In honor of Breaking Bad's FINAL SEASON airing this coming Sunday...I am re-posting this blog entry I made during the filming of an earlier season...Our home is located near downtown Albuquerque and one evening they were filming a big shoot out with Jessie Pinkman and Walter White against some bad guys...The filming was at an historic and abandoned Santa Fe Rail Yard a stone's throw or three from our backyard...

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Looking like the full moon nesting in the bare trees of South Broadway, an eerie light shown.The light was in a huge box of lights set on a gantry crane over the downtown railroad yards.






Albuquerque residents are growing used to the occasional odd bright light in the city at night. We have come to know that they indicate a 'movie/tv shoot' is in progress. In this case, the shoot was for the AMC hit series, Breaking Bad.







Who is that guy high in the sky?












Ready for his closeup and no one really knows he's there behind the bright light.









Karl Marlantes







The whole 'bright light' picture ['that guy' is up in the gantry].












A gang of folk enjoying the warm airs of early spring? They might be enjoying the weather but this crew is hard at work on filming the AMC hit, Breaking Bad.












From a distance...









[Photography courtesy Aquila Arts LLC]

Testing does not a good student make---There has to be a better way...

Change.org|Online Petition Form

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Ziggy Marley: ABQ Bio Park

A light monsoon rain came pre-show and 'behaved perfectly' for the show providing a 'cool' night at the New Mexico Bio Park outdoor venue in Albuquerque for Ziggy Marley... No opener; straight Ziggy and crew for almost three hours. 
Kudos to the City of Albuquerque for bringing Ziggy Marley to the Land of Enchantment.



From our lawn spot.

Ziggy!


Sweet and simple lighting; great sound; great venue.





Ziggy Marley


View from center stage..."...who got the power?!"


You go, grrrl.


A quick pan of the happy crowd.

Happy Campers after the show!

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VIVA ANDERSON COOPER

CNN's Anderson Cooper made his own news today by declaring himself to be gay...The son of Gloria Vanderbilt certainly had a gay old time one night recently whilst completing his feature The Ridiculist!

You gotta love the guy...A great broadcaster and reporter...Special Kudos today, Mr. Cooper.








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LITTER PICKERS

As a former D.O.E. Litterpicker Crew Supervisor in Washington State, as well as being a current resident of Planet Earth...I love the TRASH is CASH video (page bottom) that I first saw on LINKtv and now have found on You Tube. It is both a catchy and deeply moving tune/video. 

  BUT FIRST...Here's a poem I once wrote about Litter and Litter Pickers...Despite finding roadside guns (no, really) and porno, I never made any CASH from the TRASH. Although there were those VW Bug MOON HUBCAPS... In my history of odd jobs taken to sustain my creative life, being a Department of Ecology Litter Crew Supervisor ranks as a lifetime BEST JOB for WRITERS e-v-e-r...A creative writer's life is at every level a solo journey. You can work on your great or not so great American novel for two years only to have it sit oin a shlef in a notebook...Ah, but what great shelves you say... As a litterpicker (make that 'Supervisor', please) I was able on an hourly basis to SEE my accomplishments; get exercise; didn't talk all day (as opposed to my classroom teaching avocations); was able to listen to truly amazing stories (of Juveniles D's and Community Service offenders complete with accents/dialects, then went home and wrote my own stuff with voices still in my head (good to hear some new voices)...Yes, it was a Great job, however, Praise Geebus that I am not still trudging along I-5 in the rain...Here's that poem:

