Ellery Schempp at age 16 led a silent protest against mandated prayer and Bible readings in his school and ultimately won – in the landmark Supreme Court ruling Abington v. Schempp in 1963. Read about where he is now and his continued passion for the rights of non-believers and religious minorities. Continue reading
Summary: The New York Times Motherlode blog posted an essay of mine on Dec. 7, 2012, about a common dilemma for Jewish parents or parents of any children who are not in the Christian majority. How do we teach our children to be proud of their religious identity and customs, yet still respect the traditions of the majority in our country?
Reader reaction: The piece drew more than 200 comments on the Motherlode blog and stirred debate about many aspects of the so-called December dilemma that many … Continue reading
Summary: Choosing a name for our unborn son stirred up the past for my husband and me. I wrote an essay about that struggle for The New York Times Motherlode blog. The piece was published on July 29, 2012, and stems partly from a chapter in the memoir I’m writing about journeying through grief and finding faith after the loss of my brother. Click on link below to read the piece.
Reaction: The story drew more than … Continue reading
Summary: I wrote a piece for the Oct. 7, 2012, Boston Globe magazine about the rise in enrollment in Advanced Placement classes and how that has led to a troubling trend in competitive high schools. The highest-achieving students compete to see just how many AP classes they can pack into their schedule, a move they think will impress college admissions officers. But does it? Click on the link below to read the article, the cover story that week.
Reaction: The article drew extensive reader reaction, … Continue reading
Summary: The Boston Globe Magazine on May 27, 2012, published my essay about how it was so hard to remember my brother’s voice, though I could remember so much more. musings about whether to keep or toss my Mel Gibson DVDS, given the actor’s continued anti-Semitic rants. It ran as a Connections column.
Reaction: The story prompted several letters to the editor, and many readers responded by writing about their own experiences with loss and memory.
Mel Gibson was at it again recently and reportedly lobbed anti-Semitic slurs at a colleague and made an awful joke. My quandary: I like Mel’s movies and own three. Should I keep or toss them? My musings ran in The Boston Globe magazine’s Perspective section. Continue reading
How would you describe the ‘best feeling in the world?” Read my answer, published in The Sun magazine in April 2012. Continue reading
Veteran journalist Linda K. Wertheimer, who’s writing a memoir about the loss of her brother and her journey closer to faith, chronicles how being the only Jews in public school bonded her and her brother closer in this excerpt. It was published in March 2012 in Tiferet Journal’s Fifth Bridge edition, a collection of winning essays from the publication’s 2011 contest. Continue reading
Summary: The Washington Post On Faith blog on March 5, 2012, published my op-ed about whether public schools should open their doors to visits from Santa and the Easter Bunny. A controversy in Saugus, Mass., prompted me to write this piece.
Summary: Music has shaped so much of what I’ve become as a writer, and I write a riff on how music has influenced my writing in recent years for the Off the Cuff feature in the December 2011 issue of The Writer .
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