Hugs. Poets. Female firefighter. Black-Jewish chef. ERA extension. Elections: Israel & Palestine. WOW
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN NEWSLETTER #104 MARCH 19, 2021
With Spring in the air and holidays on the horizon, I've curated today's hodge-podge with an eye to balancing bad news with a large dose of good (even great) news while continuing my search for humor and humanity amid the chaos.
COVID: Hugs and Retrospection
* The way we were. Time magazine recalls 2020, the annus horribilis, in photos and memories. Above; Al Bellow's picture of a grandmother and granddaughter hugging through plastic. Below: Evy Mages' photo of Matthew Fish, a Catholic priest, awaiting a line of cars for drive-by confession in Maryland.
* Mark a year of isolation, consternation & vaccination with Sybil Sage's charming piece in The Forward, about joking her way through the pandemic. Sybil (below) also makes gorgeous mosaics and takes custom orders.
POLITICS
* Great news: Pew Research shows 70 % of Americans support the stimulus bill -- 75% of women, 66% of men. And 60% of Republicans! I'll wager that many more will jump onboard once they see how well the recovery plan stokes the economy and alleviates the financial pain suffered by so many of us.
* The "Dream & Promise Act" passes in the House. The Act "would provide certainty to undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children who have grown up in America yet never felt secure about their ability to attend school, apply for jobs, and build a life in the U.S. Let's hope the Dems pass it in the Senate fast.
POETRY
* Alicia Ostriker (above right), critic, the New York State poet laureate (and my fellow Brandeis alum), forwarded this link to worldwide translations of Emma Lazarus' "The New Colossus," the poem on the Statue of Liberty to celebrate"this moment in which we are hopefully becoming a more generous nation and remembering that we are in fact 'a nation of immigrants.'" Here's Alicia's essay about the multi-language project, and all the great American poets who are immigrants or children of immigrants.
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* The Poetry of Transformation: An Online Performance, will feature Kazim Ali, Krysten Hill, (above, left & right) Regie Gibson, Ellen Lovell, Martha Rhodes, & Abigail Wender reading their poems. Sat, 3/20, 7:30 pm
* Abigail Wender's debut collection of poems, Reliquary, from which she'll read Sat night (see above) has been called "An introspective lyric on how the opiate crisis alters families and futures" Buy here.
WOMEN
* The Nazi-fighting Women of the Jewish Resistance (above). Important story about forgotten heroes.
* Halleluyah!! Congress votes to extend deadline for ratification of The Equal Rights Amendment! Above, l-r: long-time ERA activists, Jessica Neuwirth, human rights lawyer, founder and president of the ERA Coalition, and cofounder of Equality Now, the international women's rights organization; Jessica Lenahan (Gonzales), plaintiff in a Supreme Court case involving the murder of her 3 daughters by her estranged husband after police in Castle Rock, CO would not honor her protection order. (SCOTUS decided against her for lack of constitutional foundation); and Carol Jenkins, co-president and CEO of the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women’s Equality.
ZOOM EVENT
* The Clearinghouse on Women's Issues invites you to their free Zoom meeting to learn more about the campaign to create the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum at 12 noon, Tues. 3/23. Register here by 6pm on Mon.
* I'll be celebrating Women's History Month in conversation with the fabulous Tali Farhadian Weinstein, candidate for Manhattan District Attorney. Register here.
* Those who missed the delightful March 8th conversation between Arlene & Alan Alda, can see it here.
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
* Over the years, I've had the opportunity to meet a long list of Israeli luminaries from Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres up & down but not many as memorable as Mordecai (Morele) Bar-On (above). Morele died on March 7th at 92. This appreciation of his life, which appeared in "News Nosh," APN's daily roundup of lead stories in Israel and the region, captures the outlines of Morele's splendid career as a soldier, historian, thinker, and indefatigable peacenik. Read his books & sign up here for free subscription to News Nosh,
* My Moment magazine column on Confederation -- a practical elaboration of the two-state solution -- is short, to the point, and full of resources to help you learn more about this hope-filled alternative to the stasis of now. (The headline misrepresents. Confederation is advantageous for both Israel & Palestine.)
* Fascinating update from Women of the Wall, who've been harassed for praying at Jerusalem's Western Wall for more than 3 decades & demanding the right to the same spiritual expression afforded to men.
