Thursday, December 29, 2011

Was Yesterday's Rally Really About Gender?

By Elana Sztokman

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni at Tuesday’s rally. Getty Ima
Last night, Israel’s first mass demonstration in protest of the increasing waves of Haredi violence against women took place in Beit Shemesh. It was a remarkable event, in its strength and diversity. There were speakers representing a range of organizations, Knesset members from five different political parties — including three women, two of whom are heads of their respective parties — and citizens religious and secular who have become symbols of the struggle against the removal of women from the public sphere. Yet, while history was being made, the event also raised some difficult questions, such as who the demonstrators are, what are they protesting, and to whom are they addressing their demands?
Part of the demonstration was undoubtedly local. Throughout the event, there were ongoing calls from the crowd for the Haredi Beit Shemesh Mayor Moshe Abutbul to resign. “You destroyed this city,” protesters called out during a speech he made about his intentions to put violent citizens behind bars. Several speakers and many signs referred to the current plans to build 30,000 new housing units exclusively for Haredim. There is no obvious gender issue in the housing plans, and the fact that this was a theme of the event suggests that many people came to protest the seeming Haredi take-over of the city, and blamed local and national politicians for that.

Read more: http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/148728/#ixzz1hx1ERS5G

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Klose brings 'Three-Legged Woman' to town

Robert Klose

Dec 23, 2011 

Reposted Knox Village Soup

Rockland — Robert Klose, author of "The Three-Legged Woman & Other Excursions in Teaching," will talk about his work Thursday, Jan. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at Rockland Public Library, 80 Union St. His book offers the insights of one professor and writer's experience teaching at "the poorest college in America."

Since 1986, Klose has taught biology at University College of Bangor, the most recent name of the small college located on a former military base first called the South Campus of the University of Maine — or SCUM — and later Penobscot Valley Community College and Bangor Community College. Despite its improved nomenclature, University College of Bangor remains an open-admissions environment at which "one never knows what’s going to come in over the transom.”

Klose’s nontraditional students have included, in addition to single parents and veterans, the homeless, the abused, ex-cons and even a murderer (who was otherwise “a very nice person”).

Chronicling his experiences teaching these diverse students, Klose describes with equal doses of care and wry wit those who are profoundly unfit for college, their often inadequate command of the lingua franca and the alacrity with which they seize upon the paranormal (the three-legged woman) while expressing skepticism about mainstream science. He reflects on the decline of reading for enjoyment and the folly of regarding email as a praiseworthy substitute for expository writing.

Klose, who lives in Orono, is a longtime contributor of essays to The Christian Science Monitor. Besides his newly-released book, he is the author of two previous books: “Adopting Alyosha — a Single Man Finds a Son in Russia”; and “Small Worlds — Adopted Sons, Pet Piranhas & Other Mortal Concerns.” His work also has appeared in Newsweek, The Boston Globe, Reader’s Digest, Exquisite Corpse and elsewhere. He is a four-time winner of the Maine Press Association’s annual award for opinion writing.

Klose's talk is part of a continuing series of literary, film and cultural offerings sponsored by the library and Friends of the Rockland Public Library. Special accommodations for persons with disabilities can be made with 48 hours notice by calling 594-0310.

VillageSoup Art/Entertainment Editor Dagney Ernest can be reached at 207-594-4401 or by email to dernest@villagesoup.com.

Single Malt Scotch for Feminists – Forward.com

By Mishael Zion

Published December 25, 2011, issue of December 30, 2011.

Male World: While still considered anomalous in the eyes of most of the Orthodox community, partnership minyanim are no longer beyond the pale.
Male World: While still considered anomalous in the eyes of most of the Orthodox community, partnership minyanim are no longer beyond the pale. Getty images



The Men’s Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World
By Elana Maryles Sztokman
University Press of New England, 288 pages, $85
A few years ago, a friend announced that he intended to start a “Kiddush club” at our synagogue. “Our shul needs more of a social scene,” he declared, “and some high-quality single malt whisky!” he added jokingly. I was vehemently opposed. Our synagogue is a “partnership minyan,” which seeks to maximize women’s participation in the prayer service within the bounds of Halacha and the Orthodox community. A Kiddush club smacked to me of a classic patriarchal construction, a complete contradiction of our attempt at re-aligning the gender dynamic of Orthodox synagogue life.
I was thinking of this exchange as I was reading Elana Sztokman’s new book, “The Men’s Section: Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World,” an ethnography of men in partnership minyanim. Sztokman asks a fascinating question: What do the men get from it?
As Sztokman describes at the beginning of the book, the partnership minyan phenomenon started in 2001 with two small minyanim in Jerusalem (Shira Chadasha) and New York (Darkhei Noam). Those two are now regularly attended by hundreds every Shabbat and have prompted 25 other such minyanim in places as far flung as Melbourne and Beersheva and as traditional as Skokie, Ill., and Englewood, N.J. At these minyanim, women and men share equally in Torah reading and speaking before the community, and women lead some parts of the service — but men and women are separated by a mechitzah, the barrier between the genders that is the hallmark of an Orthodox synagogue. While still considered anomalous in the eyes of most of the Orthodox community, partnership minyanim are no longer beyond the pale.















Single Malt Scotch for Feminists – Forward.com

Sydney-to-Hobart race: Perham and Watson team up

Mike Perham: Hero's welcome when he completed his sailing challenge



Mike PerhamNineteen-year old British yachting ace Mike Perham is teaming up with Australia's record-breaking teenage sailor Jessica Watson in the annual Sydney-to-Hobart blue water classic that starts on 26 December.
Mike Perham was 17 when he became the youngest person to sail solo around the world in 2009, a record trumped by 16-year-old Watson in May 2010.
The adventurer from Potters Bar in Hertfordshire was only 14 when he conquered the Atlantic on his own.
The pair will join the youngest crew ever to compete in the grueling 628-nautical mile (1,160km) race from Sydney to Tasmania, which is one of the toughest ocean events in the world.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Book of Forms, great non-fiction reference book

Reposted from Great Non-Fiction Books
by D L Keur
A must-have reference for all serious poets and students of that most revered discipline.  –D. L. Keur, The Deepening

A Handbook of Poetics, Including Odd and Invented Forms, Revised and Expanded Edition
by Lewis Putnam Turco

ABOUT THIS NON-FICTION REFERENCE BOOK
For decades Lewis Turco’s The Book of Forms has been standard in the libraries of writers, teachers, scholars, and others who care about the craft of poetry. Now Turco has expanded and updated “the poet’s bible” once again, this time incorporating a collection of “odd and invented forms,” which adds many interesting ancient and modern prosodies and forms with new examples written by contemporary poets old and young. Turco presents “The Rules of Scansion,” discusses the “levels” of poetry–the typographical, the sonic, the sensory, and the ideational–and proffers the ever-useful “Form-Finder Index.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LEWIS PUTNAM TURCO is an emeritus professor of English, and founding director of the Cleveland State University Poetry Center and of the Department of Creative Writing at the State University of New York College at Oswego. He has published original books of criticism, drama, fiction, memoirs, reference, and twenty-six collections of his poems.

 

Newly Released Books From UPNE

View these books on University Press of New England's website

Three Science Fiction Novellas - J.-H. Rosny - Wesleyan University Pess
Jazz Talmud - Jake Marmer - Sheep Meadow Press
Breaking & Entering - Eileen Pollack - Four Way Books
Art Schooled - Larry Witham - University Press of New England
The Educated Eye - Nancy Anderson, ed.; Michael R. Dietrich, ed.  - Dartmouth College Press


