Arrival Day

I've just discovered it's Arrival Day today in the US, the anniversary of the formation of the American Jewish community. 350 years old today! How cool. I'm totally permeated by American culture (oh! how unusual!) but when I pause to take account, a huge swathe of it is better characterised as Jewish-American culture, through comedy, music, musicals, films, comics and novels, and so this day is definitely one to celebrate in the same vein as Christmas, as a totem of an aggregation of culturally valuable things - I thank the festive season first and foremost for Phil Spector albums, Die Hard and It's a Wonderful Life, christmas carols (musical and dickensian) and japanese toy crazes - as well as a recognition of the passage of a people. Di-as-pora is such a cool word; I think everyone should disaporise. Anyway, I'm supposed to come up with some thoughts on "the Jewish future", but I don't know if I'm up to the job (especially if the future concerned is that of Jews in America - I haven't even visited the US for three or four years). How about my jewish future? As I seem destined to have Jewish kids, already have a jewish brother related by blood, a jewish stepfamily, play in a band with a Jewish mastermind, share my office with an Isreali (though I fear not for too much longer) and love and live with a Jewish honey, it looks like this lapsed catholic has a firmly semitic future. I can deal; I like fishballs.