Books and Food
There's a book club I get emails for, but I never attend the gatherings. This weekend, the group is combining the book discussion with a Passover Seder. Because I probably won't get invited to another Seder this Passover, I'm going to read the book and attend.
The book is Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger. If you've read the book or seen the movie, give me some insight or thoughtful things to say. So far, I feel the drama, and it's compelling. These Texas folks really invest their hopes and souls in the game. The high school players have mixed feelings off the field as the struggle in their lives and worry about their futures, but get really focused when they play. It's magical and special. Everyone in the town experiences the wonder and excitement. Wow. Etc.
Really, I'm having a hard time getting through it the book. There doesn't seem to be anything about Jews or Passover, so I don't quite get the tie-in.
I've been researching the food and eating and drinking possibilities for the seder. I have a copy of a Haggadah from a hippie-vegetarian Seder I attended a few years ago. The Haggadah is, from what I can tell, a play book for the meal. The copy I have relates the story of the Jews in Egypt to modern struggles of oppressed people. It provides that we eat and drink the following items:
wine
vegetable in salt water
matzah
wine
matzah
bitter herbs
matzah & bitter herbs sandwich
"festival meal" (what does this mean? is this the plate with egg and bone? or can we eat a real meal?)
wine
wine
There are some prayers and explanations that go with the food, but I can't read Hebrew.
The book is Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger. If you've read the book or seen the movie, give me some insight or thoughtful things to say. So far, I feel the drama, and it's compelling. These Texas folks really invest their hopes and souls in the game. The high school players have mixed feelings off the field as the struggle in their lives and worry about their futures, but get really focused when they play. It's magical and special. Everyone in the town experiences the wonder and excitement. Wow. Etc.
Really, I'm having a hard time getting through it the book. There doesn't seem to be anything about Jews or Passover, so I don't quite get the tie-in.
I've been researching the food and eating and drinking possibilities for the seder. I have a copy of a Haggadah from a hippie-vegetarian Seder I attended a few years ago. The Haggadah is, from what I can tell, a play book for the meal. The copy I have relates the story of the Jews in Egypt to modern struggles of oppressed people. It provides that we eat and drink the following items:
wine
vegetable in salt water
matzah
wine
matzah
bitter herbs
matzah & bitter herbs sandwich
"festival meal" (what does this mean? is this the plate with egg and bone? or can we eat a real meal?)
wine
wine
There are some prayers and explanations that go with the food, but I can't read Hebrew.
posted by Kathy at 7:30 PM
5 Added Something:
I thought I loved football before I moved to Texas. I now realize that I don't, not like Texans love football. They're insane for football here.
Last fall I decided I had to go to a UT Longhorn game because I went to a lovely hippie school for undergrad with no football for miles. I 'did as the Romans', I got really drunk at a tailgate party, went to the game and yelled my head off, and in the process I had the time of my life.
(FYI, the Longhorns went on to win the Rose Bowl. Hook 'em horns!)
My roomie is a Cashew (1/2 Catholic, 1/2 Jew) and we're having a seder this Sunday. I am looking forward to it.
i was just reading about how tiberius instituted the first tailgait party in honor of augustus. did your party have a designated 'vomitorium' car, chuy? your seder menu seems kind of redundant, kathy. i'd scrap it and go with pork roast.
Friday Night Lights is a classic illustration of the socio/cultural Americano phenomenon. Larger than life dreams coupled with the insatiable desire for fifteen minutes of fame, fed by our inherent expectation to succeed. That’s the American Way.
The tragedy is that when you try to build a legacy out of nothing and you fail, you have to return to that nothing. It’s sad to think about the “fifteen-minute heroes” of big football states like Texas, Florida, and Nebraska. These people have constructed societies based on short-term dreams--and when they have to wake up, reality comes crashing down on them.
Out of desperation, these confused kids' only options are to inlist in the army, work at Walmart, or do nothing but sit around in barrooms retelling stories of their glory days.
Friday Night Lights-- good book, good flick
can ed join the book club? I was just going to rush to the defense [no pun intended ] of friday night lights, but ed did it for me.
by the way, it also includes nicely done stories of the kids involved, their families, and a great section about george bush 1 campaigning in midland/odessa
so how does it tie in?
I'm confused.
football, texas, seder?
don't know anything about anything except (sorry chuy) - i hate texas for so many reasons, on eof which is that at Dairy Queen in Texas you don't Supersize - you Texas size - oh and it kreeps me out that some people have bushes in the shape of Texas there.
They have really good beef there and near the border they have the best Mexican food. ( another reason to hate texas)
bitterangelina (aka superM . . .)
P.S. Eli is way too smart -- K can you tell him to talk at my level and slower please.
(BTW- I can spiral a football)
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