WORD OF MOUTH: Mid-Winter

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Posted on January 29, 2024 by Valerie Block

NONFICTION: DOPPELGANGER: A Trip into the Mirror World — Naomi Klein

YES! A Handy Manual for Republicans Commenting on Mass Shootings — Jamie Raskin

TV: Schmigadoon! Season 2 — Ken Daurio, Cinco Paul

TV: The Brothers Sun —Brad Falchuk, Amy Wang, Brian Wu

MOVIE: The Woman King — Gina Prince-Bythewood

PODCAST: “Chaos Theory Explains It.” Brian Klaas, author of Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters, on the Brian Lehrer Show.

SPIRITUAL REWIRING: Train Yourself to Always Show Up — Rabbi Sharon Brous

IDEA: “The spread of lies and conspiracies online is now so rampant that it threatens public health and, quite possibly, the survival of representative democracy. The solution to this informational crisis, however, is not to look to tech oligarchs to disappear people we don’t like; it’s to get serious about demanding an information commons that can be counted upon as a basic civic right.” — Naomi Klein

IDEA: “It’s time to pass the universal background check and restore the expired ban on military-style assault rifles, which was constitutional and effective. Weapons of war are unnecessary for hunting, recreation or self-defense in the home, which are the purposes of individual gun ownership outside of military service protected by the Second Amendment.” — Jamie Raskin

Making real the promises of democracy

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Posted on January 16, 2023 by Valerie Block

Sixty years after the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the nation still needs to be reminded of what Martin Luther King, Jr. called “the fierce urgency of now.” My husband, the brilliant and thoughtful Alexis Romay, recently had the honor of translating Dr. King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech into Spanish. The book has a forward by National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, also translated by Alexis.

Tonight, Monday, January 16 (at 7PM), on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Alexis will be reading and reflecting on the experience of translating this important work at Watchung Booksellers, in Montclair, NJ. The event will be in Spanish. You can register here.