Will London Have ‘Amy Winehouse Way’?

This post first appeared on The Arty Semite blog at the Forward.

Beatles fans in London have Abbey Road, to cross. Now, admirers of the late Amy Winehouse might also have somewhere special for walking.

The Sun reports that there are efforts underway to have a street named after the singer, who died in 2011 at age 27. A new area in King’s Cross is being redeveloped for housing, and locals are being asked to suggest street names for the new neighborhood. Winehouse’s former home is in Camden, which borders King’s Cross.

The singer’s fans, with full support from the Winehouse’s family, are lobbying for one of the roads to be named Winehouse Street. It’s been suggested that Winehouse Way might have more of a ring to it.

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© 2013 Renee Ghert-Zand. All rights reserved.

Tel Aviv’s Never Ending Coffee Cup

This piece first appeared on The Jew and the Carrot blog at the Forward.

Do you have a caffeine addiction to feed, but not much money to do so? Then consider moving to Tel Aviv. Since September, Tel Aviv residents have been able to get all the coffee they want for NIS 169 ($45) per month, thanks to a new loyalty program called CUPS-Unlimited Coffee.

The program “goes across not a specific chain, but across independent and franchise stores we signed up for the program,” Alon Ezer, the company’s CEO, told The Times of Israel. “As far as I know, this is the only such loyalty program anywhere in the world, and it holds a great promise for not only coffee shops, but for brick-and-mortar retailers of all kinds.”

It’s really quite simple: A customer pays the monthly all-you-can-drink fee, or alternatively NIS 99 ($27) per month for just one cup of coffee per day. A map on an app that you download to your iPhone or Android phone shows you where all the participating cafes and coffee kiosks are, including the one closest to you. You go to any of the establishments, order any drink you want (no matter how fancy, frothy or creamy), let the barista tap a code into the app on your phone, and you’re done…at least for the next 30 minutes. After half an hour, you can do the same thing all over again at the same café. If you absolutely cannot wait the 30 minutes, then you can go to another participating café and order that second cup right away.

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© 2013 Renee Ghert-Zand. All rights reserved.

Anne Frank Inspires UK Teen Project

This piece was first published in The Times of Israel.

‘How wonderful it is that no one has to wait, but can start right now to gradually change the world.”

In the UK, The Times and the Anne Frank Trust are hoping these words, written by Anne Frank in the diary she received for her 13^th birthday, will inspire young Britons to engage in a civics education initiative. Teenagers turning 13 in 2013 are being asked to write to Prime Minister David Cameron to tell him what they think would make Britain a better place for young people.

The “Thirteen in 13” website provides the 13-year-olds everything they need to get the job done. There are various writing prompts about topics including community, war, media, equality, health, immigration and jobs to help get the kids started. No need for an envelope and stamp: This being 2013, they send their letter to the PM online (with the permission of a parent or teacher).

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© 2013 Renee Ghert-Zand. All rights reserved.