I published Celtic Punk Superfan earlier this year, and I compiled There Once Was a Limerick Anthology, which will be published by Dover Publications in August. Do my two books share an Irish commonality? Are limericks named after Limerick, the third-largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and/or the county of the same name? The link is tenuous, but it’s worth considering. In The Curious Story of the Limerick, Matthew Potter explains, “Limerick is the only place in Ireland to…
Limericks about 2016 Republican Presidential Candidates
Posted on May 28, 2022In January and February 2016, I wrote limericks about nine Republican presidential candidates. It wasn’t hard to find absurdity—or villainy—among the subjects. I sent the original versions to my limerick pen pal, Eric, who was born in Arkansas and with whom I attended college in Pennsylvania. I recited the poems at two open mic events in Queens, New York: at the Queens Public Library in Forest Hills in July 2017 and at a Purim party at Q.E.D. in Astoria in…
Health Limericks
Posted on May 22, 2022Around 2015, I saw playwright and storyteller Lisa Huberman‘s The Prodigal Vegan—one of several incarnations of the show I’ve attended through the years. A highlight was when Lisa presented Health Limericks, a limerick book that her late grandfather Max Huberman published in 1964; he was ahead of his time! I appreciated how the limericks related to Lisa’s overall story and depiction of her family in The Prodigal Vegan. When my interest in limericks was nascent, I was awestruck by how…
My Limerick Pen Pal and His Limericks about Me
Posted on May 10, 2022I compiled There Once Was a Limerick Anthology, which will be published by Dover Publications in August, and I largely have my longtime friend and emailing pen pal, Eric Jonas, to thank for fostering my interest in limericks. Readers may recall that my last poetry book, Air to the Throne: A Poetry Chapbook about Air Guitar, also stemmed from my emailing with Eric. I began sending poems to Eric during my subway commute in 2014, and limericks were his favorites.…
Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Purim!
Posted on March 17, 2022Today is both St. Patrick’s Day and Purim. Irish people (including folks who are only Irish one day a year) and Jews are united in partying, drinking, and making merry! Technically, last night was the beginning of Purim and the primary occasion for events, but they still overlap. My new book, Celtic Punk Superfan, includes a piece where I explore whether there might be a link between the two holidays, as part of a larger context looking at Jewish-Irish connections.…
Foreword by Al Barr of the Dropkick Murphys
Posted on March 14, 2022Happy St. Patrick’s Week! The Dropkick Murphys come up a lot in my new book, Celtic Punk Superfan, but here’s a story that didn’t make the cut. At my last job, I was an editor for books about music. I worked on My Riot, the 2017 memoir by Roger Miret of the legendary hardcore band Agnostic Front, which included a foreword by Dropkick Murphys singer Al Barr. As a longtime Dropkick Murphys fan, I was glad to edit Barr’s piece.…
Flogging Molly & NOFX: The Only 2 Bands Mentioned in All 4 of My Books
Posted on January 15, 2022I’ve published four books since 2016: Oy Oy Oy Gevalt! Jews and Punk, Punk Rock Hora: Adventures in Jew-Punk Land, Air to the Throne: A Poetry Chapbook about Air Guitar, and, just this week, Celtic Punk Superfan: Recaps & Reflections Chapbook, 2002–22. While plenty of bands come up in three of the four, only two artists appear in all of the books: Flogging Molly and NOFX. Flogging Molly Flogging Molly are one of the primary subjects of Celtic Punk Superfan.…
Jewish Blessing of the Animals Ceremonies on the Rise
Posted on November 21, 2021When I wrote a feature about Jewish blessing of the animals ceremonies in 2009 and attended my first such event in 2010, they were not widespread. I documented 21 synagogues or other Jewish groups that had hosted at least one. At least 10 events took place around Shabbat Noach in the fall, when the Torah portion of Noah is read, although other times of the year were also chosen. The ceremonies have become more common. Last October, Shamayim: Jewish Animal…
Roundup: My Jewish Holiday Writing
Posted on September 10, 2021Over the last year and a half, I’ve gone back and looked at my writing about Jewish holidays since 2005. I considered anthologizing it in a book or zine but settled on an online series instead. I’ve recapped my past articles and blog posts, which were penned mainly from the perspectives of veganism/animal protection and Jewish punk. Not every post has the same format, but they pull together my past writing about each holiday. Here is a roundup of my…
Roundup: Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur
Posted on September 4, 2021
I’ve written about the High Holidays a lot since 2005! There’s too much material to do a comprehensive post, so here are some highlights. Veganism and Animal Protection All of the following blog posts about veganism and animal protection are from heebnvegan, the Jewish/vegan blog that I ran between 2005 and 2010. I wrote related High Holidays articles for other websites, but they haven’t survived the changing tides of the internet. I blogged about Rosh Hashanah meals. I organized a…