82 Remsen St - Alice Davidson Outwater - WindRidge Publishing
Walking through the Seasons - Marilyn Webb Neagley; Lynda Reeves McIntyre, illus. - WindRidge Publishing
Musings of a Vermont Nutritionist - Lyn Carew - WindRidge Publishing
Skinny Dipping with Loons -Laurie Caswell Burke; Annie Caswell, illus.; James Madison, illus. - WindRidge Publishing

California Jews - Ava F. Kahn, ed.; Marc Dollinger, ed.; Moses Rischin, fwd. - Brandeis University Press

Biography chronicles former Gov. Phil Hoff's impact

Reposted from Burlington Free Press
Written by
Candace Page

Now, a University of Vermont historian and two former journalists have told the story of how the 38-year-old lawyer turned a pent-up desire for change in Vermont into an agenda for state government.
Their book, “Philip Hoff: How Red Turned Blue in the Green Mountain State,” combines political biography with social history to vividly portray Vermont and its government in the 1960s.

Two of the book’s authors, Stephen Terry and Anthony Marro, were reporters for the Rutland Herald who covered Hoff during his three terms as governor. The book is built around work they did nearly 50 years ago, fleshed out with recent interviews and with political history contributed by UVM emeritus professor Samuel Hand.

The authors chronicle Hoff’s rapid rise to the governorship, battles with Republicans to enact his reform agenda and his equally precipitous political fall — his loss of the 1970 U.S. Senate race. They outline the achievements of the Hoff years, from dramatic reapportionment of the state House of Representatives, to the transfer of responsibility for social welfare from towns to the state.

The rest of the story

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

East Lansing librarian: Books can be a great gift

Reposted: East Lansing Librarian
Written by
Robin L. Rushbrook


Too many books, too little time! It only gets worse during the holidays with the release of so many wonderful books.

As a librarian, I'm compelled to give books as gifts, I just can't help myself. The dilemma is how to choose the perfect book; perhaps the possibilities that follow will help to give the gift of reading.
When my daughter was born, I started the tradition of giving her a Christmas book every year. There are always lovely selections for children. Tomie dePaola's latest holiday story is "Strega Nona's Gift," which includes holiday events through December and January in an Italian village.

"Song of the Stars" by Sally Lloyd-Jones is a celebration of the natural world in many countries as animals anticipate the birth of Jesus.Want something that's a little different? "Lighthouse Christmas" by Tony Buzzeo and "The Lighthouse Santa" by Sara Hoagland Hunter are based on the historical tradition of The Flying Santa Service that brought presents to lighthouse keepers and their families.

The rest of the story.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

JEWS AND RACE in review

 Taken from original blog

Whole in One

Two recent books consider whether Jewishness is a religion, a culture, a race, or some combination of the three. The answer may be none of the above.

By Adam Kirsch|December 15, 2011 7:00 AM
In Jews and Race, published as part of Brandeis’ exciting new Library of Modern Jewish Thought, Hart has gathered 36 original documents—studies, scientific articles, and popular essays. It would have been easy to fill such a book with anti-Semitic writings, convinced of Jews’ racial inferiority, but that is not Hart’s mandate. On the contrary, almost all of the pieces in the book were written by Jews, and their approach ranges from the “objective” to the frankly apologetic. The goal of these writers was to use race science to answer the very question that Batnitzky’s philosophers posed: What remains of Jewish identity in the modern world?

Read the rest of the review http://www.tabletmag.com/arts-and-culture/books/86111/whole-in-one

Friday, December 9, 2011

Events this Weekend - Dec. 10-11, 2011

  • Saturday, December 10, 2011
    10:00 am
    Sara Hoagland Hunter & Julia Miner
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Eight Cousins
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    Falmouth, MA
    508-548-5548

  • Saturday, December 10, 2011
    1:00 pm
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Chatham Christmas Stroll - Yellow Umbrella Books
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    Chatham, MA
    508-945-0144

  • Sunday, December 11, 2011
    2:00 pm
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Titcomb’s Bookshop
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    East Sandwich, MA
    508-888-2331

  • Sunday, December 11, 2011
    2:30 pm
    Barrie Dunsmore
    There and Back
    Newseum @ Knight TV Studio
    Author Talk with Ted Koppel & Book Signing
    Washington, DC
    888-639-7386

Review for WHEN DAD CAME BACK - Gary Soto


When Dad Came Back.


Soto, Gary (author).


Sept. 2011. 152p. Univ. Press of New England, e-book, $7.99 (9781611682113). Grades 4-7.


"Available so far only in electronic format, Soto's newest slice-of-life novel centers on 13-year-old Gabe Mendoza's conflicted feelings when his father, an alcoholic who abandoned him and his mother four years ago, shows up again as a shambling, homeless wreck. Endowed with a broad streak of natural compassion but living in a seedy Fresno neighborhood rich in human predators, Gabe displays a ready generosity toward street people and others in need. But he also has the toughness to force a violent confrontation to get Frankie, a menacing gang member, off his case and later to sneak into Frankie's house to rescue a stolen pit bull pup. As Gabe sweats in the summer heat, roams shabby parks and streets, spends a week with a hardworking uncle, and talks about his father's return with his mother and others, his cold anger slowly melts and, after he finds his dad cleaned up and working in a store, even turns into a grudging acceptance with the reflection that "everyone needs a second--or third--chance." As usual for Soto, the setting is as vividly drawn as any of the characters, and there's an everyday quality to the incidents shaping the plotline that invites recognition and identification from readers."
    -- John Peters  Booklist.com

Friday, December 2, 2011

Author Readings and Signing this Weekend

Sara Hoagland Hunter and Julia Miner, co-authors of THE LIGHTHOUSE SANTA will be reading and signing books Saturday, December 3 and Sunday December 4.

Saturday, December 03, 2011
3:00 pm
The Book Stall at Chestnut Court
Author Reading & Book Signing
Winnerka, IL
847-446-8880

Sunday, December 04, 2011
(Contact sponsor for time)
University Club’s Annual Holiday Party
Author Talk, Reading & Book Signing
Downtown Chicago, IL
847-446-8880
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author, Robert Kipniss, of ROBERT KIPNISS: A WORKING ARTIST'S LIFE
will be reading and signing on December 3rd.
The Center for Contemporary Printmaking
Author Reading & Book Signing
Norwalk, CT
203-899-7999
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, December 03, 2011
(Contact sponsor for time)
Michael Wojtech
Bark: A Field Guide to Trees of the Northeast
Harris Center for Conservation Education
Author Talk & Book Signing
Hancock, NH
603-525-3394

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Author event with Sara Hunter and Julia Miner and *The Lighthouse Santa*

 Originally posted on http://www.sheistoofondofbooks.com/


Sara Hoagland Hunter and Julia Miner
We recently had the opportunity to host an event with both the author and the illustrator of a new children’s book. The Lighthouse Santa is written by Sara Hoagland Hunter and illustrated by Julia Miner; both author and illustrator are fairly local to us (Miner, in fact, keeps a studio at Emerson Umbrella, the arts center in town), and both were raised in New England.
The New England connection is significant because the subject of the book is Edward Rowe Snow, who – for nearly 50 years – flew up and down the coast, bringing gifts to the lighthouse keepers’ families each holiday season. This “Flying Santa” hired a plane each Christmas Eve and dropped wrapped gifts to lighthouse keepers and their families – from high up the Maine coast to Nantucket. Snow was a living legend with these flights, which ran from 1936 –1980; the “Friends of Flying Santa” continue the tradition today, with helicopter visits to 33 stops, including 45 Coast Guard units from Maine to New York.
Read complete posting at http://www.sheistoofondofbooks.com

Adina Bar Shalom: Courageous Haredi Leader

This blog is originally found at http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/147000/

By Elana Sztokman

Ada Bar Shalom    courtesy ashoka

Adina Bar Shalom is often introduced as a rabbi’s daughter or a rabbi’s wife, but it’s really her own mind that makes her so extraordinary. A pioneering leader within Israel’s tight-knit Haredi community, the 66-year-old Bar Shalom has been making headlines by espousing courageous views about religion and state in Israel. She is emerging as a woman to be reckoned with, one who is not afraid to speak her mind and who promotes a powerful vision with a determined will in the face of some difficult realities in Israel.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Ten Reasons to Buy a Book for Yourself

Given the fact that the holiday season is upon us, and there are so many things to take care of,  it's important to take some time for yourself. After all, if you are happy and stress free, then so are your family, friends and co-workers.  One of the best ways to relax is with a book. Below are 10 great reasons to justify why you should buy yourself a book and have a little down time.

1. A book allows you to escape from reality.
2. It is a legal way to escape from reality.
3. Reading keeps your mind entertained at little cost.
4. Everyone you interact with will be happy that you are smiling.
5. A book gives you a warm fuzzy feeling.
6. While reading a book, people are less likely to interrupt you.
7. Reading helps you to relax so you can get a good nights rest.
8. Books can provide ideas.
9. Reading stimulates alternative ways of thinking about the world around you.
10. You can still have down time reading out loud to your child(ren).

Monday, November 21, 2011

A Section 8 debate: When poverty moves in

Posted on LOS ANGELES TIMES OPINION 


Wrestling with doubts about the Section 8 folk made it clear — these days, black unity is a cherished ideal rather than the fact of life that it used to be.



In my Inglewood neighborhood, we always tend to keep an eye out for trouble. But few things have occasioned more hand-wringing than the recent arrival of a family whose rent is subsidized by the federal program known as Section 8.

"Oh, Lord," said one neighbor, a stoic, civic-minded, churchgoing woman who looked more unsettled than I'd ever seen her. "Here we go." Another neighbor who is also religious and similarly unflappable looked deeply troubled. Standing out on her lawn and surveying the newly occupied corner house as if it were haunted, she only shook her head, as if there were no words to describe this turn of events.

Both of my neighbors are active stewards of our block club, and one of its functions is delivering a housewarming gift of a plant or flowers to welcome new residents and send an early message of community. No gift was delivered this time, or even discussed.

While I didn't approve of a rejection of these folks that felt almost preemptive, I also understood. We live in a neighborhood that, though not luxurious, is stable and well maintained, with tidy homes, kids skateboarding, people walking dogs. But it's a mostly black neighborhood, and its residents are keenly aware of how little stands between its aspirations and chaos.
Read more...


Thursday, November 17, 2011

LIGHTHOUSE SANTA fast becoming a Christmas Tradition

Every winter holiday there tends to be 'the one'. The one toy every child wants. The one piece of technology that every techno wants. The one piece of jewelry or perfume every female wants. This year 'the one' is a book. A book that brings back memories of anxiously waiting for Santa to arrive. The worries if the snow isn't deep enough for the reindeer or the fireplace is still burning when he arrives on the rooftop, or worse, what if our behavior wasn't just good enough.

The Lighthouse Santa is a true tale of a similar worry, but even more so. Based on the Christmas flights of Edward Rowe Snow, hero to lighthouse children for almost fifty years. Sara Hoagland Hunter and Julia Miner have written a wonderful story of two young children, Kate and Sam, anxiously wait as a winter blizzard whirls around their home in the Great Point Lighthouse on Nantucket Island.

For as long as Kate can remember, the Lighthouse Santa has dropped presents from his airplane for all the lighthouse keepers’ children. But will his plane make it through hurricane winds and blinding snow? Sam says it is impossible, but Kate has been keeping a secret Christmas wish all year long, and she will not give up hope.   Read more 

Meet the author and get your copy signed at any of these events. 


