World Theatre Day, 2021

 God, how I miss it...

The Fo(u)r MORE Questions!

This weekend is Passover, 2021. Remember how last year we all said "Next Year in Person" and we were so certain that that precise joy would be our reality? 

Not so for many of us. COVID19 still rages on, millions across our aching planet are dead (many, so needlessly due to mismanagement, denial, and the preposterousness of politics), and many have a tragic (and tardy) new understanding of the systemic racism and inequality that pervades every part of society. Plague and oppression? Several plagues and the evils of slavery? Well it sounds like Passover and all the themes the Book of Exodus offers us, cannot come soon enough to help us to confront, to celebrate, and to heal.

One of the great gifts of this tumultuous year has been the gift of learning that activism, and the fighting of evils, comes in many forms. Well, this year I have learned over and over again that my most authentic weapon against darkness... is light. 

The story of Exodus is about the enslavement and oppression of the Jewish people, but it has served as a metaphor for oppressed people everywhere for countless generations. The year we have spent with the coronavirus has revealed many excruciating oppressions that remain today. The ones that shall always be the most immediate for my existence and safety is the fight against Anti-Semitism, and sometimes, fighting Anti-Semitism is not just about declaring violence and hatred to be evil and wrong, it is equally crucial to be PRO-Semitic, to shed light upon the beauty of the things all kinds of Jews across the planet hold dear, and to do so with passions, joy and the enthusiasm of my whole soul.

And so? I want to offer you all a little Passover gift, from my seder table to yours.

Here is a download of fourteen questions for your Passover dinner table! Passover is all about questions, so I wanted to offer something beautiful and meaningful to keep the conversation going long after the traditional "Four Questions" have been asked. 

- Click the link.

- Download the artwork. 

- Print on any paper or card-stock you desire. 

- Cut down the center, and then cut every "color block" / individual question out (with scissors or a paper cutter)

- Spread them out on your Passover table for all to see, 

     or keep them in a deck to "pick a card any card" 

          or thumb through them throughout the night. 

Use them however it feels fun and meaningful to and for you.

 

Chag Semeach, one and all. May we all know greater freedom in 2021, and may we also be greater liberators of the oppressed who need our advocacy.

 

Stop Asian Hate: a Letter to my husband and Chinese-American family

 Dearest Silver Family,

I wanted to send you all a virtual embrace about this recent wave of Asian violence and hatred. No matter the level of personal endangerment you do or do not feel on a daily basis, it is always horrifying to see and experience hatred toward *your existence* perpetuated. I just wanted to utter it; to acknowledge it as horrendous, and to honor you as Asian human beings who deserve every respect and dignity. 

I feel like all hatred shares a roots of Fear. Which I say because I experience inner rattlings all the time with a constant, still-quite-bad, 4000 year old wave of Anti-Semitism. I wonder if you feel this next sensation too: that the prejudice is “always there,” and then, every once in a while (like the last few weeks) a series of horrendous events occur that make it WORSE and you’re reminded “Oh yeah... people still hate me. And...that....is terrifying...” 

I am not the greatest revolutionary in a traditional sense. I’m not one to burn down buildings and fight hatred with anger. I’ve felt guilty about it for years. I’m quicker to weep than to rage. I’ve often felt that meant I didn’t have a recognizable place in fighting oppression— as if I weren’t “built” to be the “correct” kind of change-maker. 

But for what it is worth, in my experience of fighting evils, I have found that I do have a place! In addition to decrying Anti-Semitism, I can participate in “PRO-Semitism!” Which is a clunky term, but meaning: being a super proud, visible, relatable, and enthusiastic Jewish person, sharing the beauty of everyday progressive Jewish life through my very own proud lens. And that feels good, and gets me excited, and resonates as true to and for me. 

That’s not unsolicited advice, by the way— it is more of a direct affirmation of what each of you already do: SHARE THE JOYS of your cultural reality in every breath you take! And I’m here to declare: that is revolutionary, I think. Well anyway...that’s just my 2 cents. 

The most important message of this email is a huge embrace to each of you today and always. I am so proud to be a part of this Chinese and American family, and bring a little matzah to the dim sum tea room.

All my love 

Al