About Monica Osborne
Return of the Jewish Nose: Yasmina Khadra’s “The Attack”
Unless you are a fan of Tex-Mex, truck with balls, scorching heat, and museums commemorating George W. Bush, there are very few reasons to spend the summer in southeast Texas. But I happen to be here visiting someone, and so … Read More
Which Sex Toy Would Jesus Choose?
According to NPR, one Christian woman went looking for a way to add a little spark to her waning marriage “without compromising her Christian beliefs.” The result was the creation of this website, which sells all sorts of sex toys … Read More
This is Feminism?
According to an article over at the Forward, Ms Magazine has refused to run an advertisement (pictured below) that features images of Israel’s top female political leaders, and the American Jewish Congress is pissed off about this. The ad was … Read More
A Blasphemous Bit of Theatre
This semester I taught a college-level Bible as Literature class, and it has been quite the ride, to say the least. Out of 30 students, I would say that at least 25 of them come from conservative Christian backgrounds, which … Read More
The Two Norman Finkelsteins: Poet and Provocateur
I always knew there were two Norman Finkelsteins. But I was not quite positive about which was which until last week, when this Norman Finkelstein came to Purdue University to give a talk and to read some of his poetry. Yes, … Read More
SS Soldiers Have Feelings Too!
I have always been a fan of Hannah Arendt. I have not always, however, been a fan of the "banality of evil" argument. I get it–we are all capable of evil. I agree with that. But when applied to the … Read More
Minority Report: Sans Jews
I recently returned “home” to Indiana from spending the summer at Cornell’s School of Criticism and Theory. Basically, SCT is like the ultimate nerd camp, where young intellectuals (mostly professors and advanced PhD students) attend seminars and lectures—on literary theory, … Read More
Of Masks and Men
A friend just emailed me the following excerpt from a New York Times piece called "Behind the Masks" by Thomas L. Friedman: Why were both the Hamas and Fatah fighters wearing ski masks? (And where do you buy a ski … Read More
Why Boycotts Are the Devil: Martha Nussbaum Tells it Like it Is
In an essay in this summer's Dissent (published online in advance of the print version), superstar American philosopher Martha Nussbaum speaks out against Britain's 120,000-strong University and College Union vote yesterday to endorse a motion to boycott Israeli universities. Though local branches … Read More
Imagining Jewishness
In his review of Michael Chabon's new novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union and Nathan Englander's The Ministry of Special Cases, William Deresiewicz says of the state of American Judaism: My own experience tells me that American Judaism has long been beset by a deep … Read More