In an article in Newsweek, “Beyond Just Black and White,” Raina Kelley writes about wishing her biracial son looked black. Sound familiar? I’ve posted about it before. In a more recent NY Times article, “A Child of Two Worlds”, Nicole Sprinkle stresses in one lengthy rant that she would like her biracial child (half-Columbian/half-white) to… Continue reading Only the White Crayon for me, thanks….
If you’re not a regular subscriber to Latina magazine then you’re missing out! You probably haven’t seen my full page spread in the May 2009 issue for which Michelle Rodriguez graces the cover. You’ll find my piece, “Bagels and Locks” (get it?) on page 76. It is the first piece in Latina‘s Love Your Body… Continue reading Bagels and Locks…and Jewminicana pride!
Maybe it was easier when we gave the kids good Spanish Catholic names? Shakespeare said a rose by another other name would smell as sweet. He hadn’t met any Dominicans. Dominicans are notorious for making up names that are fabulously unpronounceable to the American monolingual crowd. Before I was Aliza, I had a beautiful name… Continue reading A Rose by any other name…
“Johancy Torres had never heard of the Holocaust before last fall, but she will soon be tracing the footsteps of Jews at the Dachau concentration camp during a trip for fifth- and sixth-grade students at Public School 86 in the Bronx. “I think I may cry when I see the ovens,” said Johancy, 11, adding… Continue reading The Holocaust Hits Home
Okay, so I think this year’s Pesach was better than the last. Maybe I’m blocking out the more unpleasant stuff. I mean, I only cried once so that’s a vast improvement. (No, wait, it was twice. Still….) Anyway, I hope yours was good and fairly uneventful (or eventful, depending on what you were hoping for).… Continue reading Goals for Next Pesach
Isn’t it confusing? Won’t it be confusing for your children? People constantly ask me these questions. They think being Dominican, American and Jewish sounds really complicated. Mostly, they’re trying to put a damper on my multicultural mojo. So here I am in Los Angeles for Pesach (Passover) stocking up on yucca and plantains so I… Continue reading Cultural Confusion
Greetings again from Los Angeles where my mother-in-law’s Honduran maid is an Evangelical Christian. She is sweet. But she reminded me very politely that people who don’t accept Jesus are going to hell. This is what I get for trying to practice my Spanish with her. In all fairness, I think some communication lines got… Continue reading To Hell in a Hand Basket
Okay, so I’m Dominican but I think my husband is a militant Dominican. What do I mean? I think he’s about force fed everyone in the family some yucca and plantains this Pesach. And no, I didn’t cook any of it. He cooked the stuff himself. It’s all part of his make-sure-wife-doesn’t-starve-without-rice-and-beans plan. Now, if… Continue reading Militant Dominican
Oy. Now I have to practice my Spanish, learn Hebrew and Ladino. I’m going to need a good long life for this kind of venture. I’m actually doing much better in Ladino than Hebrew. Can you guess which Pesach song this is?
Jewlicious Responds to Newsweek‘s “Is Your Rabbi Hot or Not?” with signature snarkiness. Jewlicious asked me via Twitter to take a look. I didn’t expect to get riled up but then I noticed the line, “What kind of name for a rabbi is ‘Rolando’?” Jewlicious was poking fun at Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon who was… Continue reading Spanish People Revolt!
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 