Joel Ezra Solkoff
Oct 12, 1948–May 3, 2022
“If I am not for myself,
who will be for me?
And, if I am only for myself,
what am I?
And if not now,
when?”
–Hillel, the great sage.
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We who are about to die…or architecture
Montechello, home of Thomas Jefferson (1743 x 1826). Jefferson, principal author of the Declaration of Independence was the Third President of the United States. Jefferson was an amateur architect vastly aided in his frequent design efforts by a large number of African American slaves ( one of whom was the mother of his illegitimate children.
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Covid-19 Architects: “We Who Are About to Die Salute You”
All architects today in the era of a massive pandemic which killed over 1,000 or our residents–are Covid-19 architects. This is a global pandemic that will last for at least five years. If you are an architect and you are not focusing on how to protect your clients from the microscopic danger, you are out of business. Sell used cars instead.
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Covid 19 impasse: Why architects need to know how a member of the US Congress must be expelled by the end of the month and how that relates to building emergency housing at a time when its absence is deadly and dangerous
“A nation divided against itself cannot stand,” Abraham Lincoln said in New York City in a speech that many believe resulted in his receiving the hotly contested Republican…
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LSD Goddess Joanna Harcourt-Smith
Timothy Leary wrote me from his jail cell. The adjoining cell contained Charles Manson. Shortly after I received the letter, I visited Timothy next to the vending machines.
I had spent months squiring around the beautiful, French speaking socialite Joanna Harcourt-Smith who was next to Timothy in Kabul, Afghanistan when G.Gordon Liddy, on urgent orders from Richard Nixon, arrested Timothy.
I regarded the interview as one last chance for Timothy to demonstrate that he was not a total and complete horse’s ass.
The only reason I had stayed around the Leary entourage was Joanna with whom I was head over heals in love.
Joanna and I had made love while peaking on Owsley’s LSD.
After that, there was no turning back. It was Timothy or me.
Foolishly, Joanna picked Timothy.
If you are a grandparent, you have to read Andy Slavitt’s book PREVENTABLE
My fourth grandchild Jacob— two months old— is arriving today after a 12 hour drive from the Marine base in North Carolina…
Continue Reading If you are a grandparent, you have to read Andy Slavitt’s book PREVENTABLE
Yair Lapid, architect of the new Israeli government
On Sunday June 11th the new government of Israel which Yair Lapid crafted will dispose of Benjamin Nitanyahu, Israel’s longest serving prime minister known as the magician for his ability to form working majorities in the Kenesset. Now Lapid has become Israel’s magician. Perhaps, quite relevant is that the media ( e.g. NBC and PBS ) have reported President Biden and Lapid know each other well and are united in their hatred of Bibi.
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Five Hours a Day in the Saddle: The Pacific Coast School of Horsemanship ( written for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1972; never published; now at age 73 the article I wrote when I was 22)
When I interviewed her she was preparing for a three way trip to Germany. There she was collaborating with Ursula Bruns on a book on the do’s and don’ts of riding.Linda also was plannng an equestrian trek through the Alps, having aleady ridden in the Arctic Cicle an the Sierras.
Remembering Jean and Marvin Staiman and their love of Israel
The void my synagogue is experiencing as a result of Marvin’s death concerns those actions Marvin regarded as essential to his view of what it means to be a Jew. For one thing, being a Jew for Marvin meant praying to God in Hebrew and Aramaic (the language of Jesus). The second requirement, even more significant than Hebrew prayer, is working to preserve the State of Israel. Eretz (land of) Yisrael (Israel).
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