Until last month I didn’t know you existed. I didn’t think there were Jews in Ukraine. Well, maybe a few. Old, visibly Orthodox, living a 21st century version of the lives my grandparents left over 100 years ago. That changed the day Russia invaded, when I...
My grandfather began selling toys to local stores right around the time Mattel hit its stride. I don’t know who he knew, but he knew someone. I got to demonstrate Chatty Cathy at the International Toy Show in New York – she’s the doll who spoke when...
I started my career in film production when there were almost no women on the set. The few I met were great but that’s another story. One night, soon after I’d broken in, I was with the crew in a bar after the shoot. Out of nowhere, the sound man put his...
As I watched the fear generated by the attacks in Paris morph into fear of Syrian refugees in America, I was curious to know more about Americans’ reactions to immigration over the years. When did it begin? At what point were there so many new arrivals that the...
As we sat outside the Oakley Community Center, the first decision was whether or not to use our real names. My two companions leaned toward ‘no’ but I was a firm ‘yes.’ It wasn’t a moral decision. I was pretty sure I’d see a...
