(JTA) — A prison inmate in Tennessee filed an over 200-page lawsuit alleging that the prison system is trying to force him to break the Jewish laws of kashrut by providing him with substandard kosher meals. Perry March, who has served 10 years of a 56-year sentence for the 1996 murder of his wife (though…
Nearly five decades after our teen romance, the Internet brought word that Joyce has written a memoir. In it, I read of my teenage self destined for “an ordinary life.” In the theater of her own escape from her parents’ orb and adolescent angst, she never even saw me. Joyce was among the brightest at…
My reality as I knew it ended in early November 2015. Even though I was assigned male at birth, I came to terms with things I started to realize in middle school, if not elementary school: I’m a woman. Accepting all of this wasn’t easy and when you live in a very small Orthodox community…
It happened slowly. First I was cutting my black hair into short punk-esque styles and rocking out at secular concerts. Then I was wearing more revealing clothing when costumes were the theme of the day. Every so often I would post short clips of me belting songs at karaoke or drinking with friends. It felt…
A woman in Michigan came home last week to find a swastika painted on her door. Instead of despairing, she decided to fight back – with love and magic lifted from the pages of a beloved Harry Potter book. Last week, Erin Zettle posted a public message on Facebook describing the hateful attack. “There was…
On November 9, we woke up in a Red State. Could it really be? Before school I broke the news to my 12-year-old daughter, who was completely distraught. “If anyone gives you a hard time,” I offered, “let your teachers know.” “What if my teachers voted for Trump?” she asked, in tears as I ushered…
Our new President Donald Trump promised America that coal would make a comeback and that coal mining jobs would come back. Like many promises he has made, this one is not going to happen. To understand why, you have to understand a little about coal. Coal comes from vegetation that decomposed in swampy land about…
I am part of a group that gathers at a local Starbucks in North Carolina most mornings. I am 1 of 4 of the most regular. We are a diverse group. 3 are transplants from the New York metro area, and 1 is a local. 2 of us voted for Donald Trump, 2 for Hillary…
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