I only had two direct contacts with this great man, I wish there had been more. After I wrote a column against the English-only issue (I said if it were Correct English only than volumes of legislation would be diminished) and just a few months ago when I took my friend Congressman Steve Cohen to lunch at Midtown Cafe, Avi came over to thank Steve for some efforts on behalf of Israel and touched on a few other items related to Israel that left me in the dark, but knowing it was a good thing. Thank you Keel, for refreshing recollections about a force in our community.
I KNOW that this is not the venue for this. But I am a born and raised Nashville native. And I need to say something to the real Nashville. Those people who know it as many do not. I currently live in New Mexico and because of certain circumstances, I will probably die living here even though my heart still yearns for my Nashville home.
I know that Nashville has changed. A LOT. As everywhere has. But I also know that it is one of the most precious places in the world to me. Just be at peace and aware of what you have there for those of us who cannot get back. Thank you.
Tiny life savers
No, not the candy. The other tiny, not quite everyday lifesavers.
Moments when you stop and look at something that, seemingly, in other moments, to be just everyday wallpaper. But, then…there. You spot the way a shaft of sunlight is hitting the corner of the rug where it meets the smooth warm wood of the floor. The color. The warp and weft of the rug corner. The sun moves, and in five minutes it’s gone. But you stared at it and devoured the image like it were a first letter from a lovers heart.
Fireflies
I grew up with fireflies every summer of my life save for the past three summers. I am 65 now. Always watching them with differing levels of fascination mixed with a peripheral vagueness of their awareness. But a moment of stopping my car on a dirt road to look at a large fallow field magically alight with thousands of flickering greenish specks of light. Saved my soul. Fireflies again, in my grandmothers densely leafed privet hedge. Causing it to glow within. Lost my mind. And by that I mean that all other thoughts where gone from my mind save the wonder of what I was looking at. Wonder is the best of medicine.
Deciduous tree fall foliage.
One word. Incandescent.
Walking down the sidewalk of my neighborhood and passing all the bright colors of fall tree leaves alight in the sun. And then as you round a corner, there. A tree that is so lit up from within that It’s atoms are twitching madly. It’s atomic. There is no way a tree should be able to do that. No way to describe the color because it is a lamp glow in a dark night. It is an Aurora Borealis and scoops of cool lemon ice cream in a creamy green dish. All that.
It makes the dull, dark brick of the house with plain white shutters behind it look like art. Because of its glow casts a spell on that house. Yet you can feel it in you as natural as your heartbeat. Pulsing through you. Gooseflesh.
Leaf mould, honeysuckle and hummingbird moths.
Living where there are trees that loose their leaves. I’m talking trees Everywhere. Theres an ever present smell of leaf mould. And unlike any other organic matter decay, tree leaves in any state of decay smell good. Smells like home. When it is missing from your life, that smell. You don’t know what is wrong, but you feel like you never have a good breath of fresh air. That the earth just doesn’t smell right. You forget that earthy perfume is dear to you. So you ache for something so mundane and regular but you cannot know what it could be.
And honeysuckle, especially at night. So heady and intoxicating. But it doesn’t trail you home from your dog walk. It emotes in one spot. The same spot that you forget about passing every night until you are just close enough and then you are reminded that it’s summer and life is sweet. And that honeysuckle is a gift to all creatures.
One of my favorite nighttime honeysuckle creatures. Hummingbird moths. I use to have one reserve a table at my honeysuckle bush every July night at eight pm.
Sometimes he would bring a date. And be late for his reservation. The streetlight would pick out their bird sized flutter around the flower garden. And in the dark of the foliage hummingbird moth eyes would glow like little honey drops.
Well Keel....... Just a Wonderful, Heartfelt Article about our friend and my “Brother in Love”, Avi. I found it hard to write about Avi as his Talents/Career lasted more then 50 years and was so diverse, from Basketball to Immigration, from Affordable Housing to Diversity, from Education to Investigation and so much more.
I do hope you had the chance to view Avi’s Services, it was very informative and emotional. Please let me know and I’ll send you a link.
Thank You Again for your talented written tribute to such a caring, Loving Man of Peace!
