Lawrence (Laurie) Baron, now retired, served as the Nasatir Professor of Modern Jewish History at San Diego State University. He served from 1988 to 2006 as director of SDSU’s Lipinsky Institute for Judaic Studies. He was the founder in 1995 of the Western Jewish Studies Association.
He writes two satire columns for San Diego Jewish World: “Humoring the Headlines” under his byline, and “Hounding the Headlines,” under the byline of his dog Elona.
Books to his credit, available on Amazon, include:
Projecting the Holocaust into the Present: The Changing Focus of Contemporary Holocaust Cinema
The Modern Jewish Experience in World Cinema
The eclectic anarchism of Erich Muhsam (Men & movements in the history & philosophy of anarchism)
His most recent articles are:
“Making Room for the Jews: The House I Live In (1945),” AJS Perspectives, Summer 2023, 86-88.
“The Revolt of Job: Salvaging the Lost World of Rural Hungarian Hasidim,” Journal of Jewish Identities, 16:1-2 (January/July 2023), 181-198.
“Persistent Parallels, Resistant Particularities: Holocaust Analogies and Avoidance in Armenian Genocide Centennial Cinema, in Armenian and Jewish Experience between Expulsion and Destruction, ed. Sarah M. Ross and Regina Randhofer (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2021), 267-296.
“The Pioneering American Jewish Women Directors from Elaine May to Claudia Weill,” Jews and Gender (Studies in Jewish Civilization), ed. Leonard Greenspoon (W. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2021), 217-243.
By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO-Though he didn’t think it was an urgent matter, President Trump convened the first meeting of intelligence agency officials to discuss what steps could be taken to prevent foreign meddling in the upcoming mid-term elections. A knowledgeable source says that their policy recommendations and his differed sharply. * Recommendations from the […]
Humoring the headlines: July 29, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireDouble Negativity By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — President Trump claimed that he had misspoken when declaring in Helsinki that he saw no reason for believing Russia interfered in the 2016 American elections by attributing his error to leaving out the word not. “The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why I
Humoring the headlines: July 23, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireTrump-Putin Behind the Scenes By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−President Trump’s kept his IPhone in a suit pocket during his private meeting with President Putin and left it on for Sean Hannity to listen in. Before Fox News could broadcast it, I obtained an abridged transcript of the conversation between the two leaders: * Trump: Vlad,
Humoring the headlines: July 16, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireNew Words for the Trump Lexicon By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−When I get exasperated about the President and policies, I invent words. * Auldlangiety: Fear that the complexions of the citizenry aren’t as light as they used to be. * Dibromacy: Negotiating concessions only with authoritarian alpha males. * Dispencesation: When things get so bad
Humoring the headlines: July 11, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireAdieu, Scott Pruitt By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO-Back in April, I wrote this parody of Michael Jackson’s Beat It. While I don’t claim responsibility for Scott Pruitt’s resignation, there are rumors that Jared tipped him off there was a song about him in a Jewish publication. So here’s an encore version with a new ending.
Humoring the headlines: July 5, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USAA Civil Sarah Huckabee Sanders Dinner Do-Over By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−Given the criticism leveled at the Red Hen Restaurant for refusing to serve Sarah Huckabee Sanders, here’s a more civil way the waiter could have handled it. SRH: I have reservations under the name Huckabee Sanders. Can we be seated? W: I have reservations
Humoring the headlines: June 27, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireNero Toleranz By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−Rap Master Donnie Releases His New Hip-Hop Song, “Nero Toleranz” with beats provided by semi-automatic rifle shots and clanging fence doors. * They claim they’re coming for asylum. Kids in tow, we should revile them. Illegal entry, ICE can profile them. If they memorized phone numbers, don’t let them
Humoring the Headlines: June 21, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−Hollywood tackles political realities in this new batch of summer movies. * The Uncredibles 2: The sequel to the first uncredibles film which starred Sean Spicer and Anthony Scaramucci features the voices of Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Rudy Giuliani as the cartoonish masters of disinformation and dismissiveness. * The Avenger: Trade
Humoring the headlines: June 16, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireYou can’t hurry peace! By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−Following their historic summit, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump formed a singing group called the Supreme Leaders and recorded this following song based on the melody from “You Can’t Hurry Love.” * We need peace, peace, To raise our polls. And a semblance of progress To ward
Humoring the headlines: June 12, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−White House insiders report that Donald Trump is obsessed with the prospect of sending political messages to people indicted or investigated by Robert Mueller by granting pardons to them. Here’s his list of deceased and living candidates for pardons and his rationales for pardoning them. * Julius Rosenberg: “Wouldn’t it be
Humoring the headlines: June 7, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−ABC canceled Rosanne Barr’s show for degrading the network’s reputation by tweeting outrageous conspiracy theories and racist insults. Can the American people cancel Donald Trump’s term for degrading the presidency by doing the same thing? * A week ago President Trump abruptly called off his summit with Kim Jong-un to
Humoring the headlines: June 2, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−President Donald Trump cancelled his upcoming summit with North Korea in reaction to the “tremendous anger and open hostility” it displayed in a recent statement. Of course, President Trump has never done this in his tweets or public pronouncements. Within an hour, Trump was nominated for a Nobel Cease Prize. * Could
Humoring the headlines: May 24, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireLamenting the Headlines: If I Were a Gazan (Melody: If I Were a Rich Man) By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — If I were a Gazan Daidle deedle daidle Daidle daidle deedle daidle dumb I’d charge the fence while under gunfire. I don’t need Hamas to enflame my ire. My circumstances are extremely dire. Why
Humoring the headlines: May 18, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireThe Haspel According to John (McCain) By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−Gina Haspel’s evasive answers to questions about whether enhanced interrogation techniques are illegal or immoral tortured my memories. * Gina Haspel ran a Black Site in Thailand, what you might call a Scare B & B, Bondage and Boarding. Having stayed at the Hanoi Hilton,
Humoring the headlines: May 11, 2018 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire