REFLECTIONS

On Rosh Hashanah*, we are given an opportunity to reflect on the year gone by, in any and all respects. How have we treated others? How have we grown, personally or professionally? What are we grateful for? Have we found a community to call our own? In the year ahead, what can we do to improve the quality of our lives, and the quality of our interactions with others?

This year has been incredible for me on so many levels. I landed a monthly singles column at the Jewish Week, which I'd been wanting for some time. Then the monthly column became biweekly--I interviewed reality television stars, HBO comedy writers and dating industry entrepreneurs. I've worked for vastly various companies and organizations...MTV and Yeshiva University, to name an unlikely pair. I started two blogs, met new friends and began receiving rave reviews. I've given lectures at my synagogue and summer camp reunion, and emceed a phenomenally well-attended karaoke event at the JCC. Even Madonna was jealous, showing her envy by her adoption of my name and elements of Judaism. The icing on the cake was my appearance on Good Day NY this morning, where Teresa Strasser quizzed me about the customs surrounding this holiday.

A year passes. And a lot happens. And through it all, I'm grateful for my friends and family. Those of you who have been around since the teenage days when I was going to write the story of our lives as a screenplay to be directed by John Hughes and starring Winona Ryder, or since the college years when I fell in and out of love with boys, college and Israel, or since the beginning of the professional years when I struggled to create a name for myself as a writer. It doesn't matter whether you're among those precious longstanding friends, or if you are among the ladies and gentleblogs of the weblog era who number among my newest friends, even those of you whom I have never met.

I literally could not have done all this without you. And I am exceedingly grateful.

Wishing you all a shanah tovah u'metukah, a happy and sweet new year. May your friendships flourish, and may you be as lucky as I am, to have such friends and family.



*My Urban Kvetch will be on a Rosh Hashanah break through Saturday night, September 18. See you back here then!

REFLECTIONS

On Rosh Hashanah*, we are given an opportunity to reflect on the year gone by, in any and all respects. How have we treated others? How have we grown, personally or professionally? What are we grateful for? Have we found a community to call our own? In the year ahead, what can we do to improve the quality of our lives, and the quality of our interactions with others?

This year has been incredible for me on so many levels. I landed a monthly singles column at the Jewish Week, which I'd been wanting for some time. Then the monthly column became biweekly--I interviewed reality television stars, HBO comedy writers and dating industry entrepreneurs. I've worked for vastly various companies and organizations...MTV and Yeshiva University, to name an unlikely pair. I started two blogs, met new friends and began receiving rave reviews. I've given lectures at my synagogue and summer camp reunion, and emceed a phenomenally well-attended karaoke event at the JCC. Even Madonna was jealous, showing her envy by her adoption of my name and elements of Judaism. The icing on the cake was my appearance on Good Day NY this morning, where Teresa Strasser quizzed me about the customs surrounding this holiday.

A year passes. And a lot happens. And through it all, I'm grateful for my friends and family. Those of you who have been around since the teenage days when I was going to write the story of our lives as a screenplay to be directed by John Hughes and starring Winona Ryder, or since the college years when I fell in and out of love with boys, college and Israel, or since the beginning of the professional years when I struggled to create a name for myself as a writer. It doesn't matter whether you're among those precious longstanding friends, or if you are among the ladies and gentleblogs of the weblog era who number among my newest friends, even those of you whom I have never met.

I literally could not have done all this without you. And I am exceedingly grateful.

Wishing you all a shanah tovah u'metukah, a happy and sweet new year. May your friendships flourish, and may you be as lucky as I am, to have such friends and family.



*My Urban Kvetch will be on a Rosh Hashanah break through Saturday night, September 18. See you back here then!