on Facebook
Clips
Op-Ed: Book banning in 2021? Why my book has been removed from school shelves
Op-Ed on the banning of “Good Trouble” in Virginia Beach schools.
NY Times Illustrated Piece on Refugees and ‘Fiddler’
For World Refugee Day, the producers of the Yiddish-language rendition of “Fiddler on the Roof” invited 500 refugees from around the globe to see the show. I was on hand to interview and draw attendees to record how their own tales dovetailed with the story of Tevye and the townspeople of Anatevka.
LA Times Review of ‘Out on Wire’
Jessica Abel’s graphic novel on the rise of narrative nonfiction radio (think This American Life and Radiolab) is a love letter from one blossoming genre to another.
Huffpo Essay on Douchebag Dads
Face it daddies: we can be real douchebags.
Thus begins click-baity, confessional essay I wrote for the Huffington Post on stay-at-home dads in which I come clean about my own insecurities and the grain of insecure inspiration that spawned PLUS ONE.
New Yorker Talk of the Town: Prodigy
My piece on teen chef Flynn McGarry brought national attention to a culinary wunderkind who had been serving up elaborate 10-course tasting meals in his mom’s living room.
Sh’ma Essay: Nouns Versus Verbs
I was asked to contribute an essay for a special issue “on the communal impact - over the past decade or so - as Jews by choice and ‘fellow travelers’ have assumed positions of communal leadership.”
Details feature: Fetishization of the Jewess
The December issue of Details includes my feature on the fetishization of hot Jewish women. Read on for quick, snappy, not-terribly-deep take on “JILFS,” semi-observant hardcore queen Joanna Angel and the glory of frum porn.
Details feature: “Are You Jealous of Your Kid?”
Flame-bating feature on wellspring of resentment that builds up among over-involved parents as they create ever-more-awesome educational and enrichment opportunities for their precious progeny.
Michael Lewis book review in LA Times
Finally getting around to posting this review from LA Times of Michael Lewis’ daddy memoir. I love Lewis’ style, but in the end felt weirdly depressed reading his cynical take on the basic drudgery of raising kids…
Is my son a dick, or is he two?
My son bullies me, insults his mother and once punched an old man in the nuts. I know it’s probably just a phase. But what if it isn’t? Check out the insane letters of response here.
Irving the Snowchicken is Coming to Town
Forget Christmakkah and Festivus. Our interfaith holiday involves a magical rooster who fills the children’s pants with presents.
Pop’s Secretive Svengali, Mutt Lange
Investigative profile of pop genius Mutt Lange, a press-shy knob-twiddler behind chart-toppers as diverse as AC/DC, Tina Turner, the Backstreet Boys and Shania Twain. Good training for my run-in a few years later with another evasive celebrity, Mel Gibson.
Four square for grownups?
Written in advance of publication of Rejuvenile (and originally comissioned by GQ magazine), this participatory feature was a ton of fun to report; what if, I wondered, I took a break from my desk-bound theorizing and actually went out and competed against the most dedicated adult players of kidgames like kickball, rock paper scissors, tag, minigolf and a “watergun assassination tournament.”
Remembering Betty
My grandmother Betty Lane was a teacher, artist and inspiring tho crotchety character who lived for most of her life in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I wrote this short essay for a 1997 retrospective of her work hosted by the Cape Cod Museum of Fine Arts.
I Don’t Want to Grow Up
Feature for the Sunday Style section of the NY Times about “rejuveniles,” adults dedicated to indulging their inner child. From adult readers of Harry Potter to hipsters in Converse sneakers and Sesame Street T-shirts, a whole new breed of grown up is redefining maturity.