  • Saturday, November 19, 2011
    Sara Hoagland Hunter & Julia Miner
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Wellesley Marketplace
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    Wellesley, MA

  • Sunday, November 27, 2011
    (Contact sponsor for time)
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Brookline Country Club (by invitation)
    Family Holiday Brunch & Book Signing
    Duxbury, MA

  • Saturday, November 26, 2011
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Westwinds Book Shop
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    Duxbury, MA


  • Monday, November 28, 2011
    4:00 pm
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Newton Public Library
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    Newton, MA


  • Monday, November 28, 2011
    4:00 pm
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Newton Public Library
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    Newton, MA


  • Saturday, December 03, 2011
    3:00 pm
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    The Book Stall at Chestnut Court
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    Winnerka, IL
    847-446-8880

  • Sunday, December 04, 2011
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    University Club’s Annual Holiday Party
    Author Talk, Reading & Book Signing
    Downtown Chicago, IL
    847-446-8880

  • Friday, December 09, 2011
    6:00 pm
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Osterville Christmas Stroll - Books By The Sea
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    Osterville, MA
    508-420-9400

  • Saturday, December 10, 2011
    10:00 am
    Sara Hoagland Hunter & Julia Miner
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Eight Cousins
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    Falmouth, MA

  • Saturday, December 10, 2011
    1:00 pm
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Chatham Christmas Stroll - Yellow Umbrella Books
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    Chatham, MA
    508-945-0144


  • Sunday, December 11, 2011
    2:00 pm
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Titcomb’s Bookshop
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    East Sandwich, MA
    508-888-2331

  • Saturday, December 17, 2011
    10:30 am
    Sara Hoagland Hunter
    The Lighthouse Santa
    Boston Athenaeum
    Author Reading & Book Signing
    Boston, MA
    617-227-0270

    Tuesday, November 15, 2011

    THE MEN'S SECTION - Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World

    Brandeis University Printing is pleased to announce the release of The Men's Section - Orthodox Jewish Men in an Egalitarian World. 

    A provocative look at the inner world of Orthodox Jewish men who attend partnership synagogues
     
    In this illuminating book, Elana Maryles Sztokman investigates a fascinating new sociological phenomenon: Orthodox Jewish men who connect themselves to egalitarian or quasi-egalitarian religious enterprises. She examines the men who have enabled these transitions by constituting the requisite ten-man prayer quorum of Orthodoxy. By participating in “Partnership Minyanim,” these men support the reconstruction of both male and female roles without leaving the Orthodox religious world.

    Sztokman interrogates the ideologies and motivations of more than fifty such men in the United States, Israel, and Australia. Beginning with the “Orthodox Man Box” of conventionally constructed male behavior, she explores their struggles to navigate individualism and conformity, tradition and change. Setting their experiences in the context of gender role construction in traditional and contemporary synagogues, she shows how, for example, changes in leadership in Partnership Minyanim facilitate a fresh approach to liturgical expression, offering the possibility of reforming how modern Orthodox Jews attend services and pray.

    Read more 

    Wall Street Protesters Needed Figaro

    By Harlow Giles Unger
    Author of Improbable Patriot: The Secret History of Monsieur de Beaumarchais,
    the French Playwright  Who Saved the American Revolution




                “You think you’re a genius,” the young man thundered at the older gentleman. “With all your money, fame, and influence, just what did you do to get so rich?

                “You took the trouble to be born–nothing else,” the growling youngster answered his own question.  “You are nothing but an ordinary man!”
                Although the words might well be those of an “Occupy Wall Street” protester to a billionaire banker or hedge-fund manager, they were actually sounded more than 230 years ago by a simple barber–or at least, an actor playing a simple barber on a Paris stage. But the words resounded across France and, though King Louis XVI tried to ban them and jail the author, it was too late. The inflammatory language of Figaro, the main character in The Barber of Seville and its sequel The Marriage of Figaro, inspired millions of oppressed French commoners to rise up and overthrow the monarchy and aristocracy.
                The author of the barber's words was Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, arguably France’s greatest playwright. A commoner by birth, Pierre Caron began his career as a brilliant teenaged inventor, who produced the world’s first miniature time pieces–so small and light that French Queen Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI could wear them on their wrists--and elevate Caron to world renown. Educated by his engineer father and musically talented mother, Caron was a brilliant musician, songwriter, poet and playwright, as well as inventor. Thwarted in every stab at success as a commoner, he married a nobleman’s widow and assumed her noble name of de Beaumarchais.and immediately soared to success, accumulating the trappings of wealth, fame, and title.

