That’s Odd

42 The coronavirus itself also remains a scourge: Officials at the event required attendees to wear masks amid an alarmThe Jewish Home | DECEMBER 15, 2022 ing rise in case numbers in the city. Bass, 69, said she entered the race because the heightened racial divisions and civic unease reminded her of the unrest that preceded the riots that tore the city apart in 1992. In September, her home was burglarized. Bass, long an advocate for liberal crime-prevention policies, promised during her campaign to put more police officers on the streets. She has also promised to declare a state of emergency on homelessness and find homes for 17,000 homeless people in her first year. In practice, she will have to rely on a broad coalition of city and county officials to enact any sweeping plans to bolster social service programs. According to a September report from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, about 69,000 people are experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County. (© The New York Times)

Mistaken Identity

When police were called in to rescue a young woman, they were shocked by what they found.

The unconscious woman who had been locked in an art gallery was, in actuality, a life-size sculpture.

The incident took place last month in London but was reported this week. Authorities had been contacted about a woman who was unconscious, slumped over a desk, in the gallery and hadn’t moved for two hours. Police had to break into the locked gallery to save the woman – who really didn’t need saving.

Credit for the creation of artwork so realistic that it tricked London police officers into storming a local business to save it goes to U.S. artist Mark Jenkins. This piece has been titled Kristina and is made of just packing tape and foam filler, and was commissioned by Laz Emporium’s owner Steve Lazarides, formerly the agent of the famous anonymous graffiti artist Banksy.

The sculpture itself is lauded for its ability to tell a story, with the story, in this case, being of Lazarides’s sister, who passed out with her face buried in soup, which was so memorable that he just had to have an art installation made to commemorate it.

This is not the first time the Kristina art installation was deemed to be so mind-bogglingly realistic that it warranted an emergency situation.

Back in October 2022, paramedics swarmed the London art and design fair Decorex because they thought the woman had collapsed and did not realize that she was a sculpture, with police actually criticizing the installation for being too realistic.

Don’t they say that art imitates real life – or is it the other way around?

Never Too Old

Learning never stops – it’s a value that endures throughout all ages.

This week, Joyce DeFauw modeled that lesson for us when she graduated from Northern Illinois University. Joyce is 90 years old – and the oldest person to graduate from that institution.

This was not the first time that Joyce attended university. She had dropped out of Northern Illinois State Teachers College in 1951 just a few semesters shy of graduation she “met a good looking man” and got married and started a family.

In 2019, Joyce returned to school and took online classes to complete her bachelor’s. She proudly accepted her diploma on Sunday.

“We can never quit learning,” the great-grandmother said. “If we have the opportunity, and we are given the ability, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t go for it.”

She added, “You can’t put a value on it, in my opinion,” Joyce said, referring to achieving your dreams. ”Just don’t give up. I mean if you have the

44 opportunity, take that opportunity, and you never know. A lot of us get sidetracked or whatever, but go back.” The Jewish Home | DECEMBER 15, 2022 A lesson like that never gets old. Better Late Than Never

This story is for the books. A library in Minnesota recently received an overdue book – that was returned 47 years late. Along with the book, “Chilton’s Foreign Car Repair Manual,” came a note that explained what the book’s journey was for the past few decades.

“In the mid-1970s,” the note read, “I was living in Lake Elmo and was working on an old Mercedes Benz. I took out this book for reference. A few months later, I moved and apparently the book got packed up. Forty-seven years later, I found it in a trunk with other interesting things from the ‘70s.”

The note continued, “It’s a little overdue, but I thought you might want it back. My apologies to anyone in Lake Elmo who was working on an old Benz in the last 47 years.”

Along with the explanation came two crisp $100 bills.

“I probably can’t afford the overdue charge, but I will send you enough for a new book,” the person added.

Unbeknownst to him (or her), the library no longer charges overdue fees.

In any case, the $200 is more than enough to cover the book, which had to be recycled because of oil stains in the binding.

Long story short…

Project Tip to Toe 2022 is setting records for Erchana Murray-Bartlett.

The 32-year-old from Australia recently broke a Guinness World Record by running the 26.2-mile marathon distance for 107 days, surpassing the previous record of 106 consecutive marathons. The runner began her feat in August and broke the record on December 3.

Despite the accolades, Murray-Bartlett is not done. She plans on continuing her sprint until she reaches 150.

Murray-Bartlett calls her project Tip to Toe 2022, as she began running in Cape York, known as Australia’s northern “tip,” and plans to finish her 150th marathon run in Port Melbourne, Victoria, known as the country’s southern “toe.”

“My hips, feet, legs and back ache. I feel a little bit emotionally exhausted too after reaching the record last Sunday – the challenge is now to just keep going, and I’m excited to see what my body can do,” Murray-Bartlett told Canadian Running magazine.

Murray-Barlett said she wants her running to raise awareness of the plight of Australia’s wildlife. She is running her route inland, along the coast, and over mountain ranges, which could make her route a whopping 3,728 miles in all. Along the way, she hopes to encounter animals that one wouldn’t normally see and to view the country’s most beautiful areas.

Run through the forests, run.