Litterpickers 
 Litterpickers go out at dawn  quietly they slip by your lawn  Thin men and women without sound  They walk slow bent low to the ground  passing over pheasant deerskin and rats  sleeping men under bridges  cobwebs and bats  They gather man's sign  the stink of man unkind  They fill bags the size of whales  They sing the song of nightingales  Litterpickers march like Trojans to war  and for them the work is hardly a chore  Clearing a path trod with oily shoe  on a journey sadly sought by few  Acid heartburn indigestion  the toll on the body is not in question  Onward and upward through sun and rain  our lives are made cleaner by their pain  Litterpickers bend and scrape  from trash there is no escape  Litterpickers watch as you drive by  You so eager to make those bottles fly  with windows open to spring  My god it's so easy  I can throw anything  Litterpickers have packrat minds all  They often save things short and tall  like faded greenbacks and fancy hubs  You'd be surprised by what lies in shrubs  Litterpickers creep toward the trees  as noonday sun brings them to their knees 
 Litterpickers litterpickers  three bags full  yes sir yes sir  it's all recyclable 
 Litterpickers litterpickers watch 'em dance  smiles on their faces  they watch out for ants 
 Litterpickers litterpickers  ike Buddhas on the road  chanting Hari Krishna Ramigate  don't step on a toad 
 Litterpickers litterpickers  lungs full of monoxide  it's a job that pick pick picks at your pride  Coca-Cola Fanta Sprite  styrofoam and Rainier Light  picking up cans all day  litterpickers dream of trash at night 
  © 1984,2012 Jeff Hartzer

NOW, that you've picked up some trash, here's that GREAT video from You Tube...Enjoy.

 




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Hilarious French Cat Video

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BALLOON OVER BUNNYTOWN

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is known the world over as the largest gathering of Hot Air Balloons anywhere...It always takes place the first two weeks of October when New Mexico is at its most beautiful. Each of those two weekends, provide startling mass ascensions along with daily activities in the early morning and at sunset during the week. It is in the cool of autumn mornings that the "Albuquerque Box" best works allowing for balloonists to take off in one spot, float silently eastward toward the Sandia Mountains, and be gently brought back to the same area that the took off from for safe landings.

However there are companies that offer balloon rides year round as well such as Rainbow Ryders of Albuquerque.  On a recent June morning the unmistakable sound of gas being shot up into the envelope of a passing balloon woke me and our Schipperkes up...The balloon seemed to be lower than usual as it passed over BunnytownUSA and in fact, ended up landing a block away in the midst of our neighborhood.

Here are some photographs of the fun and surprising event...

Hot Air Balloon and BunnytownUSA

Hot Air Balloon touches down at St. Francis Xavier Church.

Hot Air Balloons open their tops to let out hot air on landing.

Soon to open the traditional bottle of a.m. champagne, 

the crew and passengers will soon celebrate a soft landing. 

--photographs courtesy Aquila Arts LLC and © 2012 Jeff Hartzer--

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JULY FIRST TWENTY TWELVE

Liv Tyler celebrates her 35th birthday today and the hottest June on record is thankfully over. The planet turns with a good bit of it either on fire, flooded, or downright in turmoil. Wall Street ended June with a bang celebrating European Bail Outs of the so-called, PIGS, -- Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain -- or at least several of those bovine spenders. In this short firecracker week, we will see if the tides remain blissfully full of green on the Street. June has both swooned and swolen.

Albuquerque and New Mexico have suffered wildfires that made the national news only to be eclipsed by even bigger fires raging out of control in Colorado and now, Wyoming and Montana. Meanwhile, most of Florida was underwater for a time with a mere Tropical Depression named, Debby, which took its long sweet time to cross over the Sunshine State.

Twenty Twelve continues to bring records of odd proportions with the winter that wasn't and the summer that was . Record breaking heat and just as June ended a hurricane force wind without the warning slow moving 'canes provide, took out power and has caused death and mayhem (thanks for ruining this word, Allstate) in the mid-Atlantic states of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, and the District of Columbia. And the real stormy heat of July/August is yet to come.

Many were surprised that the U.S. Supremes made the decision to uphold Obama's Health Care legislation. Many were surprised as well at the overwhelming decision to condemn Jerry Sandusky for his unconscionable acts on young boys. Despite the uproar of the loudest foxy news sources, some things are happening which are 'very innerestin' in our country today. Politically much is in store for the remainder of this formative year. Ironically, Obama is ruled the best president to deal with an Alien invasion  just prior to his announcement about alien children born in the USA being allowed to stay. Will it be Obama or Romney who leads us through the day of 12/21/12 when the Mayan Calendar runs out..?

At midnight last night one second was added to the Atomic Clock by the world's timekeepers whoever they be. Our planet is slowing apparently. Is obesity to blame? Overpopulation? Forest fire smoke? No matter...Each day now, the light grows dimmer by a minute as we move toward autumn and winter in the midst of our summertime blues.

