Sunday Sentence

by Erika Dreifus on
2

AlecBaldwinPhilipRothAnother Sunday in which I participate in David Abrams’s “Sunday Sentence” project, which asks others to share the best sentence(s) we’ve read during the past week, “out of context and without commentary.”

The men worked fifty, sixty, even seventy or more hours a week; the women worked all the time, with little assistance from labor-saving devices, washing laundry, ironing shirts, mending socks, turning collars, sewing on buttons, mothproofing woolens, polishing furniture, sweeping and washing floors, washing windows, cleaning sinks, tubs, toilets, and stoves, vacuuming rugs, nursing the sick, shopping for food, cooking meals, feeding relatives, tidying closets and drawers, overseeing paint jobs and household repairs, arranging for religious observances, paying bills and keeping the family’s books while simultaneously attending to their children’s health, clothing, cleanliness, schooling, nutrition, conduct, birthdays, discipline, and morale.

Source: Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, a copy of which I returned to this week after hearing Alec Baldwin read the opening pages–including the sentence above–at a Roth tribute on Tuesday afternoon.

Words of the Week: Hen Mazzig

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

My experiences in America have changed me. I never expected to encounter such hatred and lies. I never believed that such anti-Semitism still existed, especially in the U.S. I never knew that the battlefield was not just Gaza, the West Bank, and hostile Middle Eastern countries wanting to destroy Israel and kill our citizens and soldiers. It is also here in America, where a battle must be waged against prejudice and lies.

I implore American Jews: do more.

Source: Hen Mazzig, “An Israeli Soldier to American Jews: Wake up!”

Friday Finds for Writers

by Erika Dreifus on
4

Treasure ChestWriting-related resources, news, and reflections to enjoy over the weekend.

  • “6 Reasons a Workshop Jolts Your Writing,” courtesy of The Writer magazine.
  • Dinty W. Moore shares some thoughts on the advantages of the MA (not just the MFA) in Creative Writing.
  • An interview with literary critic Dwight Garner.
  • Kate Hopper on her memoir’s 10-year journey to publication.
  • A Q&A with Kate Gale, managing editor of Red Hen Press.

    • Have a great weekend, everyone.

    Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat

    by Erika Dreifus on
    2

    Photo Credit: Reut Miryam Cohen
    Every Friday morning My Machberet presents an assortment of Jewish-interest links, primarily of the literary variety.

  • Earlier this week, I was lucky enough to attend a Philip Roth tribute here in New York City. And we’re all lucky that Adam Chandler was also present, covering the event for Tablet.
  • The October Jewish Book Carnival went live this week. Go enjoy it.
  • Managing Editor sought: “Dynamic individual needed to lead biweekly newspaper. The Jewish Voice, a 9,500 circulation, non-profit newspaper, published by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, seeks a highly organized strategic thinker.”
  • “The Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) is looking for a Program Officer to support the growth of PJ Library, the foundation’s Jewish family engagement program, in the New York metropolitan region.”
  • And in case you missed it: my full review of Orly Castel-Bloom’s Textile (trans. Dalya Bilu), over on the Practicing Writing blog.

    • Shabbat shalom.