Greg Leake emails: Hi Luke and Rabbs,
Last Torah Talks, Luke said to Rabbs, “Who was that guy who used to write all the time?”
Rabbs puts hand over face and goes into a 45-second brown study, presumably because my name was so remote from his consciousness that a very deliberate attempt had to be made to retrieve it.
“Greg.”
“Greg, how’re you doing?”
Luke replies, “Hey, can I move in with you a while?”
Geez, how could anyone possibly refuse a request that so consientoulsy reminded one of one’s affection in the mind of the requester? I don’t believe I’ve ever been so flattered.
As it happens, this might have actually been a possibility 6 months ago. Now we have completed our move to Dillon, Texas, and I live about a hundred miles away from Dallas. (A rabbi actually hugged me twice as I left town, and this is not easy if you’re a goy.)
Still, I think a Dallas move is worth considering. I might have a few weak contacts in the Orthodox Jewish community there. As you stated, Dallas only has one Alexander Technique teacher, or at least that was the situation a number of months ago when I checked. Because of Texas’s low taxation and business-friendly environment, more people have discretionary income and more job possibilities. Not to say that we haven’t been hit by the downturn, but it is less severe than in California.
My idea would be for you to make arrangements with your herbal store and other similar outlets to give introductory lectures on the Alexander Technique. Do some flyers and similar things, placing the technique in a sort of New Age, human potential movement kind of context. Then actually have some people that you try to sell the idea to and see if you can arouse their desire to experiment with the technique. I would also lower my prices at the events in which the technique is offered through your lectures, something like, ‘For people from my lectures, the fee is cut x% for so many lessons..’ Make it cheap enough so that a participant can see himself trying it out without having to deal with a steep financial hurdle. Rabbs is right that money is tight today because of President Obama and liberal policies. Europe could still push us into a financial cataclysm. So making it more affordable to get people interested might be a wise decision.
Rabbs, I really enjoyed your Mexi-Kosher commercial. I told a young filmmaker I know who was making a trip to LA, and he said that he was going to try it.
Life here in “Dillon” is very different than my sojourn in the Dallas Jewish community. I am back in Texas and life has improved in many ways.
Oh, and by the way, that Australian preacher is a Seventh Day Adventist fundamentalist, as is so often the case. In Christian circles, his point of view is sometimes known as provincialism. It is absolutely correct for people to be completely confident faith in religion. However, it is provincial to believe that only their religion has ontological validity. Today, thankfully, a segment of Christianity has moved beyond that provincial idea, and has come to understand that other religions also have their own relationship to divinity. Luke, my view is that you’re not quite ready to fry just yet.
Maybe I’ll send you some pictures of my new town.
