Britta Lokting
By Britta Lokting
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Culture Could You Eat More Bagels Than This Guy?
Inside an airy office above a strip of retail stores in downtown Huntington, New York, the first annual National Bagel Eating Contest made its debut on the first Sunday in February. The competition drew seven male contestants who were hungry to win the championship title and $500. Starting at 9 a.m., friends, family and several…
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Culture 60 Valentine’s Days Later, Dorothy and Al Laugh, Fuss and Remember
Al Hampel calls his wife Dorothy “Nurse Ratchett.” When they met 60 years ago, she supervised his work as a copywriter, and ran a tight ship. Today, at Brookdale Senior Living, she’s famous for her feisty attitude. Humor is one of the things that’s kept them together. Al makes fun of Dorothy for wearing gold…
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Culture Rabbis Get Into Super Bowl Trash Talking With ‘Mitzvah Bowl’
Two reform rabbis have started their own Super Bowl rivalry in the name of tzedakah, complete with amped-up videos and friendly taunting like calling the Panthers the Kitty Cats. Rabbi Judith Schindler of Temple Beth El in Charlotte, North Carolina and Rabbi Joe Black at Temple Emanuel in Denver, Colorado have set up a joint…
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Culture How a 96-Year-Old Limerick Master Became a New York Times Top Commenter
In a dim third-floor apartment on East 88th Street in Manhattan, strewn with potted plants, unopened mail and bronze statuettes, 96-year-old Larry Eisenberg writes limericks on the MacBook Air his children bought him and posts them in the comments sections on The New York Times’ website. Sometimes he can be politically pointed and sassy, showing…
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Culture Scholars Are Finally Tackling Yiddish Children’s Literature
In the 1921 Yiddish children’s book “The Wind That Got Angry,” by Moyshe Kulbak, an “old, wandering wind” finds himself booted out of his village when a thaw sets in. He tries to find somewhere in the woods to rest. He’s tired and wants to sleep, but no one wants him around. The oak tree…
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Art Do These T-Shirts Make Me Look Jewish?
Anne Grant wanted to arrive early at the Center for Jewish History for the opening of her biggest exhibition to date. Her train from New Haven had run an hour behind schedule, and she rushed into the echoing lobby juggling a backpack, an overstuffed Longchamp tote and a blue water bottle. She has straight, mousy…
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The Schmooze Could Claude Lanzmann Documentary Win Surprise Oscar?
Adam Benzine, who directed the 40-minute documentary “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah “was sitting with his aunt, uncle and producer in New York City watching the Oscar nomination live stream and waiting, and waiting some more, for the announcements. “It kind of amplifies the dread,” Benzine said of the extravagant ceremony. “I wish they…
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Culture Drawing Out the Secret World of New Yorker Cartoonists
Before a recent screening of “Very Semi-Serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists” at HBO’s headquarters, director Leah Wolchok introduced her debut documentary. Standing behind a mahogany podium and wearing white thick-rimmed glasses, she spoke with a slight undertone of annoyance about how long it took to finish the film. So long, in…
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