So here's a big Happy Birthday to Liv Tyler with big kudos, and birthday wishes as well to the United States of America. Keep on keeping on...truckin' too.

Love this June photograph from Jacksonville's Florida Times-Union . 

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Garage Fire in Bosque;ABQ.,N.M.

Some video and stills I shot today at a fire that luckily did not spread to the Bosque in Albuquerque's South Valley at Bridge and Atrisco....FIRE is on all our minds as we wait for the so-called, Monsoon Season.

Embeds courtesy KOB TV NEWS (NBC) - Albuquerque, New Mexico Tweet

FRESH First Week of Summer CHAOS

Artwork: Americana by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

NEIL YOUNG"S much anticipated new cd, AMERICANA was released this week. As a life long Neil fanatic, I must say I am impressed with this cd now available at Amazon for a mere $9.99. He takes eleven classic folkie tunes like Tom Dooley (Dula), Oh Susannah, Clementine, Wayfarin' Stranger, ending with God Save the Queen (timely)...and turns them into electric guitar feats of grandeur with the avid help of Crazy Horse at full swing. Well worth the price of admission. 

Click for just announced  Neil Young and Crazy Horse's 2012 North American tour places/dates 

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 Gorgeous sky blue sky day here in Albuquerque depsite huge forest fires all around...Where's the smoke going anyway...?


TGIF: the big question for the weekend along with will our entire state burn down is Will A Triple Crown Winner be announced at Belmont? 

I think I'll have another as I sort out this news JUST IN...NO TRIPLE CROWN WINNER this time around.

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BunnytownUSA is a part of this weekend's COOP TOUR 2012...Despite having ZERO chickens, we have been deemed of interest for our bunny poop composting abilities and 'cuz who doesn't LOVE BUNNIES!?...On Saturday, the Tour hits chicken coops located North of Central Avenue (Route 66) ; on Sunday, the Tour moves South of Central...We are on the Sunday Sunday Sunday Tour...Click link for Google Map of Sunday's version of the   ABQ COOP TOUR 2012...Now to clean up our yard's canine POOP for the COOP tour aficionados.

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Altered States

Harvard scientist Eddie Jessup's (William Hurt) mind-altering experiments on himself, involving a hallucinatory drug and an isolation chamber, get out of control when his handiwork shuttles him back and forth on the evolutionary spectrum -- from human to ape-man. Equal parts sci-fi actioner, 1960s psychedelic trip and farce, the film was based on a Paddy Chayefsky novel and received Oscar nominations for music and sound. Blair Brown co-stars.

 This week marked my fourth weekly 'float tank session' at a new place in Nob hill...After I get the salt outta my ears I am going to enjoy my new 'mellow' from hours and a half spent in the solitude of myself. I now have four sessions under my belt and I am going to take a break for a time and maybe watch that old movie called Altered States....Its been another one of my back to the eighties things...(my early days in ABQ 1985-ish)...you float in salt water in total darkness for 60-90 minutes...in old days they played music...now silence...a complete sensory shutdown.  

It will be interesting to see if today's xyz generation of smart-phoners and 24-7 pluggged inners embrace the float tank idea of nothingness...Hats off to Albuquerque's new Float/Massage Center called, Enlighten Others .

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Regardless of your opinion on the OCCUPY movement, this latest speech by Michael Moore (love him or hate him) is a very full take on today's xyz generation of protestationers. Have a cup or two of java and check out the video of entire speech entitled, Unrigging The System as seen on LinkTV  . If you enjoy PBS you might enjoy the programming of Link TV. It comes pretty much commercial free and swings left of center by a large margin.

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My wife and I celebrate 25 years of legal marital bliss this week…Here we are seen on our roof top at 201 Princeton S.E., Albuquerque,New Mexico, tying the knot with officiator Isleta Pueblo Tribal Medicine woman, Pat Jojola. Pat's good works that afternoon have done well for our 25 years since.

Oddly, we could not get either a representative from the Roman Catholic nor Jewish faith to marry us. In 2008, I became a legalized 'clergy member' myself and have happily performed a wedding ceremony at BunnytownUSA for a sweet couple…Our theater, the AirDance ArtSpace has also been the sight of several weddings…Keep me and us in mind for your holy of holiest of days!

