Pre-Rosh Hashanah Notes from Around the Web

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

Here’s a really lovely post about the connections between a temple-based writing group (located in Tuscon, Ariz.) and the Holy Days.
==========
Michelle Cameron, a self-described “writer of Jewish-themed books,” guest-posts on my friend Lisa Romeo’s blog.
==========
The aforementioned Scribblers on the Roof Web site has launched! Check it out. And look forward to a Q&A with founder/editor Kelly Hartog, right here on My Machberet, in the not-too-distant future.
==========
Jeffrey Goldberg links to an outrageously hilarious spoof of Mad Men (retitled for these purposes “Meshugene Men“).
==========
Finally, and on a more somber note, the new issue of Brevity, which bills itself as “a journal of concise literary nonfiction,” is online, featuring an amazing piece, “Somebody Else’s Genocide,” by author Sherman Alexie.

Shanah Tovah, everyone! See you back here in a few days.

Poe Exhibition

by Erika Dreifus on
2

Thanks to Mark Sarvas for pointing out that “From Out That Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Edgar Allan Poe” has just opened at the Harry Ransom Center (University of Texas at Austin). (It runs through January 3, 2010, for any of you who may get to Austin between now and then.)

The exhibition marks Poe’s bicentennial, and it sounds terrific:

The exhibition is organized into 12 sections: “The Early Years,” which covers Poe’s family and his student days at the University of Virginia; “Working Writer,” about Poe’s daily activities earning money and engaging with other writers; “Poe in Love,” which documents the many women in Poe’s life; “Death and Infamy,” devoted to the circumstances of Poe’s death and the immediate downturn of his reputation; “Poe the Poet”; “The Raven,” which is dedicated to the most famous of Poe’s poems; “Poe the Critic”; “Detection,” which surveys Poe’s stories and his influence upon later writers of mysteries; “Poe and Science,” which explores Poe’s engagement in topics ranging from shells to astronomy; “The Haunted Mind,” which uses portraits and illustrations to investigate the psychological aspects of Poe’s work and Poe the man; and “Poe in France” and “Perspectives on Poe,” which look at the important influence of Poe upon later writers.

If any of you do visit the exhibition (or if you caught it when it was at the University of Virginia Library earlier this year), please share your impressions! I’m sure I’m not the only one who’d be grateful.

Asaf Ramon, 1989-2009: "…every heart breaks today…."

by Erika Dreifus on
2

That describes it. I know that I could feel a piece of my own heart breaking when I heard the terrible news that Asaf Ramon had been killed when his Israel Air Force F-16 jet crashed during a training flight.

Ramon was the eldest son of Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut who perished with his American colleagues on the Columbia. I recall that I was in London for a conference when the news broke about the Columbia. And as much as that tragedy shook me for its reminders of the Challenger and the loss of my own countrymen, I know that a big part of the reason that I spent all of my non-conference time glued to the television in my hotel room was, quite simply, Ilan Ramon. His story. His history. His significance to his country.

I pray for the Ramon family. As Israeli President Shimon Peres said at the funeral on Monday, “every heart breaks today because the son of the Ramon family was the son of us all – today we are all the Ramon family.”

For more coverage, please visit Haaretz and The New York Times.