Jennifer 8. Lee Auditions for the Jews

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky

But first she had to pass muster.
Lee relates on her blog:
So I recently went to Los Angeles for a two-minute audition held by the Jewish Book Council, which coordinates the Jewish Book Network of some 100 Jewish book fairs and events around the country.
It is a combination of speed dating and the gong show or “JDate and a camel auction“, as Rachel Donadio wrote in The New York Times last year. You have two minutes (and they will stand up and pull you off if you exceed that) to charm them. They get a book with your picture and bio in it. (It really is like JDate! One woman even asked me if I were single)
Funny story: I met Jennifer 8. Lee once. She actually came to a birthday party of mine. She must have been introduced to me simply as “Jennifer,” because it was only later that I learned — to my great delight — that the legendary Jennifer 8. Lee was at my party. I don’t recall whether, in our brief interaction, we discussed Sino-Judaic subjects — an area that has long been of great interest to me.
Hat tip: Gawker
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
