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.
The American Wealth Care Act By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−The Congressional Budget Office projects that 14,000,000 people currently covered under Obamacare will lose their health care under the American Health Care Act by 2018. Given the priorities of Paul Ryan and his House colleagues who crafted the bill, this is a good thing. After all, […]
Humoring the headlines: March 13, 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USATrump’s Ten Commandments By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO− I am the President who liberated you from Obama and brought you out of the house of losing. * You shall neither worship the President before me nor like the new host of the “Apprentice.” * You shall not take my name in vain because I am
Humoring the headlines: March 8, 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO-What’s the difference between the Oscars and Donald Trump? Although both love publicity and self-praise, the Oscars can admit when it made a mistake. * After Faye Dunaway erroneously
Humoring the headlines: February 28, 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−It’s always risky to prognosticate the winners of the Academy Awards. While the nominees usually exemplify excellent filmmaking, which ones will garner the gold statuettes often reflect contemporary politics, personality issues, and studio lobbying. My predictions are based more on monitoring entertainment and trade publications than on my own tastes. BEST
The Wandering Review: Oscar Predictions 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USABy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−President Trump toured the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. He wondered why there wasn’t any exhibit honoring the generosity of the European whites who provided free trans-Atlantic cruises for Africans immigrating to the United States and asked the docent to arrange a meeting with the Black Congressional Caucus. *
Humoring the headlines: February 23, 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireReading Trump’s Mind By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−Although many in the “dishonest” media have been appalled by recent remarks made by President Trump, he actually has been trying to restrain himself. Fortunately, a transcript of his mind was leaked to me by an intelligence agency which has a device that can penetrate the densest of
Humoring the headlines: February 18, 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−While Michael Flynn frantically tried to destroy his DVD of From Russia with Love, the San Diego Jewish Film Festival is entertaining audiences day and night at a variety of venues in the city through February 19th. I had the honor to introduce The Last Laugh, a documentary about comedians and
Theme Song for ‘The Last Laugh’ Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−In a perfect world: Kellyanne Conway, Sean Spicer, and President Trump would be wired to a polygraph whenever they made public statements. * Ruth Bader Ginsburg would be immortal. * Israel wouldn’t legitimize many formerly illegal settlements the day after it disbands one. * Three Republican senators would have voted against
Humoring the headlines: February 13, 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USABy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−After denouncing a prior agreement to accept a group of refugees currently interned in Australia, President Trump signed an executive order for the deportation of all kangaroos in American zoos whom he suspects are harboring weapons in their pouches. * The House of Representatives voted to repeal a ban on the
Humoring the headlines: February 4, 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USAThe Wandering Review By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Since the film awards season is upon us, it is time to announce a list of the films that impressed me the most during 2016. I always caution my readers that I have all of the Jewish-themed documentary and feature film released last year, including many that
Top 10 Jewish Movies of 2016 Read More »
International, Jewish History, Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−Since the dishonest media never anticipated a Trump victory, the TV networks are developing programs relevant to the new reality in the United States. * The Voting Dead: Illegal aliens animate the bodies of dead people to eat the brains of real citizens so they will vote for a brainless president.
Humoring the headlines: January 28, 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USABLaurie Baron SAN DIEGO-Press Secretary Sean Spicer lashed out at the press for underestimating the size of the crowd that attended Trump’s inauguration. After numerous newspapers used aerial photos to prove that fewer people attended Trump’s inauguration than Obama’s first inauguration, Kellyanne Conway contended that Spicer was merely presenting “alternative facts.” Alternative facts are to
Humoring the Headlines: January 24. 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireThe Ignomination By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−An inauguration turns into an ignomination when: The new president is more corrupt than the opponent he derided as crooked. The new president can’t resist telling his predecessor that he’s fired. The new president strings together his “best” tweets rather than writing an inauguration speech. The new president offers
Humoring the headlines: January 18, 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USABy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−Outraged about the allegations about compromising information the Russians may have on him, Donald Trump vehemently denied the unsubstantiated charge that Russia has a video of him watching prostitutes urinate on his hotel bed in Moscow by reminding reporters that he is a germaphobe. What seems verifiable, however, is that he
Humoring the headlines: January 13, 2017 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire