Lawrence Baron

Laurie Baron

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.

Parent of 3 SDJA students tests positive for coronavirus

A parent of three San Diego Jewish Academy students has tested positive for coronavirus, according to Chaim Heller, the retiring head of the school.  In a letter to other parents sent on Saturday (Shabbat) , he wrote, “The parent was at school during the past week.  Their children, who are in grades, 1, 3, and 6, were in many rooms, including the Ulam (Auditorium), many times during the past week as well.  They were with their friends acting in a regular, non-distance manner during that time.  Effectively, they could have been with anyone from the school, from ECC [Early Childhood Center] to high school.” [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jerry Klinger, Jewish Religion, Lawrence Baron, Science, Medicine, & Education, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

The unexpurgated Oval Office address

It was obvious by the detached and halting delivery of President Trump’s Oval Office speech that it was composed by someone else and read off the teleprompter.  Since I am close friends with the Oval Office custodian, I obtained the draft that Trump wrote, but reluctantly tossed in the trash can.  Here is the short version of it. [Satire by Lawrence Baron, Ph.D]

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

The Dogacratic dog fight

2020 is the year American canines elect a top dog.  The preliminary matches are dog fights.  Normally, the competitors aren’t so aggressive, but the humans who stage these contests prefer that they bite, growl, and scratch each other.  After all, it improves the television ratings.   St. Bernard, Amy Komodor, Elizabeth Westie, Tom Skye Terrier, Pete Boxerdoodle, Joe Bichon, and Miniature Mike are battling in the pit.  Since Elizabeth Westie goes for Mike’s jugular, the human commentators dismiss her as a bitch, but she doesn’t want anyone to forget that Mike ordered dogcatchers to pick up any mutt who seemed dangerous and joked about spaying pregnant females.  Many dogs will never forgive him for that. [Satire from Elona Baron as told to Laurie Baron} 

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

A song for the Supremes

Stop in the name of law                                                                                                                                
Before you crown him king!
Stop in the name of law
Before you crown him king!
Overrule him. 
Overrule him. 
[Satire by Laurie Baron, Ph.D]

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Pardons and partisanship

  During the 2016 campaign, President Trump declared: “We must maintain law and order at the highest level or we will cease to have a country, 100 percent. I am the law and order candidate.”  His record of commutations and pardons suggests the enforcement of law and order is selective and only applies to poor common criminals and not white (white) collar criminals, particularly if they are cronies of the President.  [Satire by Laurie Baron]

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Siba top dog by human, not canine, standards

While New Hampshire was voting in the presidential primary held this past Tuesday, the judges for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show were selecting the winner of the Best in Show Award.   They chose a standard poodle named Siba.  Now I have nothing against poodles per se.  Indeed, they are highly intelligent, but in dog shows, superficial beauty is valued more than smartness.  That is why Siba received  the Westminster pewter trophy and hand-engraved Steuben crystal bowl as her rewards.  By the way, I find it obvious that these prizes are intended for Siba’s owners and not Siba whom I’m sure would prefer a year’s supply of filet mignon fed to her in the bowl and trophy which I surmise will end up in some display case. [Elona Baron as told the Laurie Baron]

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Lawrence Baron, The World We Share, Trivia, Humor & Satire

A Stone Barrage over sentence recommendation

The New York City Bar Association has asked the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to investigate Attorney General William Barr’s intervention on behalf of Roger Stone fearing that it “threatens public confidence in the fair and impartial administration of justice.”  The charges barraging Barr might lead the Association to disbar Barr.  That would bar Barr from practicing law. [Satire by Lawrence Baron, Ph.D]

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Donald Trump unbound

Though she disapproved of Trump’s tactics in Ukraine, Susan Collins justified her vote against convicting Trump because “”she hoped that the president would’ve learned from the fact that he was impeached by the House.”  To celebrate his acquittal, she threw rice as he entered the East Room.  He quickly launched into his diatribe against his enemies because it turned out it was Minute Rice. [Satire by Laurie Baron]

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Oscar Predictions for 2020

Think of my predictions as the Oscar version of Real Clear Politics. I compile the predictions made in key Hollywood trade publications to determine the likely winners.  These reflect what insiders know about voting trends among members of the Academy.  I list the favorite and the second most likely if the favorite loses.  Since I have been doing this, my predictions have been right 90 % of the time.  [Laurie Baron, Ph.D]

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Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Kirk Douglas: Star of David and Hollywood

Like many Jews of his generation, he had changed his name to avoid revealing that he was born Issur Danielovitch, the son of poor Jewish immigrants who lived in Amsterdam, New York. Even before that, he adopted the Americanized surname of his uncle Avram Demsky and preferred Isadore over Issur. {Lawrence Baron, Ph.D]

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Lawrence Baron, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials

The untrial of Donald Trump

Some traitorous do-nothing Democrat made a false accusation against Donald T.  for he learned one day he was being impeached even though in his mind he had acted perfectly to get himself reelected.  Every morning his chef brought him a bucket of fried chicken for breakfast, but on this morning, a woman named Nancy sent him a kale salad with a note that ominously read: “Eat something healthy.  You’re going to need it.”  Within weeks his lawyers found themselves colluding with a turtle-faced man to shield T. from the calumnies a mixed-race prosecution team would level at him.  This reinforced T’s conviction that people who aren’t white are incapable to administering justice and need to be denied a voice in the government. [Satire by Laurie Baron]

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Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Some misgivings about Super & Puppy Bowls

I avoid watching the Super Bowl where giant men butt heads and push each other down inevitably injuring each other.  Frankly, I don’t understand the game.  When the quarterback passes the ball to a member of his team, the receiver runs in the opposite direction from the quarterback violating all my training to retrieve balls.  I’ve heard the ball is made of pigskin which offends my Jewish owners and ignores how wonderful rabbit fur feels in between my teeth.  [Humor by Elona Baron as told to Laurie Baron]

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Lawrence Baron, The World We Share, Trivia, Humor & Satire