Mid-Week Notes

Three quick things:

1. My article on border crossing between the Nazi and Soviet spheres of interest in the fall of 1939 has been accepted for publication by a peer-reviewed academic journal. Through this writing exercise I learned to value:
   • Once again, the importance of primary documentation. Rutgers had one set. The Gratz College librarian sent me another set through interlibrary loan. HathiTrust had some, too.
   • Access to online videos from the USC Shoah Foundation
   • Always have a set of ear buds in my purse. Some of the Shoah videos are only accessible at certain repositories. I went down the street to Rutgers only to find I left the ear buds home. I had to go back and get them.
2. My short story about 1930s American antisemitism, “Enough,” has been accepted for publication by the literary journal of Mercer County Community College, Kelsey Review. It’s based on a murder charge against a Jewish business owner when his plastics factory exploded in the summer of 1933. This man used to sit behind me in shul as I prepared for Bat Mitzvah in 1970. He was generally nasty and then I found out why. Morale: Your hometown experiences provide much grist for the writer’s mill.
3. I’ve set aside tomorrow night to watch Claude Lanzmann’s iconic movie Shoah.

That’s it for this week. Have a good one.