charity · culture/multiculturalism · food · Hispanics/Latinos

Workers Need Your Help!

I recently received an email of a Jewschool post: It’s Our Turn to Help Hundreds of undocumented immigrants suffering under Agriprocessors’s labor practices were detained after a raid at Agriprocessors (Rubashkin’s) in Postville, Iowa. Many of their families have turned to the local Catholic church listed below for food and shelter. I found some local… Continue reading Workers Need Your Help!

chronic pain/fibromyalgia · culture/multiculturalism · food · friends · gilmore girls · Hispanics/Latinos · Jews/Jewish/Judaism/Orthodox Judaism · race/racism · teaching

Reflections on JCC Talk on Jews of Color

Photo: TheFlowerExpert.com April’s JCC Talk on Jews of Color was as explosive as it was packed! Jews of all colors and walks of live attended. There were two speakers, a Latin American Conservative rabbinical student and Jewish convert (of Jewish ancestery) and a half-Chinese, half-White secular Jewish woman, Jen Chau, who heads Swirl, “a national… Continue reading Reflections on JCC Talk on Jews of Color

culture/multiculturalism · Jews/Jewish/Judaism/Orthodox Judaism · writing

Behind on the writing

Hello, little blog. I am making you very sad by not writing as much as I’d like to write. I promise to write much more in the coming weeks. In fact, I owe you a good post on the JCC Manhattan talk I attended today, Jews of Color: Wrestling with the Angel of Identity, which… Continue reading Behind on the writing

Beverly Hills · books and reading · culture/multiculturalism · education · Hispanics/Latinos · Jews/Jewish/Judaism/Orthodox Judaism · Los Angeles · pesach · rabbi · race/racism · teaching

Seder Confusion

http://www.mimisammis.comhttp://www.mimisammis.com/ Hey, people, despite the last post, I promise you, I had a fantastic set of seders. Stop apologizing.My favorite seder was the second because my non-Jewish little sister got to experience her first seder with my in-laws in Los Angeles. But the first seder was great fun thanks to my husband’s aunt and her… Continue reading Seder Confusion

babies and pregnancy · birthday · Christmas · culture/multiculturalism · depression · education · Hispanics/Latinos · writing

Happy Father’s Day?

Father’s Day came a bit early for me this week. An excerpt of a short story, Daddy’s Little Girl, about my strange relationship with my father and the trip to the Dominican Republic that brought us back into each other’s lives after a nearly ten-year estrangement was published in Tertulia Magazine. Given the format of… Continue reading Happy Father’s Day?

art · clothing · culture/multiculturalism · education · food · hair · Hispanics/Latinos · Jews/Jewish/Judaism/Orthodox Judaism · New York · plantains · race/racism

Going ghetto (getting violent and inappropriate) on revisions

There is a point where you’ve probably revised too much and might be killing the writing in a piece, lucky for you, I haven’t gotten there yet with “The Girl in the Wetsuit” story. The story focuses on how I spend my spare time explaining cultural nuances, both Jewish and not, to the masses. It’s… Continue reading Going ghetto (getting violent and inappropriate) on revisions

chronic pain/fibromyalgia · culture/multiculturalism · education · food · friends · Hillary Clinton · Hispanics/Latinos · Jews/Jewish/Judaism/Orthodox Judaism · rabbi · race/racism · women/feminism

The Jewish Feminist

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

babies and pregnancy · chronic pain/fibromyalgia · culture/multiculturalism · food · Hispanics/Latinos · Jews/Jewish/Judaism/Orthodox Judaism · New York · race/racism · Shabbos/Shabbat · teaching

A Rainy, Racist "MEXICAN HOUSEKEEPER" Kind of Shabbos

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

chronic pain/fibromyalgia · culture/multiculturalism · dreams · education · food · Hispanics/Latinos · New York · teaching · writing

On Dreaming or The Sarah Lawrence Obsession

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

babies and pregnancy · birthday · chronic pain/fibromyalgia · culture/multiculturalism · Jews/Jewish/Judaism/Orthodox Judaism · wedding

Don’t ask about my uterus…please.

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.