By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Miriam Libicki, a Comic-Con veteran of more than a dozen years, says even though the annual convention “is so huge and corporate,” she keeps coming back because “there are many smaller cons inside comic con.” In a section of the main exhibit hall that is reserved for […]
Small Press: A little convention within Comic- Con Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, San Diego CountyDoing His Will (Osah Kirtzono) by Esti Weinstein, published in Hebrew by Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir, 2016. By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson JERUSALEM –The poor woman who wrote this book (and eventually committed suicide) was born into a specific sect, tantamount to a cult, of ultra-Orthodox Judaism known as the Gur Hassidim As a child and teenager the author
Suicide’s memoir indicts the Gur sect of Hassidim Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish Religion, Middle EastBy Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — I started writing this in 2010 on the occasion of my 67th birthday about the unpredictable nature of what we give away and then need in the future. Retiring from Nebraska to California in 2016 only enlarged the scale of this conundrum. Now almost 75 I think this
Book, wine collections stir, comfort the soul Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food, USABy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Perhaps I am becoming my own grandfather, a gentle architect born in the 19th century who prided himself on being a proper and decorous man. Recently, I wrote a column decrying the bitter partisanship that divides Washington, D.C., and which sadly is exemplified by the rancorous way that
Editor’s personal blog: Declining language, politics Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, USA
By Oliver B. Pollak POINT REYES STATION, California — I had heard on NPR that Steve Costa and Kate Levinson wanted to sell a bookstore they had owned since 2002 in this delightful Northern California coastal town, and get on with new life opportunities. In 2016 they interviewed prospective buyers. Karen and I looked at
How to identify Jewish writers Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver PollakBy Sheldon F. Merel ENCINITAS, California –I recently watched the documentary film Fattitude at the ArcLight Theatre in La Jolla. The film is by Lindsey Averill and Viridiana Lieberman, and sponsored by the Women’s Museum in San Diego. It is a graphic portrayal how fat people are ridiculed in our society. It exposes how pop
‘Fattitude’ tells the plight of heavy-body people Read More »
Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food
Lawfare Project opposes Irish bill discriminating against Israeli goods originating in the territories The Lawfare Project, a U.S.-based think tank and litigation fund that fights anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli discrimination around the world, has taken legal action against what experts and advocates are describing as the most aggressive boycott measure targeting Israel in European history. The
Editor’s E-Mail Box: July 12, 2018 (4 items) Read More »
International, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Sam Ben-Meir NEW YORK — From the beginning, Donald Trump’s administration has been marred by corruption and outright contempt for the rule of law – with the president’s firing of FBI Director James Comey “because of the whole Russia thing” and persistent efforts to undermine Robert Mueller’s Russia probe; with his refusal to divest
Giacometti exhibit probes humanity’s darker side Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir, USA
Mixed reactions to Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, released the following statement: “President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, is an affront to the values and priorities of a vast majority of the American Jewish community. From workers’ rights
Editor’s E-Mail Box, July 9, 2018 (5 items) Read More »
International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, USA
Jewish Libya: Memory & Identity in Text & Image, edited by Jacque Roumani, David Meghnagi & Judith Roumani; © 2018, Syracuse University Press, ISBN 9780815-635628; 280 pages plus bibliography, appendices, and index. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Jewish Libya is an anthology about a place that no longer exists. Since Israel’s successful 1967
‘Jewish Libya:’ background for the next James Michener Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East
By Donald H. Harrison ANGELUS OAKS, California—Along with a few other San Diegans, I visited Camp Mountain Chai in the San Bernardino Mountains last week. On arrival, I saw a Baer. It turned out that Dan Baer is the director of the camp, located 134 miles from the parking lot of the Jewish Federation of
Ruach, plenty of spirit, at Camp Mountain Chai Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA
By Oliver Pollak SAN FRANCISCO — The Contemporary Jewish Museum just celebrated its 10th anniversary. The celebration coincided with an exhibit on cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg, curated by Goldberg’s granddaughter, Jennifer George. Initially that exhibit had opened in Seattle, then came to San Francisco from Canadian, Texas, and goes next to Portland, Maine. It
Rube Goldberg still inspires fanciful art Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Travel and FoodBy Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — When Monty Python and the Holy Grail was released in 1975, their wildly irreverent treatment of the Arthurian legends seemed the height of chutzpah. With the advent of VCRs, it became a cult classic that true devotées could recite by heart. Adding a few more gags and songs, Spamalot
‘Spamalot’ is a ride of madcap silliness Read More »
Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — We come to the books we read from many directions. It could be newspaper and magazine reviews, suggestions from trusted friends, NPR reviews, looking at bookstore recent arrivals, ‘the book club is now reading,’ gifts from friends and family, looking over shoulders on the airplane, going to book
How we choose the books we read Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak