What would Judi do?

 I find myself ranting about the disparity of how people see women versus men, especially as older (over 40) people.  This week put me back on the edge of that rant. The Grammy awards were interesting.  Some years they bore me but I liked it this year.  The one thing that stood out for me was the reaction to Madonna.  Now, I'll be honest and say I noticed and I don't love the changes she made to her appearance.  But she didn't ask me my opinion so I didn't offer it .  Instead, I thought seriously about why she did it.  And then I saw all of the facebook posts the next day. When I watched her on the show (and later on TikTok), my first thought was sadness.  I thought about how hard it must be to be her (or any woman in the public eye who ages) and feel that she needs  to look younger than she is.  I don't have that pressure - but I feel it so freaking often.  What gets me started on my rant is the need of people to comment on her looks.  The majority of comments I sa

 I learned something today.  It's the Hebrew word: shmita.   I found a fabulous article in an issue of last year's Philadelphia magazine.  I now have a new goal. The  sabbath year  ( shmita ;  Hebrew :  שמיטה , literally "release"), also called the  sabbatical year  or  shǝvi'it  ( שביעית ‎, literally "seventh"), or "Sabbath of The Land", is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the  Torah  in the  Land of Israel  and is observed in  Judaism . [1] During  shmita , the land is left to lie  fallow  and all agricultural activity, including plowing, planting, pruning and harvesting, is forbidden by  halakha  (Jewish law). Other cultivation techniques (such as watering, fertilizing, weeding, spraying, trimming and mowing) may be performed as a preventive measure only, not to improve the growth of trees or other plants. Additionally, any fruits or herbs which grow of their own accord and where no watch is kept over them ar