Books, Poetry & Short Stories

Comic-Con: Yes, wild and crazy, but educational too

  By Marsha Sutton Originally published in the Del Mar Times SAN DIEGO — Behind the craziness of Comic-Con is a hidden world of education panels that offers tips and insights into trends in teaching tools, strategies for improved classroom learning, and support for victims of bullying. The panel titled “Capturing the Imagination of Middle-Grade Readers” […]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

Venice welcomes back Shylock in marking its Jewish history

Last week, an international, multilingual cast performed Shakespeare’s controversial play, “The Merchant of Venice,” in the secluded main plaza of the city’s historic Jewish Ghetto. It was the first time the play was performed in the iconic location. Enclosed by tall tenements and the arched windows of 16 th-century synagogues, audiences — US Supreme Court

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History

If some of the great art masters painted Jewish scenes

Converted Masters: World Famous Masterpieces with a Jewish Twist Artwork by Esty Frankel-Fersel and edited by Barbara Bensoussan. Menorah Books Ltd., West Hills, CA, ©2016, ISBN 978-1-940516-45-5, p. 150, plus artists credits, $44.95   By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California –  What would happen if we took some of the world’s greatest Christian artists, gave them

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Winners of Jewish Culture Prize for literature announced

Minister of Education Naftali Bennet announced on Sunday this year’s winners of the Education Minister’s Prize for Jewish Culture in the field of literature: Haim Sabato and Sarah Friedland. The committee responsible for electing the winners wrote of Sabato: “His work […] reveals the world of the Sephardic traditions of Torah – in which sharpness

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion, Middle East

Amid fraught election rhetoric, Smithsonian to open first major Quran exhibition

The sacred work of Islam and the signature museum of Washington, DC will combine for an unprecedented exhibit this fall. “The Art of the Quran,” the first major exhibition of Qurans in the US, will open at the Smithsonian Institution on October 15, less than a month before the presidential election that will close a

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East, Travel and Food, USA

Human- interest writer plumbs real lives of athletes

The Game Isn’t Everything: The reality beyond the arena by Bruce Lowitt; Barstad Communications; © 2015; ISBN 978153-4981126;  285 pages, $14.95. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Bruce Lowitt is an all-around sportswriter who covered the big NFL games for the Associated Press, and, later in his career, regaled readers with stories about sports

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Bruce F. Lowitt, Donald H. Harrison, Sports & Competitions

A critic of critics, Cynthia Ozick’s latest novella is biting, ironic – a rare satire that rings with the sound of truth

Cynthia Ozick lived through some of the best years of the New York intellectuals, and now regrets the waning of their influence. Writing for no money in tiny magazines like the Partisan Review, they commanded attention around the world. Ozick was a member of that community, or at least close enough to feel its power.

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories

Two novels about Jews in England

 By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson DOMEYROT, France — A book entitled A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss (published by Ballantine Books, New York, 2000) recently came into my hands by chance. The main subject – intrigues, violence and even murder in connection with trading on the stock exchange in early eighteenth-century England – is not one that would

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

‘Karolina’s Twins’ is three stories in one

Karolina’s Twins by Ronald H. Balson; St. Martin’s Press; © 2016; ISBN 9781250-098375; 308 pages; $25.99 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – This novel intertwines a Holocaust survival tale with the combination of a detective mystery and a court room drama.  Three stories in one. Lena Woodward, 89, engages attorney Catherine Lockhart and her

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison

Debut illustrator thrills as book sells at Comic-Con

Story by Donald H. Harrison; Photo by Shor M. Masori SAN DIEGO – In the guise of an anonymous sales lady tending a display of books at Comic-Con, Sara Ann Varon watched as people laughed while they thumbed through copies of Bacon and Sausage. Varon was the illustrator of the children’s book written by Gabriel Smith. 

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Shor M. Masori

Deaf author at Comic-Con tells of break- through book

El Deafo by Cece Bell, color by David Lasky; Amulet Books; © 2014; ISBN 978141-9712173; 233 pages plus a note from the author;  price not listed. Story by Donald H. Harrison; Photos by Shor M. Masori SAN DIEGO — Written for elementary and middle school audiences, El Deafo tells the story of author Cece Bell

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Science, Medicine, & Education, Shor M. Masori