Donald H. Harrison

By Donald H. Harrison EL CAJON, California — I had to ask director Martin Katz whether he had been thinking about death a lot lately. His upcoming play at Grossmont College, An Ordinary Day, is a comedy dealing with a lady who plans to commit suicide, only she is constantly being interrupted. It wasn’t so long

By Donald H. Harrison LA MESA, California — After seven years of being dark, Lamplighters Community Theatre will again live up to its name by turning on the electricity.  However it will be in a new 90-seat venue in a small shopping center at 5915 Severin Drive, where the theatre group will present a staged

Odette’s Secrets by Maryann Macdonald, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, (c) 2013, 978-1-5990-750-5; 225 pages,  $16.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Although classified as “fiction,” Odette’s Secrets cannot be so easily pigeonholed.  Author Maryann Macdonald found a copy of the real memoirs of the late Odette Meyers, who as a child in Nazi-occupied France had posed

Triumph and Tragedy: Journeying Through 1000 Years of Jewish Life in Poland, compiled by Joel Padowitz, J Roots (c) 2013, ISBN 978-1-937887-06-3, 264 pages including endnotes. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Essentially this is a Jewish guide book to Poland.  The “triumph” portion focuses on the great rabbis and writers who preceded the

Hotel del Coronado History, Hotel del Coronado Heritage Department (c) 2013, 208 pages, $39.95 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — If you are a Hotel del Coronado fan, and who isn’t, this is a great book to leaf through.  I’ve always been interested in the lives of U.S. Presidents, and it’s interesting to see

Helga’s Diary by Helga Weiss, W.W. Norton & Co. (c) 2013, ISBN 978-0-393-07797-1; 248 pages including glossary, post-diary interview and color plates of her drawings; $24.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — This is a hybrid book, part diary, part reconstruction, part editor’s explanations.  When the author was about 12 years old she was

John Rosengren, Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes, New American Library © 2013; ISBN 978-0-451-223576-3; 392 pages including photos, index, and bibliography, $26.95 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – In front of you, the pitcher, menacing, mean, wanting to strike you out and make you look the fool.  Behind you, what seems like a

Peter Mehlman, Mandela Was Late, Sager Group of Smashwords, (c) 2012, ISBN: 978-1481250771, 132 pages. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Here is a book of 21 light and frothy essays, most of which sitcom writer Peter Mehlman published in high circulation newspapers or magazines over the years. Like the Seinfeld TV series for which he

Mira’s Diary:” Lost in Paris” and “Home Sweet Rome” both by Marissa Moss, Sourcebooks, Inc., ISBNs respectively 978-1-4022-66065 and 978-1-4022-66096, $12.95 each. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO– A teenage heroine learns to her surprise that, unsought, she has the power to travel through time, a genetic gift from her mother whose mysterious disappearance also was

  By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — From a student-invented device to strengthen tongue muscles, and thereby battle some speech impediments, to a survey to determine how familiar Ashkenazi Jews are with the threat posed to them by Tay-Sach Disease, I found there was much to learn at the Greater San Diego Science and

In One Era, Out the Other: A Memoir of a 20th-21st Century Jewish Life by Michael Kaufman, Mekor Press of Menucha Publishers, 2012, 564 pages  including glossary of Hebrew and Yiddish terms, and endnotes; ISBN 978-1-61465-060-7; Price unlisted on cover.   By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — There is much in this book that

  By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Retired symphony violinist Eileen Wingard gave members of her havurah (friendship group) from Ohr Shalom Synagogue a demonstration of that “old time religion” at her home Sunday evening, March 17. Wingard, a vegetarian, organized a potluck dinner assembled from fruits and vegetables mentioned in the Bible, ranging from lentil