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For your entertainment:
Br Ba Cast Goes Bowling

Counting the days and nights until SUNDAY JULY 15 for premiere of Breaking Bad's final season.

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Night in the ER

After a weary last week of May, this weekend I survived my first (since 1988) shift in New Mexico's largest Level One Trauma Center at the University of New Mexico. There is nothing like spending six hours in the ER to let you know how lucky and bright your own life is despite the everyday losses, disappointments, aches and pains of one's own daily grindage. No patients in the ER are having even less than good days.

The new much-improved Emergency Department at UNM is geometrically changed from when I volunteered at BCMC (the 'old' ER was then referred to as the Bernalillo County Medical Center). There are many more individual treatment rooms now glass-door-encased as well as improved Trauma and Resuscitation bays. Several times during the shift I felt like I had 'lost my shopping cart' on a Wal-Mart aisle; took a bit of learning the navigations down halls and up corridors. Is that cart full of blankets, pillows and nightgowns yours? Ah, yes.

What has not changed in two decades is the fact that the ER continues, in my opinion, to be one of the most 'real' sections of the hospital. Reality and Being Here Now are key. Pain and attempts to alleviate pain, not to mention 'life saving' put all concerned into the present moment quite effectively. Most important, the staff working in ER's both here and across the country, seem to me to be some of the most hard-working, committed, and truly fine folks found in the broad ranging spectrum of "health practitioners".

Being an ER Volunteer affords me the opportunity to hover between patient and staff; to listen, comfort, aid both the patient (broad-ranging in needs and attitudes) as well as to be able to strip beds and carry out tasks freeing up certified staff for more important jobs. Also in an odd way as a young kid I was it seems often in need of stitches/bandages and hospital visits. I was treated well by hospital staff as a child and that stuck with me somewhere deep in the folds of my psyche.

As I am no longer in the classroom as a teacher receiving daily notice of students being sure to point out my many 'blemishes', and the fact that my self-employment as business owner often leaving me completing tasks unnoticed by others, the six hours I spent this weekend offered me an opportunity to immediately help out and to immediately see results...I feel good about what I was able to accomplish and look forward to next weekend.

This new gig offers more to this voluntarily sort of partially employed dude, than does an hourly stipend of cash-oh-la. And I suppose too, I can now play one of my favorite Jefferson Airplane tunes even louder now...Volunteers!

Glad to come on board again at UNM Hospital.

Viva all of the  Volunteers of America ! 

(including the once so-named garbage collectors of San Francisco)

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JUNE ONE TWENTY TWELVE

Friday June 1st, 2012

April may be the 'cruelest month' but for some May was well, May Day times 31…Today Wall Street fell into another abyss. Our state is increasingly on fire. In Albuquerque so far, the winds have blessedly blown most of the undoubtedly coming soon smoke elsewhere. A sense of doom hangs in the air. Link to today's NM fire map.


HURRICANE SEASON begins today and that official seasonal moniker has been preceded already by several storms both on our Pacific and Atlantic coasts…Harbinger or just a premature leap by Mother Nature? Tropical Storm Alberto and Tropical Storm Beryl preceded the official start of the season, the first such occurrence since 1908.

The last week of May our Four Schippeteers became Three. One of our Schipperkes, Duke, celebrated his birthday by having two teeth removed and yes, losing his 'girlfriend'. Things have been quiet around BunnytownUSA since the passage of Miss Melanie. Melanie is shown here in my arms at BunnytownUSA.

My thoughts and feelings this week have been a bit dulled; fortunately for curious readers, Debra Landau notes the following information regarding our sweet 'rescued' Schipperke, Miss Melanie:


Adopted her June 25, 2000 at 3-4 years of age. Rescued from awful place in Yankton, South Dakota. Believe she was used as a breeder. (One vet said so, another disagreed.) Remarkably healthy little girl, especially considering her early doghood.

