…and all of you for supporting me in my quest to obtain this wonderful blog award (bestowed upon me by Big Daddy Autism). I couldn’t have done it without you. In accepting this award, I agreed to disclose seven things about myself and pass the award onto seven bloggers I whose work I enjoy. So here are seven things about myself you might not already know:
1) I am left-handed (and left-leaning on most things, like the kitchen counter).
2) I am a hat person. I look good in hats, I’m told. I also love knitting hats of all kinds. Just ask all the people wearing my hats.
3) I have raised and slaughtered chickens (and plucked and cleaned them out, too). Yes, it was difficult at first, but since we did kosher slaughter, it was also a very spiritual experience. (For us. I’m not sure how the chickens felt about it.)
4) I wear shoes in a child’s size 3 because no one seems to make shoes in a women’s size 5 anymore.
5) I have a new cat named Dakota. She meows more than most dogs bark and for no apparent reason.
6) I will watch any movie with George Clooney in it because they’re all so profound.
7) I have watched more Law and Order episodes than is legal in some states.
And here are seven blogs I love reading and that you should definitely check out!
Aspie from Maine
Aspitude!
Incorrect Pleasures
Kataiska Sandwich
Life with Aspergers
SpunkyKitty: My Wonderful World
Static Vox
© 2010 by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg
Congrats! Your blog is wonderful.
Yours, too! I would have given you an award, but Big Daddy Autism got there first.
Congratulations Rachel! It’s an honour to have my blog recommended. You are very kind.
Thank you, Lili! I love your blog.
Congratulations Rachel,
Your blog is awesome!
Thanks, Gavin. The feeling is mutual!
That’s the same reason I didn’t give *you* the award!!!
Mutual appreciation. Hmmmm.. Rachel, are we supposed to be able to do that?
Laura, it’s like bees flying. According to the laws of physics, it’s impossible, and yet, bees fly. According to autism theory, we’re not supposed to do reciprocity, and yet, here we are.
Rachel, your blog has been an inspiration and a blessing. Congratulations and thank you for your presence!
Thank you, SpunkyKitty! I always enjoy your blog as well.
Mazel tov! I’ve been a bit caught up in the “real world” for a while,less time online… I come back and see you and your blog going from strength to strength! Wonderful!
And I am very impressed by your raising and kosher slaughtering chickens. It’s good to raise your own meat and know just what the critters eat (no weird antibiotics and so on) and how they were treated and dispatched, hopefully with kindness and respect.
And a new kitty too! When do we see pics? I love vocal kitties, I have a “talker” too. She has a very distinct “hello” meow, and when I inadvertently shut her in a room for a few hours last month I found out that cats can and do swear. And there’s more but I can just imagine all the non-cat-people’s eyes beginning to glaze over…
Hi Misfit,
Thanks for the kudos! You’ll probably be interested to know that Bob and I learned to do kosher slaughter from two Muslim friends. Halal slaughter and kosher slaughter use the same method and have the same purpose of not causing pain or fear to the animal, being conscious of the gravity of taking an animal’s life, etc. Just the rituals are different. It was pretty amazing doing halal and kosher slaughter at the same time, having our friends see our ritual and our being able to see theirs.
Re: cats…I’ll have to write a kitty post so that all us kitty people can go on and on about the wonders of kitties to our hearts’ content.
Yay for you! I enjoy your blog so much. It has created some very good topics of conversation with my husband & generated some good debate too. =)
Thanks for sharing some tidbits about yourself. I love “fun facts”.
Thanks, Jennifer! It always make me feel good to see you and Jason here. You’re two of my earliest readers.
I am so impressed that you learned from Muslim friends! Kosher and halal at the same time is fine with me
There is common ground if people are willing to look for it… The method is virtually the same, but what do you say when you do the deed? We say “In the name of God, God is most great”, but I think you already knew that 
BTW I saw some chicken in Whole Foods last time I went there that was labelled both halal and glatt kosher, but my daughter wasn’t feeling too adventurous at the time — it’s prepared stuff in the freezer section, not plain meat to cook your own way. I hope to try it sometime though.
Hi Misfit,
Before we slaughter the chicken, we say “Blessed are You, Source of Blessing, Whose Presence Fills Creation, Who sanctified us with your mitzvot and gave us the mitzvah of performing shechittah (kosher slaughter).”
After we do the slaughtering, we let the blood drain into a bed of earth prepared beforehand. Then, we say “Blessed are You (as above…) Who gives us the mitzvah of covering the blood with the earth.” Then, we put earth over the blood to “bury” it. We always put a stone on each little bed to remind us of where the chickens had been.
One Thanksgiving, my Muslim friend and I drove with her mother, a Christian, to a farm run by Mormons to slaughter some turkeys for our tables. Very ecumenical. And it was pretty amazing to see how the efficiency of even small production agriculture differed from the solemnity of doing it ourselves. The people at the farm were very nice, though, and gave me the space to say the blessings and bury the blood outside.
Shechita! that’s the word I’ve been trying to remember since I read this post! Thanks for answering my Qs, I love to learn about different religions and cultures, and not everyone is comfortable sharing. That’s a lovely story about your friend and her mom and the farm. I remember back in the day Muslims would have to make friends with farmers and travel out of town to get their halal meat, and especially on Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) when it is traditional for folks (usually the men) to kill the animal themselves – then share the meat with family, friends and the poor. Now more Muslims [in N America, I mean] have farms and are producing the meat themselves. My next step is to look into buying organic halal!
[...] week, I was tagged by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg of Journeys with Autism for the Versatile Blogger Award, and it has taken me this long to get my act together to say thank you and pass it on. I am [...]