Clueless, 20 Years Later

Clueless turned twenty this past June.

It has never looked better.

Loosely based on Jane Austen’s Emma, Clueless is the story of Beverly Hills teenager Cher Horowitz and her group of friends.

It has never felt dated. It is as fresh and authentic as the day it premiered.

The fact that it is 20 makes me feel old.

And I still wish to this day I had Cher’s closet.

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Tisha B’Av

Today is Tisha B’av.

It is one of the saddest says in the Jewish calendar.

It commemorates the the destruction of the second temple by the Romans.

While I am not particularly religious, I feel drawn to this day of mourning.

Students of history have often correlated this day of mourning not just with the destruction of the second temple by the Romans, but other times of crisis in Jewish history.

I saw this video on my Facebook feed this morning.

We know what happens when we give into hate, destruction and dictators who have no problem advocating the destruction of an entire nation.

Maybe we will learn our lesson this time and finally learn from the past.

Guns In America

I remember the day of the Columbine shooting.

It was a warm spring day during my senior year of high school. The news reported the shooting and I remember thinking that it didn’t happen at my high school.

By the time the closing credits of the evening news rolled, 13 people, twelve students and one teacher were dead.

Thirteen years later, another school shooting broke our hearts. At Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, 26 innocents were murdered.

In the nearly 3 years since Sandy Hook, 87 people have been killed by guns in school.

The latest round of gun violence was in Louisiana this past week. John Houser, a man with a criminal record and a history of mental instability, killed two women in a movie theater and injured many others.

I respect the second amendment and what it represents. However, two important points must be made.

1. The guns that existed during the American revolution are nothing compared to the firepower of today’s guns.
2. This right was created to allow Americans to defend themselves against the then British oppressors, not to randomly kill innocent civilians.

We need common sense legislation on this issue. While respecting the rights of those who legally own guns, we must take control of our country. We must also confront our lax reaction to mental illness.

We have grieved too many times over lives lost due to gun violence. It’s time to end the grief and put laws into place that will prevent future tragedies.