The New York magazine feature, “Escape from the Holy Shtetel” chronicles the sad story of an American Jewish Family. The would-be heroine of the tale is Gitty. Gitty escaped from her Satmar town only to have her daughter kidnapped and taken back to the town by her ex-husband. The tale paints a picture of two… Continue reading Escape from the Holy Shtetel
Harrison Ford is Jewish. I found this out on Shabbat. This, of course, led to an obsessive search for other Jewish actors on Wikipedia. I wish I could say this was my first search. But, alas, it wasn’t. Back when I found out Sammy Davis, Jr. converted to Judaism, I put in a good amount… Continue reading Driven to Distraction
Junot Diaz with his little book. I called my father to tell him about Junot Diaz’s new book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I’m not sure which was stranger, the fact that I was calling my father (a rare occurrence) or the fact that I was talking to him about literature (he prefers… Continue reading Calls to the Platano Mainland
Bess Greenberg/New York TimesYosef Abrahamson, 16, right, with his mother, Dinah, and his sister, Sarah, near their home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. An recent article, “A Young Man From Omaha, Who May Perfectly Represent Brooklyn,” by Susan Dominus for the New York Times Big City section portrays an interesting picture of some Jews of Color… Continue reading Representing…
Circumcise Me: The Comedy of Yisrael Cambpell will make its debut this month on The Jewish Channel. The film features ultra-Orthodox Jewish comedian Yisrael Campbell, formerly Chris Campbell, doing his hilarious stand-up comedy routine and discussing his journey to Judaism as well as his life in Israel since converting to Judaism (three times no less).… Continue reading Circumcise me
Red Canna by Georgia O’Keeffe An article in today’s New York Times, In Europe, Debate Over Islam and Virginity, explores a debate over Islam and virginity that has broken out in Europe recently. In France, a Muslim man asked to have his marriage annulled when it came to light on his wedding night that his… Continue reading Getting my virginity back
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
Thirty posts on my Chabad article! I’m glowing like a glow worm at work. It’s probably distracting the other tutors. Guess I’m going to have to start writing more. Poor little blog. I will put something good up soon! People from…Flushing, NY, Panama, Monsey, NY, Brooklyn, NY, Silver Spring, MD, Georgia, Chicago, IL, Los Angeles,… Continue reading Aliza Hausman Goes Global
Swamped and crippled by endless drafts, pitches for magazines and newspapers, homework and as-yet unwritten commissioned pieces, I find myself sleepless in New York. And speaking of endless drafts, I’d like to draw your attention to a new rewrite of Attack of the Mothers. A head’s up: it’s tragic, it’s shocking and it’s violent. It… Continue reading Drafts, Pitches and Homework
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
Memoirs of a Jewminicana 