Mutts have earned respect in dog show!

I heard this as I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) today and it made me laugh but also think that slowly but surely all type of human mutts are finally just being left alone.  Besides all the mixes that we see all around us, there are also mixes in my Jewish community and its awesome.  We get to enjoy each others tradition, culture, food, and flair.  My parents did not ask much of me they wanted me to get a Bachelor degree and marry Jewish.  The marry Jewish part I put off for a while, enjoyed my single life, but ultimately it was what I ultimately wanted for myself, to carry on what my ancestors fought hard for and were victims in the Holocaust and Communism.  We immigrated to America in 1980, Anti-Antisemitism and discrimination was rampant in the Soviet Union, and I thank the American Jews for getting us out, I heard somewhere that we were traded for grain.  My parents were so brave and took a risk leaving everything they knew behind, with a little bit of English, all for us to have a quality life not being judged for our culture and tradition.  It is beyond a religion for me, it is who I am, and I am so happy that I get to pass it down to my kids in an open, fun, and free environment.

So all this started when I heard about mutts on the radio and how it is respected in the most prestigious dog show, http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/mutts-day-westminster-dog-show-015137089--abc-news-topstories.html.  What I love about our Los Angeles Jewish community is we have our pick of every country, every background, and even of mutts.  I am a bit of a mutt, although born in Moscow, Russia, by Jewish calculations I am 3/4 Ashkenazi and 1/4 Sephardi, Mizrahi, or Kavkazi, depends who you ask.  I look like the more exotic 1/4 of my ancestors and really relate to the way of life, food, and traditions.  We get a mix of it all here, and there are so many synagogues, I always laugh that I like to visit different friends in different ones just for fun.  My husband has been going to the same one for over 25 years and loves to pray there and has his friends there.  I felt so blessed when we got married I felt like I married a community, many of his friends just got married as well.  So all of us wives became good friends, and now our kids are the same age and in class together.

Be proud of all your parts!
Coach Yulia

This was our Sunday fun with my friend and perfomer extraordinaire Doda Mollie, as your see
my daughter got the Russian beauty, my oldest is a mix, and my baby is my tall, dark, and handsome :)