Philisteins

Last week, I met a JewBu in the wholefoodsparkinglot. I know what you’re thinking, there aren’t any Jewish Buddhists on the westcoast, but you’re wrong. There are a few. I stumbled into one right before sundown last Saturday. I know, I would have asked him why he was driving on shomer shabbat, but he looked like he could spare the guilt. We talked about New York and New Jersey. I was renting a car with NJ plates (mistake), which was how we started talking. He’s from Jersey, whatever. We talked about Portlanders, passive aggressive bicyclists, bad drivers, clean air, how everybody thinks they’re so smart because they live in the same city as Powells, and what we miss about the City. well, what “I” miss about the City. He’s from Jersey. He looked at my plaidshirt, asked me why I was hiding my Jewish”ness” and I was like, “I have to. You know that.” So yada yada yada, he asked me out on a dinner date, which I tried not to read as sexual, which it wasn’t, which was a relief, gave me his number and told me a JewBu joke, which I forgot.