Among fond memories: Mellie running with unbound joy through Grand Tetons and settling in the center square of a tic-tac-toe arrangement of dead aspens. Mellie killing a mouse in 3 milliseconds after Jordan flushed it out and Skipper slapped a paw down on its tail. That was what inspired the motto, "If you want it done right, get the bitch!" And she had other kills, including a mourning dove en l'air! Hers was the ultimate survivor motto, "Eat shit and live!" Of course, she told off many other dogs, many bigger than she. Despite being "Miss Mellie", we always thought she was more Scarlett, domineering with a touch of denial, as in, "I just can't think about that today; I'll think about that tomorrow." She was Queen, but there were times she enjoyed walking tandem with Skipper. She was the best at being brushed. Her unique stroll and ability to lounge in just the right way made me dub her the Mae West of dogs. She knew children to be evil. And in her later years, she discovered the joys of cuddling with our dogsitter and watching Lifetime movies for women. (Who knew?!) And of course, she discovered her singing voice 3 years ago when Holly and Duke arrived and established the Yowling Trio. She learned to be OK with some men, but Jeff Hartzer was the only man for her - her one true love!

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In a tribute to kicking back for summer's thunderstorms and dazzling dreams I am kicking in three more Tom Petty YouTube vids just for fun and non profit...

A Face in the Crowd---this one goes out to DAL with xx's and oo's

   

 Finding Out---this one goes out to the kick in the pants that is life

   

Dog on the Run---this one goes out to Miss Melanie

 

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Memorial Day BBQ South Broadway Block Party

Some days the party comes to your own front door...Our block of the world in the South Broadway neighborhood of Albuquerque, N.M. was transformed for a Memorial Day Family BBQ event.


Fun was had by all young and old...





Charles Grandy Master BBQ'r of Ceremonies & Johnny Ray, supah-chef.

Our block of the world greets the morning with blue skies.

Captain Tony before ten hours of grilling! 

 
Music and BBQ just gets you g-o-i-n-g when there's a cool breeze and a blocked off street.

Cool kids glad for summer break.

Our good neighbor, Pat, takes movies while I snap this pic.

Many came home to South Broadway from afar...this former US NAVY sailor came all the way home from Austin, Texas on a plane; he left his way cool Mustang in way cool Austin.

Mike and friend find the groove...while the world tilts toward sunset.

Our block of the world greets the evening with not so blue skies. Our day was fun despite that the largest wildfire now burning in the USA is growing more out of control in Western N.M.

Hats off to those fighting fires AND especially today to all of those who serve/have served in our nations military.

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Barracuda Jumps In Boat

Just off the Atlantic coastline east of St. Augustine, Florida these guys are pulling in one fish when another leaps into their boat...Ah, to be fishing again...Miss Mother Ocean.GO CUDAS!

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Eclipsed Fly Over

Very sweet ending to an amazing solar eclipsed twilight...




[Note: save your sunglasses for a view of Venus transiting the sun June 5, 2012 4:23pm ABQ time...More info at Transit of Venus dot NL ] Tweet

Eclipsed by the Moon - a poem of the day

No telling what might happen

tomorrow

but tonight 

the moon eclipses the sun

over Albuquerque

and all is still in the afternoon 

with fans blowing breezes across porches 

and

the mind has a heart of it's own

where gusty winds and rattlesnakes

exist

No telling what might happen

tomorrow

but just now the smoked chicken is done

the tangerines ripen in the windows

of our dreams

and somewhere a man is about to kiss a man

and all the world's a stage with 

Facebook faltering and

all of us driving fast cars

typing letters into boxes
taking turns

too fast

No telling what might happen

tomorrow

but Robin Gibb and
the Bee Gees stopped "Staying Alive' 

and that guy who blew up Pan Am 103 

over Lockerbie, Scotland in '88

died a slow death too today

with the world turn turning around

with history moving through time
as protesters storm Chicago

and those kinder gentler

machine-gunned hands

back again

No telling what might happen

tomorrow 

but today a deadly earthquake crumbled 

crumbling buildings  in Italy...

ciao!  to those that live amidst caved in cathedrals 

castles and bell towers falling
and just now
our dogs sleep
cool floors to fur
and china cabinets
hold dreams of mothers
long gone

No telling what might happen

tomorrow 

but today Tropical Storm Alberto 

rippled the waves of Charleston 

weeks before storm season begins 

and across seven North American states 

wildfires burn and folks in Wichita ask

Why'd the tornado cross the road?

