Elayne Klasson
The importance of leaning on your tribe

Adult friendships are hard. Yet in this time of the pandemic, they are more important than ever. Everyone I know is experiencing some form of loneliness, anxiety, unease.

You’d have to be living in a cave not to feel the uncertainty and sadness accompanying this period when there are more than 160,000 dead from the disease. We are in and out of quarantine, our daily routines are upended, there is economic hardship all around and we’re watching our children suffer from disturbed schooling and socialization. Even Michelle Obama, who I admire greatly for her humor, strength and determination, admitted this week that she’s suffering from low-level depression.

The importance of leaning on your tribe

An Immigrant's Story

An Immigrant's Story

This past week two community organizations, InclusionSYV and the SYVCommunity Action Alliance, co-sponsored a conversation at St. Mark’s Church on the implications of immigration in our community.

Immigration is an emotional issue, and one that tends to polarize people. Few of us feel neutral about immigration and border issues. Yet the problems of immigration are not going to go away as long as we live in a world where there is extreme poverty and violence in some places and relative safety and material wealth in others.

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'Sip and Swap,' do some good

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'Sip and Swap,' do some good

Probably because I am still attempting to be a nonshopper, I jumped when Lee Kantor sent me an invitation to her highly anticipated "Sip and Swap" event that she has held for the past 30 years, beginning when she lived in Los Angeles. She tells her loyal following of repeat attendees to leave both wallets and checkbooks at home, as all items will be swapped, not purchased.

Why We Stay, Why We Go

Why We Stay, Why We Go

I am sitting in a hotel room in Bogata, Colombia having an adventure with my younger daughter, Hannah. She is the only one of my four children who has inherited my travel bug. The others aren’t really opposed to travel, one is even a pilot, but Hannah, like me, feels passionately about it.

Now I Am a Fountain Pen

Now I Am a Fountain Pen

This weekend I attended the Bar Mitzvah of my grandson Jackson. For those not familiar with the ceremony, I will briefly explain.

It is a rite of passage in the Jewish religion that occurs when a child of 13 is to take his or her place among the adults of the community. For up to four years, the child studies, mastering the Hebrew language so that on their Bar Mitzvah day, they can recite the Sabbath prayers and chant a portion from the Bible, or Torah. In addition, the young person gives a kind of sermon, explaining and interpreting the portion of the Torah just chanted. All this is done in front of family, friends and teachers, sometimes with a crowd of up to several hundred.