Ben Gellman-Chomsky

It’s really a shame that I pay for this space, and don’t actually use it. So with that in mind, I’m trying to kickstart my content production here on May 9. As a jumping off point, I’ll add some thoughts on my parents on this particular mother’s day.

I’m very fortunate that my parents have always been supportive of me, through my interests and career choice. My mother is a big proponent of the “you’ll never know if you can if you don’t try” school of thought, something I’m fairly certain she gets from her mother.  One thing that made a big difference in my life, though, was a chance she didn’t take.  When I was still in elementary school, Florida State University was interested in my mother for a law professorship.  Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m sure Tallahassee would’ve been lovely.  But it would’ve taken me and my sister away from all our friends, and my father had been working at the same synagogue for more than a decade at that point.  She decided to not pursue the opportunity, and I’ve always been thankful for that, though I’m not sure I’ve articulated it.

But Mother’s Day often overshadows another member of my family.  Due to the misfortune of having his birthday on May 9, my father often takes second billing on his own birthday.  So much of what my life today is – from my abiding passion for and fascination with baseball to my identity as a Jew first – is a direct result of my upbringing from him.  My earliest REAL memory is playing wiffleball with him in the driveway at our old house.  My childhood Saturdays were spent at synagogue.  And the one time those two aspects of my life came into real conflict – when I wanted to try out for a travel baseball team on Shavuot – he convinced me to skip baseball for synagogue.  I was mad at the time, but I haven’t regretted it since.

So thanks, Mom and Dad.  It’s been a strange trip so far, and I’m looking forward to whatever the future holds.

———————————————–

I can’t promise that I’ll post every day, but I’ll try to post as frequently as possible, if only to keep myself in the habit of regularly producing content unrelated to local news.  So you’ll be seeing some more musings about the Boston Red Sox, Ohio State Buckeyes and Syracuse Orange (and maybe even some Brandeis Judges info!), and some more about the life of a young broadcaster working his way up from the bottom of the business.

Thanks for coming.