Confession: I am a total fan girl. I love books. I love movies. I love TV. I love myself some stories. And I really love the good ones. As a kid in an abusive home, I also really needed the escape that came from being able to visit a world outside my own. It helped… Continue reading The Short History of a Fan Girl
Check out this amazing list of books featuring mixed race families: 50+ Picture Books about Mixed Race Families Almost all the of these books are on Amazon for purchase. They’re also now on my son’s birthday wish list as there is almost nothing he likes to do more than “read” books to himself or have… Continue reading The Color of Us: 50+ books about Mixed Race Families
Rabbi Marc Angel answers: Is it permissible to study cultures where people traditionally are not dressed according to our standards of modesty e.g. various tribes in Africa, aborigines, peoples of tropical cultures? Like this video? Check out IDEALS: Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals and sign up to receive their amazing print journal, “Conversations”. The website… Continue reading Naked? Not Naked?
Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin My rating: 5 of 5 stars Laugh-out-loud ridiculous at times though written with such poetry. I almost took a star away because the ridiculous was so ridiculous but rarely has a book made me laugh so hard and care so much and hurt so much about such flawed characters.… Continue reading Laughing the pain away
Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore My rating: 5 of 5 stars One of the most twisted, shocking, disturbing graphic novels I’ve ever read. But haunting, thought-provoking and stunning nonetheless. A side of the Joker few have ever seen and many won’t want to see. Oh and Batman rocks as much as ever. This… Continue reading Joker before Heath Ledger
Batman: Hush, Vol. 1 by Jeph LoebMy rating: 4 of 5 stars The difference between Clark Kent/Superman and Bruce Wayne/Batman? According to Batman himself, “Deep down Clark is a good person…and I’m not.” On a graphic novel kick and the Los Angeles Public Library does not have Vol. 2. I bet the New York Public… Continue reading Batman vs. Superman
Not a big fan of Shalom Auslander but I couldn’t put down his latest piece in Tablet Magazine, “Up in Smoke: Imagining the day they come to take your Judaism away”. It was like a train wreck I couldn’t look away from. I’m still processing what I read. Whenever I talk to people about what… Continue reading Imagining the day they come to take your Judaism away
Hey, this year I’m hoping that one of my published articles from 2009 will win the 2009 Be’chol Lashon Media Awards “for excellence in reporting on global Judaism.” So which was your favorite article? #1: 10 Questions with Author Ernest Adams (MyJewishLearning.com) Up close and personal with author Ernest H. Adams about his memoir, “From… Continue reading What’s your favorite article?
Racism and the Myth of a “Victim Mentality”By Tim WiseFebruary 20, 2010 Recently, I received an e-mail from a college professor who shows a video of one of my speeches in her classroom. She explained that she was in need of a citation for a claim I had made in the video, to the effect… Continue reading Racism and the Myth of a "Victim Mentality"
Rabbi Simcha Weinstein and I became Facebook friends recently. We’re not even quite sure how it happened. But when I read this his bio, I wondered how in the world I’d never heard of him. An Orthodox (Chabad) rabbi who works at a prominent New York City art school (Pratt, which I applied to before… Continue reading Happy Purim, Everyone!
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 