Oh, boy, I haven’t blogged since Sunday. That’s quite a bit of time off for me. I’d like to say that I’m doing spectacularly important things but instead, I’m fighting the demons of depression, pain and fatigue. For the third day in a row, I’ve woken up feeling like my body was pummeled all over… Continue reading Laughing Through the Pain
I used my book allowance this week to buy myself some books that would help me get my Dominican on. I know what you’re thinking: Your what? And since when do you have a book allowance?Your answers go something like this: I’ve had a book allowance for a year now. Ever since my husband came… Continue reading Getting My Dominican On
How Church Came Between My Friendship… When I was converting to Judaism, I asked a rabbi if I could walk into a church again. I wasn’t planning on returning for services but I had my sights on visiting the Sistine Chapel someday. It was also a question that bothered many of my Christian friends, particularly… Continue reading Between Church and Friendship
In “How to convert a crisis: Say ‘dayenu’”, Shammai Engelmayer does a pretty good job of summing up the current conversion crisis. At LimmudNY, Seth Farber, head of ITIM, did him one better. I sat in on one of Farber’s LimmudNY session, “Conversion Chaos.” This is how the session was billed: “Since 2004, conversion to… Continue reading Conversion Chaos
I just got off the phone with my mother-in-law where I was explaining to her how the race talk went at LimmudNY. I made some comment like people of color don’t ever stop thinking about the color of their skin and it floored her. I think a fellow Hispanic friend said it better when she… Continue reading Color War in My Head
I miss teaching High School English. I miss the kids and their crazy stories. I miss the teachers and the constant gossip. I miss knowing deep down that no matter how horrible the day was, I made a difference. Lucky for me, I get fan mail on a routine basis that seems to suggest I’m… Continue reading A Little Hope
I know the title for my latest Interfaithfamily.com piece doesn’t sound uplifting. But, trust me, “The Stupid Jew” will fool you!
Everyone knows what overt racism looks like. If they haven’t experienced it then it’s easy for them to imagine. We’ve all seen the awful photographs from the civil rights movement. But most people walk through life on a daily basis overlooking the more subtle forms of racism so that’s what my husband and I focused… Continue reading Recap on LimmudNY Session on Racism in the Jewish Community
If I was a real Dominican, I would know someone going to Santo Domingo this week and I would have them drop off the copies of the Twilight saga I purchased for my cousin. (My Jewish friends tell me people do the same thing with sending things to Israel.) But I’m very American and I… Continue reading Catching Up
Greetings from Ellenville, NY where the LimmudNY conference may or may not take place. We arrived Thursday evening to discover that the heat was broken at the hotel where the conference was to take place. I got to see most of a screening of “My Mexican Shivah” while we waited for rooms to be organized… Continue reading Brrrr!!!!
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 