Too Big for My Fomer Blogspace (Britches)

Well, here's the newest spot for the 3901News Blog -- more accessible than the former one which requires readers to sign into yahoo and listed my number of friends, which seemed stuck at the pathteic 2-friend level (thanks though, Amy Perlmutter and Szonyi, you guys rock). I am appending below the original blogs and pictures so that you have missed no part of the 3901 adventure. Please feel free to comment and send me photos, stories, poems and other matters suitable for posting.
Love.
Aviva

Entry for July 12, 2005

Above -- a picture of Sticky getting unsticky
Hello folks -- a real day of ups and downs. Good news is that the Benster was accepted into the American School of London, a pricey but wonderful public (i.e. private) school in England where they don't flog even the baddest of boys. I am really thrilled for Ben, because the program seems stimulating and is a seamless fit with his first semester in the US. They even offer American History AP and Japanese II. For those of you who don't know, I should tell you that the gantze mishpacha, small as it currently is, will be in London for the Spring semester next year. I will be teaching American students, Szonyi is planning to do some writing and some social work. David may be in Heidelberg or Zurich, Michael will be in Haifa. We are all oh-so-contienental. Naturally, a major goal for Ben is to learn how to affect a British accent and to get in the habit of declaring barbaric all things American.
As for the bad news, this evening I had to tell a client that the court found against her for custody of her son. It was a big blow. I honestly don't think there is anything either of us could have done differently. The die was cast long ago, but she still held out some hope and I am really sad for her. Attorney-client privilege prevents me from discussing the details of the case, but the whole thing makes me so grateful for (almost) every moment I've had with the Greenberg boys.
Speaking of gratitude and throwing in tremendous personal strength, please visit the blog of Tricia Black, a fomer law student of mine who, tragically, has a serious, aggressive cancer. Her spirit, inspired in part by her 10 month old son, is amazing. She really appreciates thoughts and prayers from strangers as well as friends, so if you have a minute, drop her a note. Even if you don't correspond with her, take a minute to be inspired by strength and to be reminded to let all the petty aggravations of life go. Her blog can be found at: http://www.tebspage.blogspot.com/



Entry for July 11, 2005

Emmet Aflred ("Sticky") Weisz, son of Debby and Craig is the cutie-pie above.
Well, I know the blog will be successful because it has already generated irritated email from devoted readers dedicated to a quality product. It seems I may have gotten some "facts" wrong in my description of the antics of various Greenberg boys. Here is the correction per Michael Greenberg, who, I am delighted to report, will soon be a regular contributor to 3901 News Blog. Those of you who remeber his movie reviews ("cool things blew up!") will welcome his return.

From Mike:
Work is fine, pretty slow. You know, the developing world and all that. I've taken to carrying around biltong (heat-dried strips of spiced meat). It's delicious and very veldttrekker of me. I'm trying to convince S&S [Saba & Savta, Jehiel and Sylvia Orenstein] to come here when they get a chance; I think they'd love it. Tons of Jewish stuff, tons of crazy African stuff. There's a kosher meat place with pretty good ribs. And you can get kosher biltong.
Your blurb about Beth and me is amusingly off. We're at the University of the Western Cape. I work for a bioinformatics non-profit on a top-to-bottom database (i.e. it doesn't just have data about gene sequences and protein structure, it contains information about how genes relate to proteins and proteins to metabolic pathways, and so on all the way up to the organ level). Beth is doing preliminary thesis work directly through one of UWC's health programs. She's presently investigating the relationship between self-efficacy (one's ability to change one's own behavior) and community involvement and use of free time. Her thesis will be on autopoiesis of community programs (my choice of words, she's much more down to earth). Lastly, Dave is at the Max Planck institute.
I'm forced to wonder about the editorial quality of the original 3901 newsletter but am certain that my revision seriously buoyed the print quality, if not the content. I must say, my movie reviews were superb.
Love,
Mike



Entry for July 10, 2005

Dear Family and Friends,
It was inevitable that eventually I would begin a family blog. The vanity press known as 3901 News, which ceased publication when my granmother Libby died, was a primitive version of the urge to share my life and loves, up and downs, with the world. We always imagined future issues with articles like "Aviva Marries Some Guy" and "High School Degree Not Essential for Ivy League Success" but somehow never got around to it. I will try to post events and little vingettes from our lives inviting you to comment and providing links to other interesting pages. Above is a picture of David and me in Heidelberg Germany from last fall. Current Greenberg-boy citings:
David -- back in Heidelberg after a visit to Budapest. He is back working at the Max Planc institute.
Mike -- in Cape Town South Africa with his girlfriend Beth Adler. Mike is working in the University of Cape Town's department of informatics doing some programming around the human genome project. Beth is assessing the success of an after-school program in keeping kids off drugs and preventing risky sexual behavior.
Ben- is a cub reporter for the Bergen Country Jewish Weekly Standard where he writes a teen column and will be doing some feature reporting. He later goes to his annual gig at Bryn Mawr, the Summer Institute for the Gifted. Despite the off-putting name, Ben has a blast taking film production, self-defense and hanging out with old friends.