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 MARGATE, New Jersey‒Things Donald Trump Hasn’t Said Yet But Will Soon “Really, these black teens, whose parents all love me, are out of control. The criminal ones deserve to get shot by the police or roughed up at my campaign rallies. They even disrupted shopping in downtown Chicago the day after Thanksgiving. […]
Humoring the headlines: Nov. 29, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron MARGATE, New Jersey — Foreign observers have been surprised by the ferocity of the French government’s response to the terrorist attack on Paris. ISIS should have anticipated this is what would happen if it threatened the French while they were eating and drinking at cafes, attending concerts, or watching soccer. After all,
Humoring the headlines: Nov. 21, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Middle EastBy Laurie Baron MARGATE, New Jersey‒ Right-wing groups are furious over Starbucks red and green holiday cup because it lacks any Christmas symbols. For them, it is just another sign of the war on Christmas. The outcry would have been much worse if Starbucks went ahead with its original plan to make the cups blue
Humoring the Headlines: November 13, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron MARGATE, New Jersey‒Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama are having their first meeting today since the passage of the US-Iranian Nuclear Deal. The venue has been changed from the White House to a nearby boxing ring. As a gesture of reconciliation, Netanyahu demanded his new media spokesman Ron Baratz retract his derogatory statements
Humoring the headlines: November 9, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireSAN DIEGO (SDJW) – San Diego Jewish World acknowledges and thanks those writers whose works appeared on our daily news website during the month of October. They were: Yael Aires Laurie Baron Dan Bloom Shoshana Bryen Morris Casuto Ben Cohen Richard L. Cravatts Toby Klein Greenwald Donald H. Harrison Natasha Josefowitz Rabbi Ben Kamin Steve
SDJW thanks its October 2015 writers Read More »
Barry Shaw, Donald H. Harrison, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Eileen Wingard, Eva Trieger, Fred Reiss, EdD, Ira Sharkansky, Lawrence Baron, Mark D. Zimmerman, Melanie Rubin, Michael Ordman, San Diego County, Shoshana Bryen, Steve KramerBy Laurie Baron MARGATE, New Jersey‒The Republican presidential candidates will meet this weekend to reform the formats and rules of the remaining presidential debates. Based on leaked memos from insiders in their campaigns, here are proposals the six leading candidates will submit: * Donald Trump: “Switch the program into a reality television show called “The
Humoring the Headlines: October 31, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron MARGATE, New Jersey‒ The Palestinian Authority has dropped its request to UNESCO to designate the Western Wall as a Muslim Holy site. This followed a request by Israel to declare Medina a Jewish holy site because Mohammed executed the Jews of the Banu Qurayza there after the Battle of the Trench. *
Humoring the Headlines: October 25, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron MARGATE, New Jersey ‒ At this week’s Democratic presidential debate, a podium was set up just in case Joe Biden decided to become a candidate in the primary elections. To make it less obvious that the Vice President was a no-show, the podium was put next to the chair Clint Eastwood talked to
Humoring the Headlines: October 16, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron MARGATE, New Jersey‒ Rupert Murdoch stirred up controversy when he tweeted that he wished Ben Carson’s candidacy well because he would be a “real black president.” He clarified his remarks by stating that he meant to say a “real American Christian black president.” * Ben Carson claimed that the Holocaust would never have
Humoring the headlines: October 12, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
By Laurie Baron MARGATE, New Jersey–Pope Francis is trying to do damage control over his embarrassing meeting with Kim Davis. Just late week he cancelled his audience with Edward Snowden and El Chapo. * An anonymous staffer for Chris Christie revealed that the Governor was delighted that New Jersey was threatened by Hurricane Joaquin because
Humoring the Headlines: October 5, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
SAN DIEGO (SDJW) – During the month of August, San Diego Jewish World was privileged to publish works by the following writers and photographers. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you and to publicly express our appreciation. To access works by these contributors on San Diego Jewish World, type or copy their name into the
SDJW salutes its September 2015 writers Read More »
Barry Shaw, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Eileen Wingard, Eric George Tauber, Fred Reiss, EdD, Lawrence Baron, Lloyd Levy, Mark D. Zimmerman, Melanie Rubin, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Michael Ordman, Mimi Pollack, Natasha Josefowitz, Sheryl Rowling, Shoshana Bryen, Steve KramerBy Laurie Baron MARGATE, New Jersey‒ After his absence from television for fabricating stories about his role in the news he was reporting, Brian Williams covered the Pope’s visit to the United States for MSNBC. He did well until he reminisced about how he and the Pope smoked pot during his audience with Francis. *
Humoring the headlines: September 29, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron MARGATE, New Jersey‒ House Republicans are fighting against the renewal of Michelle Obama’s guidelines for federally supported school lunch programs because they violate the American right to life, liberty, and gluttony and the 2nd amendment guarantee to bear arms and body fat. * Donald Trump failed to repudiate a supporter who contended
Humoring the headlines: September 21, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireThe Republican presidential debate By Laurie Baron MARGATE, New Jersey — CNN advertised the debate like it was a boxing match in which some of the candidates would be knocked senseless in the ensuing exchanges. It turned out that the views of many of the candidates on abortion, childhood inoculations, gay marriage, the minimum wage,
Humoring the Headlines: September 17, 2015 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire