PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
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Culture How Columbus Brought America Its First Jew
For all their clout in the American imagination, the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria don’t appear to factor much into the American Jewish tapestry. But Christopher Columbus, a devout Italian Catholic sailing at the behest of the king and queen of Spain, was certain that, when he arrived in Asia, he’d encounter descendants of the…
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Culture 8 Jewish Members Of Parliament Announce Opposition To Holocaust Memorial
A 50-million-pound Holocaust memorial planned for the Victoria Garden Towers, a public park outside the United Kingdom’s Parliament, has drawn new criticism from an unexpected group: Jewish Members of Parliament. The memorial was devised by the Ghanaian-British architect Sir David Adjaye and English-Israeli sculptor Ron Arad, who won a contest with their design last October….
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Film & TV Nan Goldin Made Fun Of Herself On ‘The Deuce’
In “What Big Ideas,” Season 2, Episode 4 of HBO’s “The Deuce,” the Hi-Hat Bar got a new patron: Photographer Nan Goldin. Proving once more that it’s not just TV, but HBO, a highbrow platform for educated art-loving types, series co-creator David Simon snuck the activist-artist Goldin into a scene in the seedy Time Square…
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Film & TV ‘Stavisky’ Remains A Slick Study Of Jewish Identity
American audiences may not be familiar with the name “Serge Alexandre Stavisky” or his many aliases, but the French recognize the Russian-born Jewish con man’s decline as helping ease their country’s slide into Fascism. A new restoration of director Alain Resnais’ 1974 film “Stavisky” opens Wednesday at New York’s Film Forum and plays through October…
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Film & TV ‘Moynihan’ Celebrates A Different Kind Of Politician
What would today’s Democratic Party, with its progressive and moderate divisions, make of Daniel Patrick Moynihan? Maybe more to the point: What would he make of the state of our politics today? These are some of the questions raised by “Moynihan,” a new documentary about the long and varied career of the titular senator, diplomat,…
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Culture ‘Twilight Zone’ For Brett Kavanaugh? Rod Serling Is Turning Over In His Grave.
Anne Serling, the daughter of “Twilight Zone” creator Rod Serling is speaking out against the way Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has invoked her father’s iconic series. Referring to accusations made by Julie Swetnick on September 26, 2018, Kavanaugh mocked the allegations, which describe his high school circle as having engaged in nonconsensual group sex…
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Film & TV ‘Scaffolding’ Shows Another Side Of Israeli Masculinity
This weekend much of America was interrogating questions of masculinity. Following Brett Kavanaugh’s explosive display at his Senate hearings on Thursday, when toxic masculinity and male privilege seized the dais, many men and women are scrambling to find a suitable, constructive alternative. Writer-director Matan Yair’s debut feature film, “Scaffolding,” which premiered in New York September…
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Culture UB40 Has A Bit Of A Jewish Past — Along With A Role In Kavanaugh Drama
It appears the young Brett Kavanaugh liked reggae — but maybe not as much as he liked beer. It’s now emerged that the embattled Supreme Court nominee was involved in a bar fight with a man he believed to be the lead singer of the British reggae group UB40. Oy. We could use a drink….
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