRAGER will report on the meeting on their website and invite anyone in the community to also voice their opinion.

My own review;
Concerns are for health and cultural services in a Jewish social milieu as people age.
Services for Jews are sparser in the suburbs.
There is an interest in grassroots involvement in creation and functioning of all programs and a request for an ongoing information service to help people seeking services including volunteer opportunities.

Check out their website to express your own opinion.
I met some amazing people there and we exchanged contact information.

From there I took a taxi to the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue to catch:
TUESDAY NIGHT LEARNING AT THE SHAAR

Here I participated in a class with Alice Lehrer,
"Whats the "good" in Judaism? a brief History.

and then an amazing class by Rabbi Howard Joseph, Rabbi emeritus of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue on, "The Religious dynamics in the music and poetry of Leonard Cohen"
followed by a special rendition of Cohen's Halleluyah by Alon,a young musicam intern from Israel.


WEDNESDAY

AM
I discover BBC world radio program: Witness, a fiveminute segment of live witness to history accounts: today the account of a Jewish prisoner who survived the bombing in Dresden under Nazi guard.

PM
Working at home with Framboise, we lose our computer connection.
We go over to CUTV and participate in the filming of the Vegan Iron Chef program
at Concordia U. Lots of vegan munchies and cool video.

Late afternoon:
I learn that my sister has been admitted to hospitl for tests. I pass the camera equipment to framboise to film the Jewish/Christian dialogue meeting at the Reform Temple that evening and head over to the hospital and home to bed. Whew!!! She is pleased that she will get a speedy assessment.

THURSDAY

8- 9 am meet with my trainer Steve Hoather: another amazing session feeding both body and mind. this time we talk about health and wellness and disability. (I record this on the i-phone and hope to publish it eventually perhaps even here in future.)


12:15 Michael Yeung picks me up to go to the Cummings Centre to videotape the Human Promise Conference on Human Rights.

PROGRAM SPEAKERS: 1- 4 pm
Allii Carr: at 28 years old she has 9 years of international volunteer experience and is in the process of building a school for disabled children in Ghana,West Africa called Happy village International:
Murray Levine replaced a guest who could not show up on short notice and shared about his fundraising efforts over the last thirty years for all kinds of causes.
Hélène Massé's students (autistic) from École de la Magdeleine in La Prairie
presented a powerpoint which they created on the plight of African child soldiers and child witches.
Ky'oksing Kirunga a field representative for the Stephen Lewis Foundation spoke about HIV/AIDS in Africa and the work the foundation is doing in this area.
Maya Smith and Nick Pang, interns in the Faiths Act Fellowship, presented a project that all present participated in.

The message to all was "you are powerful and you can make a difference"

I think I will stop here.

Oh yes, my sister was discharged from the hospital yesterday. The cat scan was negative.

We spoke this morning and she agreed with Dr. Bali that she needs to take a deep breath and go with the flow as the body heals itself.
G-d bless you all!
what a week!


Shabbat shalom...


Abigail Hirsch
514-792-6065

Blogger: http://askabigail.blogspot.com/
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