Cosmic Wonder, Human Opportunity

THE NEW UNIVERSE AND THE HUMAN FUTURE: HOW A SHARED COSMOLOGY COULD TRANSFORM THE WORLD by Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. Primack, Yale Press, 2011.

Personas, Personalities, and Hybrids on the Screen

A look at some adventurous films that acknowledge the gap between art and actuality, and try to bridge it by allowing real people with authentic emotions and experiences into their stories. A review of TINY FURNITURE, IFC Films, 2010; PUTTY HILL, Cinema Guild, 2010; and ON THE BOWERY, Milestone Film and Video, 1957.

Curative Songs

Like Kafka’s parables and the enigmatic, humane tales of Rabbi Nachman, Rodger Kamenetz’s Burnt Books has an economical generosity that is thoroughly secular, deeply religious, and seriously joking.

The Imperial War for Drugs

AMERICAN WAR MACHINE: DEEP POLITICS, THE CIA, GLOBAL DRUG CONNECTION, AND THE ROAD TO AFGHANISTAN by Peter Dale Scott, Rowman & Littlefield, 2010

Heaven’s Snake

“Is the cornsnake Jewish?” This was a tough question to answer. I was visiting with the first-grade class taught by my then-girlfriend, who had introduced me to her students as “Farmer Josh” — and then thrust a large-ish cornsnake into my less-than-willing hands.

Art Gallery

Our online gallery has already hosted forty-five exhibits from a remarkable range of artists, from prehistoric to postmodern, photography to drawing, graffiti to fine painting. Every exhibit is accompanied by a feature article inspired by an interview with the artist. Check out this provocative, innovative, moving, and beautiful art!