Just got a Rosh Hashanah greetings text from a dear (non-Jewish) friend, and I’m going to savor the sweetness of that. (If you know, you know)

And also read Newman’s novel IN EVERY LAUGH A TEAR

Amen!

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY is a novel that brilliantly connects comic book history, Jewish masculinity, homophobia, the Shoah, and US antisemitism (and, yes, I have written a book on Michael Chabon).

Shavua tov!

Shabbat shalom!

Public health official brilliantly following the science: not being up-to-date on vaccines puts you—and those around you—at risk. Be like Hamilton and do everything you can not to miss your shot.

Yesterday, I was in a store that had display after display of honey bears. And today my regular grocery had an overwhelming number of honey cakes, babkas, & sponge cakes, not to mention round raisin challahs. It’s beginning to look a lot like Rosh Hashanah, and I’m definitely not in Texas anymore! 😏

Another glorious Friday morning to run to work over the Brooklyn Bridge! Especially grateful today for the glimpse of that copper-plated statue in the harbor reminding us how lucky we are — and what it means — to be New Yorkers.

🤣🤣🤣

Very good news! apple.news/AgbFDf6qlRW-...

I reviewed @filmmakerjulie.bsky.social and @mohusseini.com’s The PATH FORWARD last year for @lilithmagazine.bsky.social. So glad that it’s now streaming. lilith.org/2024/09/the-...

Also hopefully a celebration of expertise and smarts, which is a form of resistance to the stupidity of our times.

A reminder that cultural criticism is cultural transmission.

Look at those rainbows! (not a great pic but had to share)

Look at those rainbows! (not a great pic but had to share)

Shabbat shalom!

Call me old-fashioned, but I'm a facts- and evidence-based sort of gal.

Bella!!!!!!!! Tipping my floppy hat to her blessed memory.

Bookstore, a pickleman with vanilla-scented hands, and a bubbe in a self-defense class. A film that has it all!

So the Texas A&M president says he fired a dean, department head and professor because course content didn't align with the course description? I mean, this course description from the A&M course catalog is extremely vague.

In praise of asking Jews what we think, rather than telling us what we think or should think.

I love it. @effinbirds.com is getting us started on an assessment tool for bs!

🎯🎯🎯🎯

A reminder that worthwhile books--and movies--do not have an expiration date. Cultural criticism is cultural transmission.

🤣 If you know, you know

The Meh Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Wish the commentary on GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT was more nuanced: "well-meaning as it is, Gentleman’s Agreement has aged badly, with a preachy, didactic urge that feels vaguely condescending to a contemporary audience. Kazan was not usually so literal . . . ."

If we think of this as a binary, we don’t serve our students well—especially those who come to us without much economic and social capital.

Stories are a potent glue that need to be recognized as such. But I’m not sure about the “all“ here.

Shavua tov!

Shabbat shalom!

Re-upping my review of @theradr.bsky.social's ON REPENTANCE AND REPAIR over @lilithmagazine.bsky.social for too many reasons to count. lilith.org/2022/10/on-d...

PSA: I got my Covid vaccine yesterday at a CVS Minute Clinic in FL—they take care of prescription requirements because they are doctors rather than pharmacists. Hope this info might be helpful to some who want the vaccine sooner rather than later. As HAMILTON puts it, didn’t want to miss my shot 😉

Amen

I ❤️NY

One thing that I don’t hear mentioned is that there are families with low resources and infrequent contact with the medical system who are NOT antivaxx who rely on the school vaccine requirement to make sure their kids get the vaccines they need. The antivaxx folks know this!

A potent reminder that joy is a form of resistance!

And the oys have it www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

In the 36 states that don't require ACIP approval for pharmacists to administer vaccines, are the Covid-19 vaccinations currently available and being given? (it looks like the vaccines aren't available EVEN WITH PRESCRIPTION in at least some of the other 16 states).

A respite from the news

My nerdy literary heart loves this post!

We really don’t deserve dogs.

I’m neither knee-jerk anti- or pro-AI, but I know from decades of experience how university policy can impact students for good or ill. Those of us who work closely with students & see them as more than a source of tuition understand this better than too many administrators. This post gutted me.

Usually a Jewish dairy take is a joke about lactose intolerance. But this is Jewish and American food and public health history—not to mention a wonderful rebuke of those who today laud raw milk. #science #tzedakah www.myjewishlearning.com/the-nosher/y...

“We’re pretty sure he didn’t wash his claws before he came in, so all the ice cream had to be replaced” Fun article—nice respite from the state of the union www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/u...

The best thing about these replies (and quote-replies) is the sheer RANGE of films people list, and almost none of them are "obvious" choices. Only few are award-winners/nominees. Never think that your weird art doesn't deserve to exist. Someone, somewhere, may have their life changed by it.

Maurice. First time I’d seen a gay story where they were both alive, and together at the end. Didn’t understand why it mattered so much at the time, but I knew in my body that it did.

So many possibilities, but for now I’m going to say YENTL. First time, I saw a woman in a tallit (prayer shawl). Gave voice to women’s ACHING for (Jewish) education. Made a Jewish feminist life seem challenging but possible.