The Week of a Meaningful Fast

I spent Yom Kippur reflecting on compassion and forgiveness, and the relative lack of these attributes in the American (in)Justice system. On this holiest day of the Jewish year, we ask god to forgive us--yes us, the collective, the community, all Jews--for our misgivings. Our fate is bound together, and if we as individuals expect forgiveness and compassion when we make the wrong choice then we as a community should grant that same respect to others.

Getting ready for Living Room Learning at East End Brewing Company

Here's what captured my attention this week...

I'm reading:  I finished On a Farther Shore, the Rachel Carson biography, which I found informative but uneven. I've since begun The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne, which was my Book of the Month selection for August. In just the first fifty pages, I googled "Irish Independence," "Kyrie Eleison," "rates of incest," and "taoiseach," which I still cannot figure out how to pronounce. I'm captivated and can't wait to report back to you next week. This morning, I also really enjoyed a travel story in the New York Times by Sarah Khan, "A Muslim American's Homecoming."  

“I had crisscrossed the country expecting to find cowboys and megamalls, humble churchgoing folk and racist old grandpas. But it’s hard to distill a nation into a series of tropes, no matter how easy Third World-bound travel writers make it seem. America is as much the cowboys bowing their heads to pray for their livestock before lassoing them in a ring as it is the New York couple who spend their summers rodeo-hopping, only missing shows to observe the Sabbath. It’s the Nashville mosque partially funded by Cat Stevens, so fitting in Music City. It’s the Venezuelan Elvis cover singer who hails the king for “the fulfilling of the American dream.” It’s malls not far from the Mall of America that are more African than the ones I frequented in South Africa. It’s the family reading from Sarah Palin’s autobiography while waiting in line at the National Civil Rights Museum, and it’s the B&B in Montana where I found a Quran on a bookshelf.”

I'm listening to: I enjoyed Switched on Pop's new episode about Calvin Harris's "Feels," which has since been stuck in my head all week. I subsequently listened to Harris's new album, Funky Wav Bounces Vol. 1, which was a good match for the unseasonably summery weather this week.

I'm looking forward to watching: My bae and I have gotten into BoJack Horseman, which is a crushingly accurate depiction of how ridiculous and awful depression can feel--we're really enjoying it! I was never interested in the show until Kevin started it, because, well, the description isn't so appealing is it? But somehow it's funny and charming and genuine as hell, and we're already cruising through the third of four seasons. 

What are you reading, listening to, or watching this week? 

The First Year

Whereas 5777 overlapped with my last year of graduate school, 5778 will be my first full year in a new career, one entirely of my own invention. I'm an "academic-adjacent entrepreneur," which is an unusual but increasingly common hybrid. Like an academic, I'll be teaching several classes this fall and will continue working on my research projects, conferencing, and applying for grants. I'll also continue to serve as co-editor of the Urban History Association's blog, The Metropole, and to participate in the active online community of #twitterstorians. At the same time, I'm knitting this work into a new business where I lead interesting discussions with cool people in the community, motivate and support other researchers, and write and edit compelling, persuasive messages for clients.

So while I devoted 5777 to finishing up the requirements to earn my doctorate, in 5778 my goals reflect my desire to grow into this new hybrid identity:

1. Build the readership of The Metropole blog to 2500 visitors per month.

2. Send out a new article to a history journal.

3. Write and submit a book proposal to a publisher.

4. Grow my business's revenue to equal to what I earned as a graduate student.

The Week of Apples and Honey

The past seven days were filled with the old colliding with the new. I coincidentally had the good fortune to meet several new, interesting people this week, and look forward to continuing to connect with them. And this week I also spent two days immersed in Jewish rituals that are thousands of years old. As the prophet Pete Seeger wrote, by way of the Book of Ecclesiastes, it has been "A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together."

Here's what captured my attention this week...

