The Type of Town I Could Spend a Few Days In

Blogging is never light around here, but it may get a bit sporadic for the next 36 hours or so because I'm going to Miami to speak at this event and do a little reporting, and I'm not totally sure what my level of internet connectivity will be:

South Florida, of course, is full of Cubans and full of Jews, and I'm both. I'm not, however, a "Jewban" -- a person of Cuban Jewish ancestry. Rather, my mom's family and my paternal grandmother's family are standard Ashkenazi Jews and my dad's dad was Cuba. Either way, I think I'd be a good candidate for office in Florida.

Comments

I went to high school with a Jewmaican guy.

Posted by Freddie | November 14, 2007 11:43 AM

In a just world, there would be some sort of penalty for embedding Will Smith music in your blog.

Posted by southpaw | November 14, 2007 11:46 AM

So your grandpa had delusions of grandeur? He was Cuba? He and Steven "I am America" Colbert seem to have a lot in common.

Posted by HS | November 14, 2007 11:49 AM

HS, perhaps Matt's grandfather is Cuba Gooding.

Posted by KCinDC | November 14, 2007 12:01 PM

Ah yes, I can see it now. You and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on the veranda, the morning sun in her hair, an ocean breeze rustling the pages of the Wall Street Journal you're sharing over Bloody Marys and bagels. Your fingers touch, electricity in the air, each wondering if there is time for one more frolic before meeting Cheney on the tarmac...................

Posted by steve duncan | November 14, 2007 12:02 PM

Jewban.

I love that coffee, mang.

Posted by Scarface | November 14, 2007 12:04 PM

Top Reasons Why Matt Will Never Ever Ever Get Elected in Florida:

*Doesn't hate African-Americans
*Questions both the moral rationale and the political efficacy of AIPAC
*Refuses to demonize the poor
*Tax Cuts are not his religion
*Has no known connections to real estate developers, defense contractors, or telecommunication companies
*Has normal sexual proclivities
*Isn't willing to frighten the blue-haired snowbirds

Posted by mrs. ibrahim al-jafaari | November 14, 2007 12:16 PM

I think I'd be a good candidate for office

Fuck no. A couple IMs a week from your latest libertarian blogcrush and you'd privatize Social Security. We need to keep you in punditry, where your toothless centrism can do as little harm as possible.

Posted by Christmas | November 14, 2007 12:17 PM

You're going to give career advice to U. of Miami students on how to get into political journalism? What's your first piece of advice going to be, to transfer to Harvard? Are there any Hurricane fans on the staff of The Atlantic?

They'd be better off going into a different field.

Posted by Fred | November 14, 2007 12:22 PM

"*Questions both the moral rationale and the political efficacy of AIPAC"

Doesn't he have similar views about the Cuba lobby?

Posted by Christopher Colaninno | November 14, 2007 12:23 PM

HS: haven't you seen Soy Cuba? Everybody was Cuba back then.

Posted by Boring Commenter | November 14, 2007 12:31 PM

Welcome to Miami! My family lives in Coral Gables, right across the street from U.Miami. It's a nice campus; you'll enjoy it.

Posted by Daniel, Esq. | November 14, 2007 12:32 PM

Cubans have by far the better food overall, though Jews have the better Chinese restaurants. But the Cubans have the comidas chinas y criollas variety (even though in New York at least a lot of these are run by Chinese Dominicans - no not the Catholic variety). I thought that Seinfeld would have been better if they used one of these in place of the diner.

Posted by Gene | November 14, 2007 12:36 PM

Contrary to popular perception, there really aren't that many Jews in Miami, outside of certain areas like Coral Gables and the beach. In my high school in the western edge of the city (the center of most new Latin American immigration) I think I had, at most, two Jewish classmates.

In my elementary school the only Jews I knew were genuine Jewbans.

Posted by CG | November 14, 2007 12:37 PM

I'm not a JewBu, nor do I play one on TV. But I think it sounds pretty attractive.

I do enjoy playing "Jew, Not Jew", You? So Nu?

At Hebrew School last week, I walked in a bit before the end, and they to help the kids keep quiet, they were asking them to make the Vulcan Live Long and Prosper sign. But they called it something else.

