the writing and photography of Neil Kramer

Forever 13

Today, I’m attending the bar mitzvah of the son of one of my closest friends.  This got me curious to go look at the photos from my own bar mitzvah.  As I looked at this photo of this thirteen year old boy, a somewhat disdainful look on his face, I thought about my last post, and how I was going to change myself into being a less moralistic person, looking at only the good in life and society-at-large.  But now I wonder if my character is just etched in the DNA, and I should accept my need to kvetch.

15 Comments

  1. kenju

    You could acknowledge it, accept it – and then resist the urge to kvetch (although I know how difficult it is.)

  2. Karen

    I think, perhaps, you’ll be happier if you kvetch occasionally – releasing the pressure valve can be good. Writing is always good, but the nice occasional shrugging type kvetch, as if to say “What’s new? Milk spills, bloggers are wrong again. Balloons pop, more people are being idiots on the road. Cookies crumble.”

  3. slouchy

    that’s some bow tie.

  4. Half Assed Kitchen

    You’re rockin’ the bar mitzvah look, though.

  5. V-Grrrl @ Compost Studios

    I have complete faith in your ability to grow up.

  6. Heather

    You aren’t Peter Pan.

  7. followthatdog

    It took me a while to get to the look on your face. The haircut and the enormous bow tie got in my way. I personally prefer you with as I’ve come to know you, kvetching and all. Please don’t try to change it. The hair and the tie on the other hand are better left in the past.

  8. Neil

    Jeez. I wonder where I got that haircut. The bowtie I still like.

  9. EarnestGirl

    the bow tie is, of itself, an entire story.
    Clip-on or tie? where did it come form, did you choose to wear it, or was it duty, your father delivering some last minute words to his son as he instructed you in the tying of it; and oh, the colour! Is the disdain for the whole affair, or just the natural 13 year old chafe at he absurdities of an adult world and its looming expectations of you embodied in the suit, tie, and ruffles (are those ruffles?!) on the shirt…
    god, we think we know so much at 13.
    anyway, I see bow tie… you see kvetch. stories to be told either way. what a fabulous photo.

    • Neil

      I think I picked the outfit. And liked it. And I was really into my bar mitzvah. It was a serious event for me. I was a man. Unlike the other kids, I wasn’t as much into the party or the photographs.

  10. subWOW

    Insane in the membrane. Kneaded in your DNA (btw love how you put it!). I thought we all are like this? And, Kvetch? Isn’t that why we have blogs in the first place? Basically, you definitely should Kvetch to your heart’s content.

  11. Marinka

    I love that photo. The next time we go to a blogging event. I insist you wear that bow tie. And that hair piece.

  12. Pearl

    It is traditional for a bar mitzvah boy to work into his speech “Today I am a man.”

    Ruffled shirt and all…

  13. Loukia

    Aw, I love the picture!

  14. rdl

    i think so. embrace your kvetching. great pic! i never had one, so no pic. but i have my sons.

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