I’ve been convalescing on the couch with a heavy dose of Gilmore Girls reruns. The rainy weather has got me down. Or maybe it’s all the running around like a Kentucky Fried chicken with its head cut off. It’s probably the latter. Yesterday was a very long day. I logged in my exercise hours (which… Continue reading A Good Old Fashioned Monster Story
Two years ago, I was too sick to move. The fibromyalgia diagnosis paralyzed me physically, mentally, emotionally. I’ve been hibernating since then. For the first time since eternal winter set in, it finally seems as if sunny days are ahead. My mother-in-law and I were chatting today about pursuing dreams and how I never really… Continue reading Aliza Hausman, The Writer?
I’m writing so much my brain hurts. And it doesn’t seem like I’ve ever written enough. And then there are rewrites. Some really cool chicks from my Personal Essay workshop on family have been helping me edit “Attack of the Mothers,” the piece I wrote about my fears of motherhood and my own past with… Continue reading Creating a Scene
In a Newsweek essay on race and the Hillary Clinton presidency, In The Legacy of My Grandmother, Allison Samuels writes that her family has been fighting against racism and not gender roles. “In her [grandmother’s] world, being a woman in control wasn’t something she had the luxury of deciding to fight for. She was. In… Continue reading The Jewish Feminist
Friday morning, I went into withdrawal. I take nine medications daily. Funny enough, if you can find humor in having a pill case at 27 which of course I do, none of the medications are for fibromyalgia. After years of trying combinations of different medications (from mood stabilizers, anti-seizure meds, anti-inflammatories), including all the ones… Continue reading Withdrawl Weekend=Boring Blog
We went to the Five Towns for Shabbos. Everything that could go wrong did. Traveling and fibromyalgia don’t really mix. Sitting for too long (so my muscles and bones atrophy and start to hurt unbearably), over-stimulation (from subway noise and train noise) and carrying heavy things (like our bags) all spell disaster. To get to… Continue reading A Rainy, Racist "MEXICAN HOUSEKEEPER" Kind of Shabbos
I’ve had to give up on a lot of dreams. As a child, when I didn’t grow past 5’3,” I let go of the momentary dream of being a firefighter. I gave up the dream of becoming a fashion illustrator when I realized I would never be able to afford the art supplies I would… Continue reading On Dreaming or The Sarah Lawrence Obsession
An all too common question after I got hitched was: “Are you pregnant?” and “Are you pregnant yet?” and “When are you having a baby?” and sometimes there would be a statement: “You should get pregnant!” Some people actually thought that because I was home sick and unable to work for a year, I should…get… Continue reading Don’t ask about my uterus…please.
Before Hubbie and I got hitched, our rabbi had us read a book by Maurice Lamm, The Jewish Way in Love & Marriage. I had already read books on taharat mispacha, the Jewish laws of family purity, and the laws and the mindset behind tzniut, the laws of modesty, and shomer negia, observing the rules… Continue reading It’s in his kiss
I didn’t grow up hearing many stereotypes about Jews, I just knew that we (Dominicans) didn’t like them. The focus was more on the fact that Jews didn’t believe in Jesus and therefore, wouldn’t be saved. No Jesus, no free pass to heaven. At least, that was more of the focus than say the stereotype… Continue reading When Dominicans Haggle…
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 