Jew Vulcan always seemed pretty cool, but there are times I wish Worf were Jewish. Worf's adopted father was certainly Jewish (Theodore Bikel), but his mother (Georgia Brown) was probably not. Their characters though are ambiguously Jewish: Sergey and Helena Rozhenko.

I am pretty sure that Worf is, for the most part, a JewBu.

Posted by jerry | November 14, 2007 12:37 PM

Jew Vulcan might be JewVu.

Posted by jerry | November 14, 2007 12:40 PM

Ich bin ein Cuba!

Donda est Cuba?

Posted by gregor | November 14, 2007 12:46 PM

Given that most Cuban dishes consist of delicious pork topped with more pork, I'm guessing that Jewbans find it extremely challenging to keep kosher.

Posted by LaFollette Progressive | November 14, 2007 1:19 PM

Matt, you could run, but those pesky Florida Republicans would purge all the Matt Yglesias supporters from the voting rolls and install screwy voting machines to keep you from being elected.

And whatever you do, DON'T demand a recount.

Posted by Dilan Esper | November 14, 2007 1:59 PM

"Ich bin ein Cuba!

Donda est Cuba?"

I believe Matt's grandad uttered the famous, "El Estado es mi."

Posted by Njorl | November 14, 2007 2:06 PM

I continue to be thankful that Will Smith has stuck to acting these past years.

Posted by Cain | November 14, 2007 2:06 PM

Whenever I get sent to Florida for work, it is always Orlando. That works out well though, since I am half cartoon.

Posted by Njorl | November 14, 2007 2:18 PM

Some of these comments sound like they were made by children stuck in the parallel play phase.

Posted by Fred | November 14, 2007 2:32 PM

there are times I wish Worf were Jewish - jerry

I always thought Whorf was Jewish, but I don't know for sure. Sapir certainly was.

OK ... stupid joke ...

Posted by DAS | November 14, 2007 2:33 PM

Contrary to popular perception, there really aren't that many Jews in Miami - CG

The perception is based on the large numbers of Jews in the north-eastern suburbs of Miami. Speaking as someone who stupidly booked a flight into Miami when visiting a friend in Boynton Beach, I realize how far away from Miami said Jews really are ... but when you're an out-of-towner, you think "it's on the Miami metropolitan area inset in my atlas, so it must be 'Miami'". Of course, I'm not only the first person to do that sort of thing but I'm also the first person to complain when someone says something similar about wherever I'm living.

Posted by DAS | November 14, 2007 2:43 PM

but when you're an out-of-towner, you think "it's on the Miami metropolitan area inset in my atlas, so it must be 'Miami'". Of course, I'm not only the first person to do that sort of thing

Similarly

For our first trip to LA we flew in to LAX not realizing that we were in for a 3 hour commute to our hosts' house. (4 hour flight from Chicago + 3 hour commute during rush hour = Happy Bladders!)

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | November 14, 2007 3:05 PM

Re Matthew's comment "Either way, I think I'd be a good candidate for office in Florida. "
------------
Or maybe for a gigolo.

Over to you, pimphand. I set it up --you spike.

Posted by Don Williams | November 14, 2007 3:23 PM

Welcome to the sunshine state. May I suggest eating at the famed Versailles cafe?

Posted by Gus | November 14, 2007 4:08 PM

"Jewban" does sound better than "Cubrew".

Posted by Grunt | November 14, 2007 4:48 PM

A guy who wants to end the Cuban embargo and put pressure on Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians? Running for office in Florida? (And who, by the way, openly disdains the Bible-believing, gun-owning residents of the northern part of the state and would like to use the power of the state to suppress their way of life?) That's funny. I assume it's intentional, Yglesias's way of saying that he's about to become a fish very much out of water.

Posted by y81 | November 14, 2007 5:08 PM

You're going to give career advice to U. of Miami students on how to get into political journalism? What's your first piece of advice going to be, to transfer to Harvard?

Heh. When I went there, we referred to UM as "Harvard on the beach".

