In 1989, I kicked off the freelance writing career that ended up tanking my marriage and catapulting me out of the middle class. (Or, to put it another way, I traded in one set of problems for another set that I liked better.) My book group. One of many joyful by-products of that trade-in. In … Continue reading Advance Reader’s Copies spark joy for local book group: A shoutout to William Morrow, Jennifer Chiaverini &, most of all, Mildred Fish Harnack
Category: Commentary
It’s been one of those weeks where there’s much to write about that it’s hard to know where to start. Sometimes when it's all too much, you want to curl up and take a nice nap. Michael Cohen paid a visit to Congress and refused to promise not to profit from a book or movie … Continue reading If Willy Wonka’s factory churned out Mind Candy: a Dispatch from the Department of Healing Truths
Dear Rep. Omar: I’ve been writing you a letter in my head since the second round of “She’s a raging anti-Semite!” hysteria, but this is the first moment I’ve had time to actually begin setting anything down on virtual paper. Apologies in advance for the interruptions – our 11 am tickets to “Disney on Ice” … Continue reading Random Jewish American seeks Pen Pal: An open letter to Rep. Ilhan Omar
I first heard of Josephine Baker in the 1980s, when my sister wrote a story about her in the New Haven Courier Register. Debby was a feature writer there, and her story mostly focused on the 12 children Baker had adopted from countries around the world. Josephine Baker and 10 of her 12 children on … Continue reading ‘Josephine Baker’s Last Dance’ tells an important story at the right moment
Sweetheart’s answer to where he went to school to become an arborist is, “I learned on the street.” We have that in common. To this day, I’ve never taken a journalism class. I learned to be a reporter on the street. Literally, somewhat, as part of my first job at a daily paper involved finding … Continue reading Talk to the understudy and other ‘stuff reporters do,’ starring Danny Arnold
Update (January 24): I wrote this post on January 20th shortly after the first two videos were released. Rereading the post after all the other information occurred, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much I'd gotten right. I'm leaving the post as is and adding a couple of thoughts: The teen I named "Smirkboy" … Continue reading Covington students latest link in long, depressing chain: a post with images & an update
#RacistinRecovery 2018 is almost in the rear-view mirror. On that front, at least, I think I made some progress. Professionally, I attended a pre-conference workshop on dismantling institutional racism in libraries, and was able to do that beautiful fusion of personal and professional when I took a six-week class called “Unlearning Racism” at our local … Continue reading #RIR2018 exits stage left, chocolate cupcake flowers wave in the wind as #WJDisaggregation2019 makes its entrance