I only had two direct contacts with this great man, I wish there had been more. After I wrote a column against the English-only issue (I said if it were Correct English only than volumes of legislation would be diminished) and just a few months ago when I took my friend Congressman Steve Cohen to lunch at Midtown Cafe, Avi came over to thank Steve for some efforts on behalf of Israel and touched on a few other items related to Israel that left me in the dark, but knowing it was a good thing. Thank you Keel, for refreshing recollections about a force in our community.
I KNOW that this is not the venue for this. But I am a born and raised Nashville native. And I need to say something to the real Nashville. Those people who know it as many do not. I currently live in New Mexico and because of certain circumstances, I will probably die living here even though my heart still yearns for my Nashville home.
I know that Nashville has changed. A LOT. As everywhere has. But I also know that it is one of the most precious places in the world to me. Just be at peace and aware of what you have there for those of us who cannot get back. Thank you.
Tiny life savers
No, not the candy. The other tiny, not quite everyday lifesavers.
Moments when you stop and look at something that, seemingly, in other moments, to be just everyday wallpaper. But, then…there. You spot the way a shaft of sunlight is hitting the corner of the rug where it meets the smooth warm wood of the floor. The color. The warp and weft of the rug corner. The sun moves, and in five minutes it’s gone. But you stared at it and devoured the image like it were a first letter from a lovers heart.
Fireflies
I grew up with fireflies every summer of my life save for the past three summers. I am 65 now. Always watching them with differing levels of fascination mixed with a peripheral vagueness of their awareness. But a moment of stopping my car on a dirt road to look at a large fallow field magically alight with thousands of flickering greenish specks of light. Saved my soul. Fireflies again, in my grandmothers densely leafed privet hedge. Causing it to glow within. Lost my mind. And by that I mean that all other thoughts where gone from my mind save the wonder of what I was looking at. Wonder is the best of medicine.
Deciduous tree fall foliage.
One word. Incandescent.
Walking down the sidewalk of my neighborhood and passing all the bright colors of fall tree leaves alight in the sun. And then as you round a corner, there. A tree that is so lit up from within that It’s atoms are twitching madly. It’s atomic. There is no way a tree should be able to do that. No way to describe the color because it is a lamp glow in a dark night. It is an Aurora Borealis and scoops of cool lemon ice cream in a creamy green dish. All that.
It makes the dull, dark brick of the house with plain white shutters behind it look like art. Because of its glow casts a spell on that house. Yet you can feel it in you as natural as your heartbeat. Pulsing through you. Gooseflesh.
Leaf mould, honeysuckle and hummingbird moths.
Living where there are trees that loose their leaves. I’m talking trees Everywhere. Theres an ever present smell of leaf mould. And unlike any other organic matter decay, tree leaves in any state of decay smell good. Smells like home. When it is missing from your life, that smell. You don’t know what is wrong, but you feel like you never have a good breath of fresh air. That the earth just doesn’t smell right. You forget that earthy perfume is dear to you. So you ache for something so mundane and regular but you cannot know what it could be.
And honeysuckle, especially at night. So heady and intoxicating. But it doesn’t trail you home from your dog walk. It emotes in one spot. The same spot that you forget about passing every night until you are just close enough and then you are reminded that it’s summer and life is sweet. And that honeysuckle is a gift to all creatures.
One of my favorite nighttime honeysuckle creatures. Hummingbird moths. I use to have one reserve a table at my honeysuckle bush every July night at eight pm.
Sometimes he would bring a date. And be late for his reservation. The streetlight would pick out their bird sized flutter around the flower garden. And in the dark of the foliage hummingbird moth eyes would glow like little honey drops.
I miss my Tennessee home.
L. 2/4/23
Well Keel....... Just a Wonderful, Heartfelt Article about our friend and my “Brother in Love”, Avi. I found it hard to write about Avi as his Talents/Career lasted more then 50 years and was so diverse, from Basketball to Immigration, from Affordable Housing to Diversity, from Education to Investigation and so much more.
I do hope you had the chance to view Avi’s Services, it was very informative and emotional. Please let me know and I’ll send you a link.
Thank You Again for your talented written tribute to such a caring, Loving Man of Peace!
Tom
Brilliant and moving, Keel. Ava was unique and we miss him already.