(That may have been partially intended to annoy the president at the time, who was a Yalie. With the current non-Ivy boss, that's less of a factor.)

... someone who stupidly booked a flight into Miami when visiting a friend in Boynton Beach...

My parents live in Boynton. I fly into WPB.

Posted by Thlayli | November 14, 2007 5:40 PM

Contrary to popular perception, there really aren't that many Jews in Miami, outside of certain areas like Coral Gables and the beach.

I saw this stat in the NYT about 6 months ago:

Miami Beach had roughly 60,000 people in Jewish households, 62 percent of the total population, in 1982, but only 16,500, or 19 percent of the population, in 2004

Pretty striking decline.

Posted by Hypatia | November 14, 2007 6:07 PM

The blog could use some Jan Hammer.

Posted by Senescent | November 14, 2007 6:46 PM

A run for Maximum Leader would be premature, Matt. As your fellow Cuban, Tony Montana, explained, "First you get the money, THEN you get the power, then you get the women."

Posted by ferd | November 14, 2007 7:05 PM

In a just world, there would be some sort of penalty for embedding Will Smith music in your blog.

Absolutely agree with southpaw. Wall sits Yglesias. Wall sits.

Posted by Jake | November 14, 2007 7:52 PM

Re: Given that most Cuban dishes consist of delicious pork topped with more pork, I'm guessing that Jewbans find it extremely challenging to keep kosher.

Actually, I've read that the heavy emphasis on pork in Spanish (and presumably therefore in Cuban) cuisine developed as a way for the Inquisition to root out recalcitrant Jews and Muslims after the Reconquista. Restaurants would serve lots of pork-heavy dishes so that the Jews and Muslims would have to fish the pork out of them, and then the Inquisitorial spy posted in the restaurant could arrest them.

Posted by Hector | November 14, 2007 7:58 PM

Re: Contrary to popular perception, there really aren't that many Jews in Miami, outside of certain areas like Coral Gables and the beach.

There's at least one neighborhood in North Miami that is well populated with Jews, and fairly obseravnt onmes too. I strayed into it a few weeks while cutting through to the freeway to avoid a big back up on the main thoroughfare. It was a Saturday afternoon and the sidewalks were filled with Jewish men and boys, dressed in their Sabath best despite the oppressive summer heat, walking (I assume) to synagogue.

Re: Running for office in Florida? (And who, by the way, openly disdains the Bible-believing, gun-owning residents of the northern part of the state and would like to use the power of the state to suppress their way of life?)

Disdaining the Biblebelt types is not a problem is S Florida. As long as you don't PO the Cubans you can get away with just about any sort of liberalism.

Posted by JonF | November 14, 2007 8:28 PM

Of all the places in Miami you could go to, you picked UofM?

Try to get to a Hurricane basketball game. They're pretty decent--certainly better than the football Hurricanes this year, or (so far) the Heat.

There are considerable pockets of Jews in Miami Dade County, in North Miami Beach and Miami Beach proper. (Those who have never been to Miami should know that North Miami Beach is actually on the mainland and north of Miami Beach proper. Sunny Isles, Bal Harbour, where Dole and other politicos keep winter condos, and North Bay Village are, geographically speaking, north Miami Beach). There are other pockets in Broward County, but the most important Orthodox institutions are to be found in Miami Beach.

The Cubans are all over, but are getting overwhelmed, finally, by the rest of Latin America. You haven't lived until you spend an afternoon at the mall eating Argentinian food while listening to Bolivian Inca musicians, surrounded by a mob of shoppers from Columbia, Brasil, and Venezuela, then proceeding to the upper level to browse through the local outpost of a Mexican department store.

But you have great problems in getting elected in Florida. You have absolutely no fundraising sources in the real estate development business.

Posted by kishnevi | November 14, 2007 9:43 PM

DAS, that was not a stupid joke. That was an excellent joke! Thank you!

Posted by jerry | November 14, 2007 9:57 PM

That explains it. I know the world is a complicated place, but I've been wondering for years how you could be both Jewish and named Yglesias (isn't that "church" in Spanish?)

Posted by sab | November 15, 2007 12:14 AM