
Talya Zax is the Forward’s opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax.

Talya Zax is the Forward’s opinion editor. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @TalyaZax.
As “1984” stays close to the top of best sellers lists — this week, it fell to second on Amazon’s list, trailing pre-sales of “alt-right” provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos’ controversial “Dangerous” — the prescience of George Orwell’s dystopian vision is prominent in the public consciousness. Now, Sonia Friedman, the British producer behind “Harry Potter and the…
On Monday, January 30, The Guardian published a provocatively-titled opinion piece by author Francine Prose: “Forget protest. Trump’s actions warrant a general national strike.” In the column, Prose pondered the successes won by airport-based protests of President Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order on immigrants and refugees, which prevents all Syrian citizens from entering the…
Tuesday, January 31 brought an unexpected development in the already fraught battle over the confirmation of Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Education Secretary. As The Washington Post reported, written responses DeVos delivered to Senator Patty Murray, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension, appeared to plagiarize multiple sources,…
Hopeful individuals and families cross an ocean, only to arrive in a strange country where, still culturally and financially at sea, they scrape by dint of their wiles and compassion for one another. Yes, Charlie Chaplin’s 1917 short film “The Immigrant” presents a romanticized caricature of the immigrant experience. Still, in a time when the…
In case there were questions on the subject, let it be known that it is, in fact, difficult to eat soup while blindfolded. On the plus side, if everyone around you is blindfolded, too, you don’t have to worry about them silently decrying your marked lack of daintiness. So went one attendee’s distinctly un-spiritual train…
Winter is theoretically a fabulous time for curling up with a hot drink and a book, although that’s a peculiar sentence to write on a 60-degree day in New York. Still, the cold weather will inevitably return, and with it the need to read, read, read. Our favorite picks for the endeavor —in fiction, nonfiction,…
In 2017, contention for the title of the day’s worst piece of news is tight. Is it the portent of a coming crackdown on voting rights? The felony charges for 6 reporters covering protests of President Donald Trump’s inauguration? (Ok, that was earlier this week, but still.) The doubling of membership fees at exclusive clubs…
Actress Scarlett Johansson has reportedly split from her husband, Romain Dauriac. Johansson and Dauriac, formerly the editor of the French urban art magazine Clark, wed in 2014. They have a two-year-old daughter, Rose Dorothy. Reports of the pair’s split are, as of yet, unconfirmed by representative of either party. People Magazine cited an unnamed source…
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