Anne Frank would have been 80 years old on June 12th.  How ironic that within days of this anniversary, once again Jews were attacked - this time at the Holocaust Museum, a place designed to memorialize the victims, including Anne, of the Holocaust itself.  It's an ironic reminder of what all our mothers  - and most of our rabbis -- told us -- that there will always be people who hate Jews and that they will always find ways to try to hurt us - singly or in great numbers.

It seems that every day is Talk Like a Pirate Day in Sweden. On Monday, Sweden's Pirate Party (Piratpartiet, if you are Swedish) surprised many by taking a seat in the European Parliament.

(A follow-up from my post on May 7th)

In early 2005, after Bush was "re-elected" (it's hard to get "re-elected" if one was not elected in the first place), I sought to channel my distress into positive action. Through the miracle of the internet, I came across author Katha Pollitt's articles in The Nation about a nonprofit organization that helped low income women access abortion services. Through NNAF, I found the Haven Coalition, a network of volunteers who open their homes to women forced to travel to New York City to exercise their legal right to an abortion. (This is not as strange as it sounds: the Alan Guttmacher Institute reports that, "Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. counties lacked an abortion provider in 2005; 35% of women live in those counties.") Immediately, I requested an interview, and through that, my friendship with Haven's coordinator, Mara, was born.

"Hey, I just found out today is International Women's Day," Julie, my friend since the 4th grade, emailed me on Sunday. "Why don't I feel more special today?" Although International Women's Day was founded in the US nearly 100 years ago, many Americans these days are as unaware of the event as my generally wise and politically savvy friend. However, women all over the world celebrated the day in different ways.

I was planning to write another post related to the election, and then this news crossed my inbox: The lead detective assigned to investigate journalist Chauncey Bailey's killing ignored evidence linking Yusuf Bey IV, former leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery, to a role in the killing and interfered in two other unrelated felony cases involving Bey IV, according to an investigation by the Chauncey Bailey Project.

It's is pre-dawn and the light in my bedroom is dim and placid. The house is quiet and my computer hums warm on my lap. In this moment, this space, even in my messy room, feels sacred, holy, set apart from the buzz of the everyday. Don't you just love it when that happens?

It's not easy to be an American Jewish expat in Austria and if, like me, the gods that determine your fate put you in a small town, an additional layer of complication descends on your life abroad. Understanding Austrian politics is difficult if you happen to share color, religion, or basic values with your neighbors, but if you don't, Austria becomes even more frustrating and inscrutable.

Thomas Dörflein died this week leaving behind one very confused bear. Dörflein, a keeper with the Berlin Zoo, was known to the world as the surrogate father of Knut, a polar bear rejected by his mother, Tosca, at birth. Born in December 2006, Dörflein actually moved into the animal's enclosure to provide round-the-clock care.

A former student of Luther College High School, a private Christian high school in Regina, Sask., was arrested after holding students hostage today. The individual reportedly entered the school during morning prayer and held a pastor at gunpoint in front of a chapel service. The student was allegedly expelled last year. No shots were fired and there were no injuries.

I don't understand enough about the conflict in Georgia to have an opinion on it, but I do know that the former Soviet Republics are still a sort of promised land for travelers - still a bargain, not yet jaded by the influx of tourist hordes, still offering the possibility of connecting with the locals.

Can just three ingredients send us into supper rhapsody? A Slice of Cherry Pie from Kent, England shares a recipe that is soooooo simple, it needs noooooo words. Just click this post's title. Learn more about BlogHer's From the 'hood.