    Monday, November 14, 2011

    The Scandal at Penn State


    By: Roger I. Abrams
    author of Sports Justice



     The scandal that continues to unfold at Penn State University has transfixed the nation. The horrific allegations of sexual abuse by football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky have sickened an American public used to glorifying both its athletes and their coaches. The seeming indifference of Coach Paterno and university administrators to these repellent facts has already taken its toll, and there is more to come.

                The involvement of Joe Paterno, the nation’s greatest college football coach, in this catastrophic series of events has made the story one that involves sports, but is it really a sports story? Or is it rather just an issue involving a horrendous crime on campus?  

    Thursday, November 10, 2011

    Books Published by UPNE

    Paula Shoyer, The Kosher Baker, Shares Apple Tarte Tatin

    The Kosher Baker, Paula Shoyer
    published by University Press of New England
    "Apple Tarte Tatin is one of the greatest contributions of the country of France to the world of apple desserts. I have to admit that I do prefer the dairy version over the parve, but the combination of caramelized apples and puff pastry is heavenly. The joy of unmolding this tart was captured perfectly on my friend Dorie Greenspan’s new culinapp captures the joy of unmolding the perfect tarte tatin:

    http://doriegreenspan.com/2011/09/video-culinapp-baking-with-dorie-greenspan.html"

    http://www.paulaspastry.com/index.php

    Wednesday, November 9, 2011

    Erin Aubry Kaplan in Conversation at the Southern California Library

    The Southern California Library will host a “Conversation” with Erin Aubry Kaplan on her new book, Black Talk, Blue Thoughts, and Walking the Color Line, and viewing from SCL’s collections of the lived histories of Black L.A.

    “Black folks in every place and station are intimately connected by history, experience, and socialization, whether we want to admit to that or not…I wanted to describe how all the ongoing battles for equality and acceptance, from affirmative action to public school and police reform, have influenced who we are, what we expect from the world, how we shop for shoes, how we operate daily in this social experiment called America.”

    Date and Time: Weds., Nov. 9, 12:00 noon.
    Southern California Library
    6120 S. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90044
    For more information, click here to reach the SCL’s website.
    Admission is free but guests are asked to RSVP by calling  (323) 759-6063, x15

    Tuesday, November 8, 2011

    Make Mine A Double....

    Follow us on facebook!
    Bottoms up! This landmark celebration of women and drink chips away at traditional images of gender, one ice-cube at a time.
     
    Make Mine a Double pours together a collection of witty, intelligent, and provocative pieces about women and their beverages of choice. Edited by humorist and academic mahatma Gina Barreca, the twenty-eight original essays here come from a diverse community of voices from ages twenty-one to seventy-nine, including such luminaries as Fay Weldon, Wendy Liebman, Amy Bloom, Liza Donnelly, Nicole Hollander, Beth Jones, Dawn Lundy Martin, and many others.

    Equal parts paean to spirits, an open discussion of drinking (or not drinking), and a call to feminists everywhere to say “salut,” Make Mine a Double shimmers with thoughtfulness, humor, and self-examination. These tales of women’s complex relationships with alcohol are the story of every woman’s effort to find her independence and sense of belonging, be it at a college party, a high-powered cocktail party, or on a stool at the neighborhood watering hole.
    Barreca and the writers have agreed that all their profits from the book will be donated to Windham Hospital’s “Gina’s Friends” fund, which aids women in need.

    Publisher: University Press of New England
     Available in Print and eBook (Kindle)