I'm reading:  I finished Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere and loved it. Now I've moved on to On a Farther Shore, William Souder's biography of Rachel Carson. The book has deepened my admiration for Carson as a nature writer, but to be quite honest Souder's descriptions of Carson's naiveté and tunnel vision have made me think that she is not someone with whom I would enjoy spending time. That was not the case with Kaitlyn Greenidge's op-ed in today's New York Times, about a family road trip to four historical sites that preserve and commemorate the contributions of important black women. I wish I had been invited along too.

I'm listening to: The most recent episode of the podcast Judaism Unbound features an interview with anthropologist Riv-Ellen Prell about the Havura movement of the 1970s. Prell not only provides a thorough overview of Jewish life and practice in the mid-twentieth century, she also masterfully identifies the continuities and deviations in how Jews have built community and advocated for change. She literally gave me goosebumps. #publichumanities #goals

I'm looking forward to watching: David Simon's The Deuce. 1970s New York City? Right up my alley.

What are you reading, listening to, or watching this week? 

Celebrating the Win

As I've written about in the past, I prefer to make resolutions and set goals at the Jewish New Year rather than on January 1. 

My goals for this past year, 5777, were to:

1. Finish writing my dissertation
2. Graduate to Avigail Oren, Ph.D.
3. Publish an article

Well, I nailed it. I spent last summer writing and polishing a paper that was accepted as a chapter in the forthcoming edited volume, The Ghetto in Global History: 1500 to the Present. I spent September through April frantically writing and editing the remainder of the dissertation. And on May 20th I walked to the middle of the stage at the Carnegie Music Hall and, crouching so my shorter advisor could reach over my graduation cap, received my doctoral hood and became Dr. Oren, Jr. in front of my closest friends and family members. 

Blurry iPhone photo courtesy of Dr. Oren, Sr.

I know so many people who describe their wedding as the best day of their life, but for me graduation unquestionably wins. 

Photo by Sergey Zlotnikov

So 5777 was a year of big goals, and big celebrations. This coming year, 5778, will be one of big changes, and big risks, but hopefully also big fun. 

My Sunday Morning Ritual

My husband teases me relentlessly about my Sunday routine. I get up, grab the New York Times from the front stoop, make coffee, put on jazz, and sit at the dining room table in the seat right in front of the window, where the sunshine is brightest. I get it. I'm a caricature of an academic. 

Unlike my life as an academic, however, in my new life as a teacher and entrepreneur I cannot be an expert on only one narrow topic. I need to be informed about the broad range of contemporary issues that interest my students, that Living Room Learners want to discuss, and that my editing clients are writing about. And that necessity is a pleasure, especially when it's paired with coffee and a good album. 

One of the greatest joys I've discovered since finishing my doctorate is the freedom to read widely and to explore new topics without feeling guilty. In order to get the dissertation written expediently, I had to narrow my reading to journalism and history. Over the past two years I picked up novels infrequently, and rarely made it through non-fiction books outside my particular area of study. But this year I have read a book about being an astronaut and one about surfing. I've read three books about the Kardashians, and three decades of David Sedaris's diaries. I've read about the rise of women in the American economy, and women poisoners in seventeenth century France, and a graphic novel about Harriet Tubman. I've read two novels whose protagonists are immigrant women, and two novels where the fictionalized capers of prominent 20th century intellectuals are central to the plot. And, most Sundays, I read the New York Times. 

Here's what captured my attention this morning...

I'm reading: This op-ed in the today's New York Times, "The Nazi's First Victims Were the Disabled," makes a persuasive historical argument for why we must defend the rights of frontline communities. And last night I started Celeste Ng's new book, Little Fires Everywhere, which I chose as my Book of the Month for September. It's been getting great buzz, including a shoutout from NPR's Barrie Hardymon on Pop Culture Happy Hour. 

I'm listening to: I was in the mood for something a little different this morning and put on two great albums by the Argentine band Femina. Spotify then led me to this amazing album by the band El Kuelgue that's unlike anything I've heard recently. 

I'm looking forward to watching: Ken Burn's documentary The Vietnam War premiers on PBS tonight. I'm not a huge Ken Burns fan, but I've been hearing good buzz about the film and frankly could stand to brush up on this conflict. 

What are you reading, listening to, or watching this week?