I mean… what if you’re just tan?

Is available… if you hurry, you might be wife number 8.

In all seriousness, don’t they look like they just belong together?

My Grandfather was arrested on Kristallnacht.

His birthday was November 11th and he turned 17. Or maybe 15 or maybe 25, because when you don’t have a country you get to create your own age.

The gates at Sachsenhausen have the words Arbeit Macht Frei inscribed in them. Work will set you free. My Grandfather did a little work, found a guard, pointed at the sign and asked, “I worked, now can I be free?” I’m not sure what set my grandfather free. It seems like it was most likely the Kindertransport. He somehow got to England and joined her army.

Update from my family: Fact- your Grandma got to England via Kindertransport and your Grandpa got to England via the Free French who transported him via small boat to the King’s shore-line. He denied having been lost in the Belgian/Dutch/French countryside but you may well recall that “navigation” wasn’t his strong suit albeit he seemed to have navigated life on his own course. He did escape Sachsenhausen (verified in person by another inmate) and, incidentally, swore to me while at our visit there that he never worked as hard for the nazi’s as he did for the Brits.

Everyone in my family has a story about how they left Germany, who didn’t make it, who stopped being Jewish.

I never know how much to tell my kids. Too much can be too much, and too little is dangerous.

Yom HaShoah, the day of the Shoah. The Holocaust.

That is all.

The ever fabulous Marsha Collier sent me this.

I got an email about a nanosecond ago. This is the subject line

Caught!!!!

The email is from my mom, and included no text, just a link to this story.

An anti-gay California state senator was placed under arrest for drunk driving after leaving a gay bar. A male passenger was in the vehicle along with the lawmaker was not arrested, reported Sacramento CBS affiliate Channel 13.

State Sen. Roy Ashburn was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol at about 2:00 a.m. on March 3 when his state-issued vehicle was observed being driven erratically. The driver, identified as Ashburn, was taken in and charged for driving under the influence. Channel 13 reported that unidentified sources said the senator had been at Faces, a popular gay nightspot, prior to his arrest.

You can read the whole story here.

Today a woman died at Sea World. It’s terrible and shocking whenever there is a senseless death. My heart aches for the family of the trainer.

I’d like to discuss just a few things with you today.

Did you know that whales migrate thousands of miles each year? How would whales recreate that experience at a place like Sea World?

Did you know that whales (and many other ocean mammals you find at places like Sea World) communicate via sonar? Whale sounds travel hundreds of miles so one pod can communicate with another. Imagine being a whale at Sea World and making noises within the cement swimming pool that is your new home. Now imagine that sound echoing back at you. It’s the equivelant of putting your children in a mirrored room, for years.

I am told that whales and dolphins in captivity have wilted Dorsal Fins. I am looking for a reliable source to credit, please leave one here.

The dolphins? They’re not smiling, our anthropomorphizing of these fabulous animals has led us intro tricking ourselves into believing they are happy. They are not necessarily happy or unhappy. Whales, Orcas, Dolphins and other life under water do not smile. They are not us, and they do not belong to us.

My friend Holly at Ocean Futures Society was telling me about a dolphin trainer whose dolphin committed suicide. It happens, these are mammals who need to be social, to migrate, to hunt and to mate. I’m terribly sorry that anyone has to be hurt, much less die, but today should be a lesson for us all.

If your children need to see dolphins, whales and the like go visit Jean Michel Cousteau and find out how you can become an Ambassador of the Environment.