New Publication: "Solar Damage," in the Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine

by Erika Dreifus on
9

Just about a year ago, I alluded to a challenging experience I was dealing with. A single comment from one medical professional whom I met through that experience sparked a new poem. (You all know how that works.)

I am proud to say that that poem has just been published by the Yale Journal for Humanities in Medicine (YJHM). The poem’s title, drawn from the comment in question, is “Solar Damage.”

(By the way, for those of who may recall and/or share my dilemma over how to determine whether a given piece should be written as prose or as poetry, you may find this comment from the YJHM poetry editor interesting [he’s referring to both poems I submitted, although he accepted only one]: “Your poetry has a strong flavor of prose and I considered whether these poems should actually be prose poems. However, I don’t think so. The enjambment and slant rhymes make them work as verse.”)

I invite you to read my poem and, more important, to get to know the broader offerings of the YJHM.

January in Paris

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

J’adore Paris! There are many reasons I’d be happy to be planning another trip to this beautiful city. But for the purposes of this blog, I’ll point simply to a series of Jewish-inflected literary events that will be taking place there the evening of January 23 and all day on January 24, 2010.

These “rencontres,” bringing together “Livres des mondes juifs” (“Books from/of Jewish worlds”) and “Diasporas en dialogue,” have taken place for the past couple of years. (If you understand French, you will enjoy the archived videos from 2008 and 2009.) This year’s program will begin with a session on “Minorities and Citizenship in France,” followed by a reading and discussion with Amos Oz. Several more events will take place on the program’s second, full day, and books will be available for purchase. Check out the full program and ticket information.

(And if any of you should happen to be lucky enough to find yourselves attending all or part of the program, please get in touch with me about the possibility of a guest post!)

Editor Sought for JewishBoston.com

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

“You…

Talented writer and editor. In love with words, blogs, and writings. Outgoing and active. Connected to the Jewish community. Deeply embedded in and enthralled by social media.

Us…

Launching in March 2010, JewishBoston.com will make it easy for more and more people to participate in Jewish life in Boston. Key features: Events and online registration, organizational and program directory, and community blogging. Interfaces with Facebook, Twitter, and the social web. Useful to everyone in the community, the site is especially targeted to young adults and families with young children.

The job…

On a daily basis, you’ll take the lead on featuring events, blog posts and organizations. You’ll keep the civil community together by moderating the site and encouraging contributions. You’ll write and edit JewishBoston posts. You’ll help recruit a community of bloggers and ensure an ongoing flow of user and organizational generated content. You’ll work with our community manager to teach Jewish organizations throughout Boston how to effectively communicate through the site. On a weekly basis, you’ll run the editorial meeting. Together we’ll review metrics, set goals, track progress, and plan the ongoing improvement of the site. Over time, you’ll help shape the growth and direction of the site.

You will be reporting to the Director of JewishBoston.com and working in downtown Boston.”

For more info and application instructions, click here.

The Forward Seeks Freelancers

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

From JournalismJobs.com:

“The Forward, a prestigious national Jewish newspaper founded in 1897, is developing a network of freelance reporters available to cover stories in major urban centers, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Boston for our English language edition. We are also interested in writers based abroad. We are looking for journalists able to pitch ideas and accept short-notice assignments on issues of interest to our readers who can tell the story in generally 800-1,200 words. These include stories dealing with Judaism, religion and spirituality, labor, civil rights, interethnic and interfaith relations, U.S.-Israel relations and Middle East-related activism, Jewish culture and arts, and personality profiles. A willingness to work with editors to hone stories to a fine point of clarity is a must.”

Three Years Later: Carter’s "Al Het"

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Well, it only took Jimmy Carter three years to apologize for the harm he caused. Like Jeffrey Goldberg, I’m not entirely sure how to feel about the apology. But I’m not unhappy to have it.

(I do wonder how Carter’s own statement will go over with one of the most vocal champions of Carter’s infamous book-I-will-not-name–a former President of the National Book Critics Circle who quite literally harassed me by e-mail and phone to advocate for that text. As I’ve explained elsewhere, the totally inappropriate use of the NBCC blog to disparage Israel and promote anti-Israel authors–again and again and again–is what led me to resign my [dues-paying] membership back in late 2006. [The private harassment was just the icing on that sickening cake.] I can’t help wondering if any of the folks who seemed to think that I was on the wrong side of the argument back then, overreacting, etc. are having any second thoughts whatsoever this week.)