. Party leaders: Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennet, Benjamin Netanyahu, Gideon Sa'ar, Benny Ganz
*Israeli legislative elections are next Tuesday. I hope every voter reads Dan Ben David's clear-headed, well-documented alarming analysis of the 3 issues critical to the survival of the State of Israel. None are external threats to the nation's security; all are domestic problems that must be solved by elected officials committed to radical change. As one Israeli put it: "People must understand that a vote for Netanyahu, whose power is dependent on ultra-Orthodox parties, is a vote for [Israel's] eventual oblivion. No need for our enemies to do anything, just sit back and wait for Israel to implode. What's your escape plan?" Also see op-ed about the political pendulum getting stuck on the swing to the right.
Palestinian factions sign a code of honor to guarantee success of their 3 upcoming elections -- on May 22 for the Palestinian Legislative Council; July 31 for the President of the Palestinian National Authority; August 31 for the Palestinian National Council of the PLO. The parties committed not to exercise any form of pressure, intimidation, treason, blasphemy, violence, or any form of blackmail against any of the candidates or voters. (See WAFA , Al Jazeera and Israel Hayom)
*Podcast: "Israeli Election Overdose." Only 5 more days. Anshel Pfeffer, Dahlia Scheindlin, and author Nadav Eyal discuss "Why is Netanyahu Still Standing after all this time?"
BOOKS
* Kosher/Soul: Black-Jewish Identity Cooking. Michael Twitty, chef, culinary historian, gay, Modern Orthodox Jew, wrote The Cooking Gene, a personalized historical account of African- American culinary history in the Old South with recipes. Collard greens kreplach, anyone? On YouTube Twitty makes black eyed pea cakes and talks about how African and Jewish tradition are braided like a challah and how both traditions can mediate Otherness & oppression.
* So much to read, so little time leftover from Zoom meetings. Nonetheless, I've been reading like mad to keep up with my book group assignments & thought I'd pass along to you some novels, old & new, that I've loved: LOST CHILDREN ARCHIVE by Valeria Luiselli (above), APEIROGON by Colum McCann, OUTLINE by Rachel Cusk, HOMELAND ELEGIES by Ayad Akhtar, WE THE ANIMALS by Justin Torres. Check out what the description of these books and buy them from an Independent online source such as Bookshop.org or Thriftbooks.com, or Indiebound.org. (Amazon gets too much of our money as is.)
* In May, Louis Nelson (above with his wife, Judy Collins), will publish Mosaic: Monuments War Mystery: An Historical Memoir. Louis has studied American monuments and memorials for the last 40 years. He designed the mural at the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal for the United Nations, developed designs for the World War I and the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, the 9/11 Memorials in Manhattan and the Pentagon. House
WOMEN
* To commemorate Women's History Month, and just because... you may want to bone up on some of the greatest women you've never heard of, for instance, Dorothy Pitman Hughes, (above) a pioneering black feminist activist and child care advocate. The iconic photo above, top, show's Hughes with Gloria Steinem in the 1970s when they were a speaking team, and in 2017, still lookin' good!
* In 1977 when the New York City Fire Department finally complied with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and allowed women to take the FDNY exam, Brenda Berkman, above, jumped at the chance.To break that heat resistant glass ceiling, she had to face public ridicule, fight a court battle, and a barrage of internal department harassment. In 1982, the FDNY finally made a gender fair job-related test, and Brenda and 40 other women passed. She then founded the United Women Firefighters, an organization that helps train and prepare women to be firefighters. Brenda, who served in the FDNY for 25 years, reaching the position of Captain, was a first responder on 9/11. The kids' book, Send a Girl! (above) tells her inspiring story.
UUGHH!
* White supremacist propaganda nearly doubled last year.
PRE-EASTER HUMOR
* Please don't cancel me but... Despite its reliance on ethnic stereotypes the following joke made me laugh. (Apologies to anyone who finds it sacrlegious.)
Competing Arguments for the Identity of Jesus. Some say he must have been...
... Black because he called everyone brother; He liked Gospel; He didn't get a fair trial
... Jewish because he went into his father's business; He lived at home until he was 33; He was sure his mother was a virgin and his mother was sure he was God.
... Italian because he talked with his hands; had wine with dinner, and used olive oil a lot.
...a Californian because he never cut his hair; walked around barefoot, & started a new religion.
...Native American because he was at peace with nature; ate lots of fish; talked about the Great Spirit.
... Irish because he never got married, was always telling stories, loved green pastures.
... Mexican because he treated his mama like she was a saint, always wore a serape, and was a carpenter who could fix anything.
... Jesus was a woman because he fed a crowd at a moment's notice when there was no food; kept trying to get a message across to men who just didn't get it; and had to get up from the dead because he saw there was still work to do.
Happy 1st day of Spring (Saturday) . Happy Passover (1st seder next Fri. night) Happy Palm Sunday
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