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 (Tune: My Country ‘tis of Thee) My country is shut down Congress has let us down. And we must plead. Land of enormous size, It needs a compromise. Support from Boehner’s side That’s how to lead. Here’s my analysis Of our paralysis. Let the House vote. To fund the government, On debts […]
Humoring the Headlines: October 15, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — After seeing the latest polls on the percentage of Americans who disapprove of the Republican strategy of linking the approval of a budget to the defunding of Obama Care, Confucius say, “Those who heed the advice of the junior senator from Texas will find themselves in a Ted end.”
Humoring the headlines: October 12, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — After several days of the government shutdown, Bain Capital has offered to buy the Federal government, downsize and reorganize it, and outsource most of its services. Bears in the National Parks have petitioned Congress to reopen the parks. It reads: “You humans are beastly and unbearable. Please restore
Humoring the Headlines: October 4, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron Guido Barilla, the owner of the largest pasta company in the world, asserted that he would never feature a gay family in his firm’s commercials because he believes that only a woman and a man can form a family. Barilla also announced that he would halt production of large shells and manicotti
Humoring the headlines: September 30, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron The ghost of Dr. Seuss overheard Senator Ted Cruz’s denunciation and responded with the following text message. I do not like Ted Cruz’s scam. His entire speech was just like spam. When health care is in a jam, His filibuster was a sham. Playing loose and playing fast To defund a law
Humoring the headlines: September 27, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — As the Republican Party tries to broaden its appeal, it has developed more factions: The Defundamentalists: Republicans who oppose any bill that does not defund Obama Care. The limmigrationists: Republicans who oppose any bill that creates a pathway to citizenship. Deficit Attentionists: Republicans who oppose any bill that raises
Humoring the headlines: September 19, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — The San Diego State University school year opened with a blatant politicization of an Arabic class. An Arabic instructor handed out a map of the Middle East which omitted Israel and labeled it Palestine. After a protest by an Israel advocacy group, the instructor apologized and penciled in
Humoring the Headlines: September 15, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire
By Laurie Baron After his concession speech, Anthony Weiner was stalked by the woman he exchanged intimate photos with and by reporters. Losing his patience, he ended up giving onlookers the finger as his parting shot. Soon thereafter, Bob Filner phoned Weiner and advised him “to use his words” the next time. To protect second
Humoring the Headlines: September 12, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Bashar al-Assad has gained an unexpected ally in the debate over the American response to his use of Sarin gas. While expressing its sympathies for those killed or wounded in the attack, the NRA defended Assad’s Second Amendment right to own and employ weapons of mass destruction. In a
Humoring the Headlines: September 9, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — President Obama has asked for congressional authorization to conduct a limited military strike against Syria. He realizes that time is of the essence because the strike must be launched before the House Republicans shut down the government rather than increase the debt limit. Other members of the House
Humoring the headlines: September 6, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron The Attorney General of New York has filed a 40 million dollar lawsuit against Donald Trump University for promoting itself as a real university. An inquiry into the Pass/Fail grading system revealed that P stood for profit maker and F for fired. The Attorney General has questioned whether Gary Busey was qualified
Humoring the Headlines: August 30, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO– Russia has approached the United States about transferring Chelsea (Bradley) Manning to Russian custody. It urged the United States to drop the 35 year sentence against him for leaking classified documents in return for Russia imposing a hefty fine and jailing him for a year for promoting a transgender lifestyle.
Humoring the Headlines: August 27, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, USABy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Although I usually review films that deal with Jewish themes, I’m devoting this week’s column to The Butler (the director’s name was added to the title because Warner Brothers sued over copyright infringement of a silent movie entitled The Butler) because it has been the number one box-office
The Wandering Review: “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” Read More »
Lawrence BaronBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO– In a poll of likely Republican primary voters in Louisiana, 29 percent blamed President Obama for the poor federal response to Hurricane Katrina; whereas 28 % blamed Bush even though Bush was the president back in 2005 and Obama was only a senator. As Winston Churchill once said, “The best
Humoring the Headlines: August 22, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, USA