I was born and will die an atheist who doesn’t entertain the slightest belief or even interest in the supernatural, but Saturday morning Torah study with a good rabbi is a fine way to spend a morning hour. I typically duck out for coffee rather than attend the following service, however. 😀

I was pretty certain from context, but thanks for asking.

I was thinking of it only yesterday and trying to remember how he prepared cattails. That book meant a lot to me growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, when the children and, especially, teens I knew were encouraged to have meaningful agency in our own lives.

In 1970, when I was 11 years old, my uncle, whom I worshiped as the embodiment of cool, sent me a letter from Kabul, Afghanistan. It ended with “P.S. A good book to read is ‘Laughing Boy’ by Oliver La Farge.” I got it out of the library as quickly as possible. (Thankfully, there was much less BS then about kids getting hold of “inappropriate” books than it seems right now.) It was an amazing and grown-up read. Even beyond the book itself, that my exalted uncle would think so much of me to recommend it is a gift that I’ll take to my grave.