Lawrence (Laurie) Baron, now retired, served as the Nasatir Professor of Modern Jewish History at San Diego State University. He served from 1988 to 2006 as director of SDSU’s Lipinsky Institute for Judaic Studies. He was the founder in 1995 of the Western Jewish Studies Association.
He writes two satire columns for San Diego Jewish World: “Humoring the Headlines” under his byline, and “Hounding the Headlines,” under the byline of his dog Elona.
“Making Room for the Jews: The House I Live In (1945),” AJS Perspectives, Summer 2023, 86-88.
“The Revolt of Job: Salvaging the Lost World of Rural Hungarian Hasidim,” Journal of Jewish Identities, 16:1-2 (January/July 2023), 181-198.
“Persistent Parallels, Resistant Particularities: Holocaust Analogies and Avoidance in Armenian Genocide Centennial Cinema, in Armenian and Jewish Experience between Expulsion and Destruction, ed. Sarah M. Ross and Regina Randhofer (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2021), 267-296.
“The Pioneering American Jewish Women Directors from Elaine May to Claudia Weill,” Jews and Gender (Studies in Jewish Civilization), ed. Leonard Greenspoon (W. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2021), 217-243.
Some Jewish film festivals that were scheduled during the pandemic are streaming their films for the price of a ticket. Others are streaming films they’ve shown in the past or interviews with filmmakers and lectures. [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
Trump’s sending you back to work, shut in. / To boost the GDP./ He’ll provide your gloves and masks, shut in./ But they’re no guarantee./ ‘Cause he don’t care too much for your health. / Money can’t buy your health. [Parody by Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
Laurie Baron, PhD, takes a look at Latin American movies that deal with Jewish issues. Some of them you can watch just by clicking a link; others can be streamed on your television set.
By Elona Baron as told to Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — (Photo 1) I’ve heard there may be a meat shortage. To prepare for that eventuality, I’m chewing on my stuffed rabbit a lot. (Photo 2) This is my owner’s son. Since I’m worried he might leave the house and not wear a mask or
This week President Trump told Americans to consider themselves warriors in the battle against coronavirus and the mobilization to reopen the economy. Here are dispatches from the front lines to guide them. [Satire by Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
Twelve score (Jared searched on Google to tell me how many years a score was) and fourteen years ago, the founding fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation sanctioning slavery, and dedicated to the proposition that all white men with property were created equal. They did a decent job drafting the constitution, but not as great as I could have done. None of them ever had their own highly rated TV show! I would have omitted Articles I and III. [Satire by Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
Are you missing going to the theatre to see concerts, musicals, and plays? There are many websites that are streaming their productions for free, pay per view, or by subscription. This is a list of general concerts and plays without a specific Jewish focus. [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
There’s always something happening in our county, for good or for bad, that is of Jewish community interest For example, Ken Stone of Times of San Diego reported on Sunday that a shopper at the Vons in Santee created quite an uproar with his choice of face mask. He donned the hood of a Ku Klux Klansman … {Donald H. Harrison]
Since many governors and the president are rushing to reopen the economy even before the White House guidelines for reopening have been met, job seekers looking for safe work should apply for these positions. [Satire by Laurie Baron, Ph.D]
While pawing through the newspaper today before I chewed it up, I noticed a report about the first case of a human transmitting Covid19 to a dog. Given the incompetence shown by the Golden Deceiver when he advised ingesting or injecting bleach or Lysol as a cure for the disease (which is akin to telling dogs to eat rat poison if they don’t want to be bitten by a rat), I have decided that the United States needs to appoint a top dog to manage the pandemic. [Satire by Laure Baron channeling his dog Elona]
Last week I gave my first Zoom lecture for the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture and over 90 people registered for it. Since this kind of programming is happening around the country, I’ve prepared a list of some sites you might want to peruse. [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]