Adam Byrn Tritt's Blog, page 5

Pride

It is not through my own efforts of will, creativity, invention or industry that I was born here. This is true of all people who are not immigrants, as truly, only one who has risked pain, suffering, and life can count pride in such. Hence I have no pride in for being an American, as there should be no pride in the color of one’s skin, gender, preference or any other accident of birth or biology.

Different dictionaries will define pride in slightly different ways, but each has at its core the...

Passover and the Industrial Revolution

Tomorrow is Passover. Each year I think next year. Next year I will have a sedar again. But the tablecloth stays in the closet. I feel, I think, better with the memory of making matzoh with my daughter, the house filled with people – friends, family, students far from loved ones with no Jewish home to celebrate in – all reclining, talking, singing, eating. We wrote our own hagadah. I even “painted” the lentil red. All who entered, safe. May the Angel of Death pass us over. We cel...

Bluebird

The first science article I remember reading was about Thor Heyerdahl. In the 1940’s, the Norwegian ethnographer and explorer postulated the Central Pacific islands were populated by South Americans who drifted from Peru to their new homes on rafts. This article, on a stiff card, came from the box in the back of the classroom. This was, I think, second grade.

There were four boxes back there. Maybe eight inches cube, maybe a bit longer than wide, they were named after birds. Each contained ca...

I Got Up Late this Morning

I got up late this morning,
Unusual for me, had nothing to do
Popping out from under the warm covers
Into the cool of the house
I found myself in the kitchen,
Baking.
Biscuits and butter for everyone,
Some for us, some for the neighbour girl
Who plays with our son and loves biscuits,
So I was happy to oblige
And, what little mess there was, I sang to as I cleaned.

Old movies played inside while out
It rained, then didn’t,
Then did.
The cool moist air roaming in drifts through the wide windows...

The Wheaton Test Or What I Need to Know About You Before the Second Date: With an Amendment Three Years Later Regarding how Completely Wrong I Was

Adam Byrn Tritt

Amendment
12/26/2016

There is a picture on my bedside table that was not there yesterday morning. It is a picture of a gloriously beautiful woman, sky and sea behind her, smiling. It is in a frame of gilt and funk and sparkle and it makes me smile nearly as much as the beauty in the photograph. It was a present from Arlene for Chanukah. And it is perfect.

Beside me, as I write this, is another picture, a drawing, actually, by Brian Andreas. We were in a gallery in Charleston,...

Once Upon a Time, on a Board

This is a short story. It so happened that, for a short time, my wife (I still can’t say “late wife” and suspect I never will) and I were on the board of The Jewish Federation of Brevard and Indian River Counties. My wife and I. That makes this an ancient story as well.

It so happened that, for a short period of time, Lee and I fit that stereotype the world often holds, and holds against, Jews – we were professionals who had our own business and were, seemingly, doing well for ourselves. A s...

Prayer to the Earth for Yom Kippur

Adam Byrn Tritt

We open our mouths to proclaim how beautiful the world is, how sweet life is and how dear to us you are, Lady, Mother of All Living.

We stand here today to remind ourselves that we are all part of this web of creation. We are all linked, so that what any of us does affects all of us, that we are all responsible for the Earth. That we are all responsible for each other. We have chosen to be here today as a symbol of our commitment, our awareness of this connection.

Even so, we...

Yom Kippur as Manifest in an Approaching Dorsal Fin

Adam Byrn Tritt

It is Yom Kippur. A Monday. I have taken the day off work to walk, meditate, think. I have taken the day of work so I could go to temple the night before and not worry about the time, the hour, how late it was getting, when I would need to get up.

We asked our friends to go with us. In our back yard, playing with clay, our conversation set on cognates and religion. I mentioned the Buddha of compassion, Amitabha, and the other name for him, Amida. How the Amidah is the name of...

Let’s Burn Something Down Tonight

Let’s burn something down tonight.
Let’s find something old,
Something we used to think
We could not survive
Without, something significant. Let’s
Set it on fire.
An edifice we marveled at,
Something we looked up to,
Tall and strong, in
Admiration of power,
Importance, and potency.
Something we knew was forever,
Now, wondering
Why we ever thought
We couldn’t do without it?
Let’s burn it down.

Let’s set fire to something
That used to be the foundation of
Our being. Something
That would never...

To Succeed in Life, You have to Actually Show Up OR How David Pastorius still owes me Eighty Dollars

I was reminded of this today. The first rule to success in anything is showing up.

Adam Byrn Tritt

This is not going to be a masterpiece. I am not saying I have, in the past, managed to create such but, If ever I had, this isn’t going to be it. No exemplar this. I’m just mad.

Yes, I know, some of you are saying I should use the word angry instead. Nope. Not this time. I’m just too mad.

Irresponsibility. Complete lack of follow-through. Zero respect for me or my time. And it is rampant.

And th...