Macbeth and latkes

Two events at the U. of Chicago, one "meh", one lots of fun!

Let's get the "meh" out of the way first, Radio Macbeth, at Court Theatre, by SITI Company, adapted (i.e. chopped up into bits, it's only 90 minutes long) from Shakespeare. The conceit is that it's a group of actors, each in multiple roles, doing a radio version of the Scottish Play in an abandoned theatre. The problem is that it's not a straight out performance of Macbeth (actors flub their lines, get themselves coffee, etc.) nor is it a real radio play (there are mikes, but they're used only occasionally). As a result, it doesn't work on either level. The best moments were those that transcended the gimmick, specifically, the sleepwalking scene and parts of "double, double toil and trouble". The worst were those with actress Akiko Aizawa. I don't know whether she really has a heavy accent or if it was put on/exaggerated, but it was nearly impossible to understand her.

Now the fun:



Of course, much was made of the recent election of a former Senior Lecturer at the Law School to a somewhat more prestigious job (and of the fact that he had latkes with his corned beef sandwich from Manny's). Daniel Libenson, Executive Director of Hillel, analyzed the question using gematria (Hebrew numerology) to determine the relationships of McCain and Obama to hamentashen and latkes. The distinguished panel of debaters, moderated by philosophy professor Ted Cohen, included Tom Ginsburg, a former colleague of the President-elect from the Law School (with disclaimer):
;
Elizabeth J.L. Davenport, Dean of Rockefeller Chapel (who opined during her comments that the notorious statement in Leviticus "thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind" is actually advice from a lesbian to a lesbian); and Gary Tubb, of the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, resplendent in scarlet turban to match his academic robes, who came to his answer through Sanskrit grammar. But the highlight of the evening was endocrinologist Roy E. Weiss, whose paper describing a study on the differing effects of the ingestion of latkes and hamentashen on the body's levels of the hormones leptin and ghrelin had everyone in stitches. He then regaled us with "The Latke Song" (he claimed it was an old Yiddish folk song, but the tune was vaguely familiar from somewhere else):

Latkes hamentashen ex-pe ali docious
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious
If you eat enough of them your bowels will be precocious
Latkes hamentashen ex-pe ali docious.

Hamentash and latkes are really quite delicious
But we know that latkelehs are really more nutritious
Have a latke every day -- maybe two or more
Nisht geferlach ah bei gzunt, just take more Lipitor!

When I was just a lad of 2 or maybe even three
I was given latkes intravenously
And that is why until this day I sing this song with glee
Latkes are delicious mit a glassen tea.

Kreplach, kishke, cholent, Ptcha and brisket, too,
Are Jewish foods that just can't hold a candle to
My love for Latkes some may say is really very sick
That is why I eat them with lots of Prilosec.

By now you must all agree that Latkes are the winner
Eat them religiously in summer or in winter
I know that we all will say oh yes oh yes we can
A kosher endocrinologist can also be a ham.

And which Jewish delicacy won? You have to ask?

I'm incredibly pissed off right now.

( rant follows )