A Gratitude In Me That I Did Not Fully Appreciate At The Time
Aug 2, 2022
2022
I was scrolling through my photos the other day, looking for I-don’t-remember-what, when the picture I’ve cropped down to this image of my
Three Poems Of Mine That Should Never Have Become As Relevant As They Are Now
Jun 16, 2022
writing & 2022
Sometimes you publish a poem in response to the current moment, whatever that may be, and then the moment passes, and the poem no longer feels as
Deciding whether something should be a poem or an essay
Jun 2, 2022
Writing & 2022
When I wrote a couple of posts ago about the writers who influenced me early on in terms of craft, I tried to focus on those aspects of making a
An Essay That Took Me More Than Thirty Years To Write Has Been Published!
Apr 11, 2022
my work & 2022
I am very excited that an essay it took me nearly thirty years to write, “The First Time I Told Someone,” was published earlier this month by
A Provocation: Christianness (Not Christianity) Is To Jews And The People Of Other Non-Christian Religions As Whiteness Is To People Of Color
Apr 7, 2022
jewish & 2022
Last year, at the end of a meeting I attended, the presiding officer, a Jewish woman, in the process of wishing attendees happy holidays and happy
What Writers Have Influenced Your Work?
Mar 24, 2022
my work & 2022
I don’t think I’ve read an interview with a writer where the interviewer did not ask some version of this question. In responding to John
What I’ve Been Thinking About Ukraine
Mar 7, 2022
jewish & 2022
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine casts its long shadow over everything I do these days, even the small, mundane moments, like washing the dishes
When Did You Start Writing?
Jan 15, 2022
my work & poetry & 2022
In March of 2020, just before the pandemic shutdown, I received from John Wisniewski the first two of the seven or eight questions that would
My Pandemic Reading List
Jul 21, 2021
2021 & reading
It’s been nearly eighteen months since the pandemic shutdown began last March. One of the ways I’ve managed to stay sane, along with the nightly—or
Thirteen Thoughts About Palestine, Israel, and Antisemitism
Jun 11, 2021
2021 & jewish
Anyone who knows anything about how not just the presence of Jewish human beings, but also the mere idea of Jews and Judaism, have been experienced
Craft Talk 3: Quincy Troupe’s Rhythm
Apr 19, 2021
2021 & poetry
I’ve been reading The Architecture of Language, by Quincy Troupe, and I have been fascinated by how rhythm and syntax interact in the way he builds
The Music I’d Like to Put Back Into My Life
Dec 26, 2020
my work
Those are my hands over the keys at the grand piano that stood in the parlor of the dorm I lived in when I attended Edinburgh University in the
The Way Academia Is Supposed To Work
Dec 22, 2020
my work & education & union issues
I can’t believe I’m writing this at 3:30 AM. I woke up about a half hour ago from a very disturbing dream, in which the character with whom I
Publication News: Three New Poems in Two Lovely Publications
Nov 26, 2020
my work
You’d think that being shut in during the pandemic would have left me enough time to keep this website up-to-date, right? Hah! I should, for
Medical Culture and Its Effects on Doctors and Patients
Oct 29, 2020
events
On the evening of October 22, I had the pleasure of moderating a reading and discussion with two fine writers, Dr. Zinaria Williams and Elizabeth
Antisemitism Has Always Been a Part of My Life - 1
Oct 26, 2020
jewish
(I wrote the original version of this post at least four years ago, but events of the last couple of years, along with what I wrote in my last post
My Response to The Erasure of Antisemitism in Namrata Poddar’s Article in the Recent Issue of Poets & Writers
Oct 12, 2020
poetry & race & jewish
In an article called ”Return to the MFA: A Call for Systemic Change in the Literary Arts”, which Poets & Writers published in its September/October
Lines That Didn’t Make The Cut: Sometimes It’s Just a Big Mess
Aug 5, 2020
poetry & my work
I don’t remember where the first two lines of this came from, but somehow it ended up being a very long poem spoken mostly by a woman deciding to
from “The Lines That Antisemitism and Racism Draw”
Aug 1, 2020
jewish
Today is Shabbat Nachamu, the Sabbath of Consolation. Last year at this time, I was on a family vacation in Europe, sitting in our host’s dining
Reading “The Veil and The Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam,” by Fatima Mernissi
Jul 27, 2020
islam & religion & quotes
I read Mernissi’s book some years ago, and it was an instructive journey into my own ignorance about Islam, particularly about an aspect of that
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