No telling what might happen

tomorrow 

but tonight we stand by pink cactus blossoms 

beside roads where once hands across America joined 

and tonight thousands don sunglasses 

and stare in silent wonder beside ancient 

volcanoes and petroglyphs 

just this side of Albuquerque 

near the Rio Grande 

where convergences 

were once harmonic 

No telling what might happen

tomorrow 

but tonight the moon eclipses the sun

over Albuquerque 

all of us glad to be alive

all of us having shared times past and present 

with  histories of planetary folk and cave men

Cowboys and Indians 

and laughing ladies 

behind orange sunglasses 

parked  next to us 

here 

at this barbed wire fence facing west

all of us cheer the end of this day 

all of us going home 

to view the mystery 

on plasma screens 

with higher definitions 

filmed by the experts 

no less blind than we.

©2012

Jeff Hartzer

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Eclipsed by the Moon-slide show

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Three GREAT Tom Petty Videos

I love these two videos on YouTube from Petty's BluRay dvd Tom Petty at Soundstage which came out Jan 2012...Very unusual cuts...enjoy. A reader suggested I add video number three below.



Two Men Talking...

  

  Lost Children

 


While my Guitar Gently Weeps

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Words With ... Anti-Semites?

The following is a guest post written by Aquila Arts' very own Debra Landau. WARNING: Offensive language involved ... in fact, that's the whole point of this entry!

I am officially obsessed with Words With Friends. Entered the world of iPod Touch only 3 months ago and being that I'm a woman of a certain age with better things to do, took my time navigating this new world. Only when laid up with dental surgery a couple weeks ago did I start exploring games. Decided to play WWF against myself to learn the ropes. Under the influence of Percocet I wound up playing with myself a lot - like you do. And so it began...

At one point in my second game I had GOT on the board and the tiles FAG ready to go. I had to try. WWF responded with "Sorry, faggot is not an acceptable word." Hard to argue with that statement, really. Same message for "fag." In a later game I tried FUCK and same message. OK, so WWF is not Scrabble and vulgar and offensive terms are off the table. Except that in the same late-night game, WWF accepted YID, which, according to New Oxford American Dictionary, is not only an offensive term, it is also capitalized. So, I went to the official Words With Friends rules page and read the following:

All words labelled as a part of speech (including those listed of foreign origin, and as archaic, obsolete, colloquial, slang, etc.) are permitted with the exception of the following: proper nouns (words always capitalized), abbreviations, prefixes and suffixes standing alone or words requiring a hyphen or an apostrophe. 

Now I'm confused. All sorts of swear words and derogatory terms are listed on the ENABLE.txt file they reference. However, if you hit the "suggest a word" link on the rules page, that page does say WWF will not accept "derogatory words or racial slurs." So, "yid" is not derogatory?

I soldiered on and discovered that GOY and PUD were acceptable, attesting to how much Yiddish has entered our lexicon. (As a child I was taught "pud" was the Yiddish equivalent of "dick." But my dictionary lists "pud" as British slang for pudding. Really?) So, maybe that explains how YID got the OK. Then I scored with SHIT and TWAT (not in the same game, for better or worse) and figured maybe the F-word is just too taboo. And then I got the tiles QNIGGERT. It was good to see the ensuing WWF rejection, although my N-word would have received a double-word score had it been accepted.

But then, in one game WOP and CUM were both rejected. And then I went below the hard deck yet again, but this time there was danger: KIKE was accepted. Are you kidding me? For us of the Hebraic persuasion, that's our N-word. So, what gives?

Now, I don't think I'm one of those Jews who is always looking for anti-Semitism. I was raised by an ex-Catholic woman raised in Nazi Germany (long story) and she and my childhood friend Phil desensitized me. Sunday afternoons, after I was done with Hebrew school and Phil was home from Mass, we would play in my yard with Phil telling me all about how I was going to Hell. Because of these little chats, for years I thought "chosen people" meant that Jews were chosen to go to Hell. Anyway... While I don't deny anti-Semitism exists in the here and now, I believe we Jews have it pretty good, overall. But this WWF "glitch" does give me just a little pause.

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to a C-word opportunity. And the verdict is...? Wait, didn't I say I was a woman of a certain age with better things to do? I think I need an intervention.

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