Not the Israel His Parents Promised
Jeff holds his loved ones to a higher standard. I was never Harvey Pekar’s biggest fan. He hovered over life’s unremarkable moments in a way that I found well, thoroughly unremarkable. There is a...
View ArticleBettola: The Inferno or Paradiso of Italian cuisine?
At first, Jeff found it hard to tell. The handsome eatery beckons, promising cool shelter from New York’s harsh summer sun. I sit amid hushed russet lamps and darkly polished tables while a brick oven...
View ArticleDickens or Darwin? They both start with Charles.
Sometimes Jeff writes poetry. Here is one of his poems. Tips Did you know my dear that the reverse of tips is spit? Really? So grit, grit, grit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For readers who find the essay...
View ArticleA SmartSign Plug
Something I wrote, but not for Jeff… If you like it, stay tuned; I should have a new one up every Thursday. Not to worry, I won’t be adding the future links to this blog, so this is my first and last...
View ArticleResponse to the Hillel Problem
Is it just Jeff or does The Crimson’s logo look a lot like The Economist’s? On October 11, 2012, The Harvard Crimson carried an anti-Orthodox polemic entitled The Hillel Problem. The article, written...
View ArticleSo, You Think You Need Extended Time?
Sometimes, when he doesn’t do as well as he should have, Jeff wonders whether he has a learning disability. The Diagnosis I was diagnosed with a learning disability in kindergarten. It was the...
View ArticleHappy New Year Jeff!
JEFF prepared a 2012 annual report for his blog. Here’s an excerpt: 600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,600 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of...
View ArticleA Paean to Proust
For me, Marcel Proust’s prose often outshined the objects they depicted. In Swann’s Way, a book I picked up shortly after graduating from college, flowers are likened time and again to stars....
View ArticleWagner’s Anti-Semitism and Me: Struggling with an Artist’s Troubling Legacy
Living at home sucks. There’s just no getting around it. It’s the little things that get to you. Like when you bring home a six-pack of Weihenstephaner—yeah, it’s imported—and the first thing your dad...
View ArticleWhy No One Should Have to Change Their Name
Jeff wonders: is there a word for feminism, but for men? Is there even room for such a word? Jill Filipovic’s recent piece, “Why should married women change their names?” is thoughtful and well...
View ArticleWhy I read the news — and you should too.
Jeff can’t be bothered. I graduated from college at a time of great political and economic uncertainty. Two wars, congressional gridlock, and a global financial crisis had all taken their toll. For the...
View ArticleThe Reasons Behind the Rockets: Why Yossi Klein Halevi is Wrong about Hamas
An Iron Dome launcher fires an interceptor rocket in Ashdod July 9, 2014. Photo by Reuters Jeff has a PSA: he will not be co-opted by some dubious Limey health-kick. The thousands of rockets that...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....