Power outage

After six years of living in North Carolina, some argument can be made that I am a Jewish Southerner. I'm sitting on my porch in a beloved rocking chair, ...

I am grateful that I have the money to buy the food and an old cast-iron skillet to bring the fried chicken into respectable culinary life. I’m grateful, too, that there is still some of that scrumptious chocolate cake in the fridge. The rain has started pounding upon the roof, and some droplets are falling on the living-room floor, victims of a structural crack in the ceiling. The dogwood trees on our property are still alive with color, and my old Toyota is still running. Several people are dancing in the street, and I am grateful for their exuberance, which keeps at bay any catastrophizing that I might indulge in. My son responds that as Jews the biggest responsibility we have is to fix the world.