Talya Zax is the Forward’s opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax.
Talya ZaxOpinion Editor
By Talya Zax
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The Schmooze The Winter Olympics, A Rothian Debut Novel And More To Read, Watch And Do This Weekend
Ah, February: Bleak in weather, stocks and politics. Set aside your misery and experience the best of weekend culture in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., as well as the weekend’s best new books and films. 1) Read Lisa Halliday’s debut novel “Asymmetry” has made quite a few headlines this week: Halliday had…
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Culture How A Teenage ‘Shabbos Goy’ Stowed Away On America’s First Antarctic Exploration
Teenagers dream about running away. They always have; they likely always will; often, when they do, the results are decidedly weird. (See: Haight-Ashbury circa the 1960s.) But there’s packing a knapsack and setting out for the Summer of Love, and then there’s swimming across a major river intending to hitch a ride on a boat…
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Music Travel: Ten Must-Attend Celebrations Of Leonard Bernstein’s Centenary
There are different levels at which one can love Leonard Bernstein. There’s knowing all the lyrics to “Somewhere”; there’s devotion to his lesser-known works, like, say, the “Chichester Psalms”; then there’s throwing a two-year global festival in honor of the centennial of his birth. While that centennial doesn’t arrive until August 25, the festivities already…
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Culture Q & A: Leonard Bernstein’s Children Reflect On His Legacy
In honor of the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birth — he was born August 25, 1918 — cities across the globe are conducting two years of celebratory events. Bernstein’s children, Alex, Jamie and Nina Bernstein, spoke with the Forward about the centennial, and their father’s legacy. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity….
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The Schmooze Movie News: A Spielberg-Kushner ‘West Side Story,’ A Second ‘Passion Of The Christ’
Movie news is well and good, but seems to pale in the wake of the most fascinating developments from late last week: The Nutella riots in France. According to a January 26 report from the BBC, after Intermarché supermarkets across France began offering a substantial discount on the chocolate hazelnut spread, people began to battle…
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The Schmooze Ruth Bader Ginsburg Speaks With Jane Eisner, And More To Read, Watch And Do This Weekend
Thursday is part of the weekend, right? This week, definitely: On Thursday night, Supreme Court Justice and pop culture icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg will speak with Forward editor-in-chief Jane Eisner at Washington D.C.’s Adas Israel Congregation. While the event itself is sold out, the Forward will be livestreaming it; learn how to watch it, here….
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The Schmooze Movie News: Oscar Nominations, ‘My Coffee With Jewish Friends,’ Connie Sawyer
This week brought the 2018 Oscar nominations, the single best outcome of which is that now everyone has good reason to use the brilliant photo, above, of nominee Agnes Varda eating an Oscar statuette. It’s applicable in every situation. Angry at the establishment? Consider munching on an Oscar. Trying to figure out who you want…
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Culture He Fought Polar Bears And Nazis And Was Called ‘The Most Unique Jew Alive’
On December 20, 1934, the New York Jewish Daily Bulletin’s Michel Kraike published an article about one Peter Freuchen: “Eight feet tall, weighing close to 330 pounds, with a head like a grizzly bear’s and a thick, square red beard.” Born in Denmark, Freuchen held a series of professions that, to modern ears, might sound…
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