The Whole Megillah- Mid-Week Field Notes | April 14, 2021Three quick things this week: Because I’m revising verse and because it’s National Poetry Month, I’ve ordered two books each from CavanKerry Press and Dos Madres Press for inspiration. Blog interviews are beginning to emerge about my middle-grade novel in … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- #52snapshots–Week 15In the past week, I’ve revised a non-snapshot essay about a friend who died, trying to understand our relationship, and how perhaps her sometimes erratic behavior was driven by her illness that she didn’t talk about, at least not to … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week Field Notes | April 7, 2021Three quick things this week: For the next few weeks I will be deep in revision on various projects, especially my bio in verse. I’m reading other novels in verse and just good poetry to keep me inspired. Any suggestions? … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- #52snapshots–Week 14I think the trick to fueling these snapshots, at least for me, is research. I wanted to revise my piece on the basement of my childhood home. Rumor had it that the basement had been a speakeasy. Using Ancestry, I … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Author’s Notebook | The Woodcarver’s Daughter by Yona Zeldis McDonoughMcDonough, Yona Zeldis. The Woodcarver’s Daughter. Kar-Ben, April 2021, 128 pp. The Whole Megillah (TWM): What inspired you to write The Woodcarver’s Daughter?Yona Zeldis McDonough (YZM): I had gone to the Museum of American Folk Art to see a show … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week Field Notes | March 31, 2021Three quick things this week: My books arrived! Summer plans: I’ll be working on my database of Holocaust children’s literature, expanding it from the 1960s and through 2021. Then, I’ll take guidance from a statistician colleague to code the database … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- #52snapshots–Week 13I think I may be running out of steam on #52snapshots. I need some breathing room to jot down a list of questions I have about my own family history–what do I want to know more about? It could be … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week Field Notes | March 24, 2021Four quick things this week: I’ve signed up to support Amherst Writers & Artists in their Write around the World fundraising event. I’m facilitating a session on May 9. I received an offer of publication for my bio in verse … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- #52snapshots–Week 12I know I will have to bring my “basement” piece through a revision process to find a core throughline and finesse it to a literary level. When I will do that, I just don’t know. This Week I’ve been wondering … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Thursday Links | March 18, 2021Here are this week’s links: Want to know what to do with flotsam and jetsam of raw creative writing material you generate? Check out Emily Stoddard’s demonstration at Ruminate Happenings. What do you consider when sending your creative work out … Continue reading →Barbara Krasner
- Mid-Week Field Notes | April 14, 2021
Category Archives: Report from Prague
Report from Prague | Finding Franz Kafka
It’s difficult to separate Franz Kafka from Prague and Prague from Franz Kafka. I’ll admit I haven’t really read his work since college when I argued with a college professor about the type of insect into which Gregor Samsa metamorphosed. … Continue reading
Posted in Report from Prague
Tagged Franz Kafka, Prague, Prague photos, Prague Summer Program
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Report from Prague | New Jewish Cemetery
Although I’m back in the States, I’d still like to share some of my Judaic experiences in the Czech Republic. On the Tuesday and Wednesday of my last week in Prague, I took the Metro Line A to the Želivského … Continue reading
Report from Prague | Apology
Dear The Whole Megillah readers, I lost my Internet connection in Prague and was unable to continue blogging while there. But, I’m home now and have so much to share! Stay tuned to posts about Prague’s New Jewish Cemetery, Terezin, … Continue reading
Posted in Report from Prague
Tagged Jewish Prague, Prague Summer Program, Western Michigan University
1 Comment
Report from Prague | Old Jewish Cemetery, Part 2
Symbols in the Old Jewish Cemetery of Prague Dating from the late 16th century, tombstones in Prague’s Old Jewish Cemetery bear a variety of symbols. Some of these, such as the hands of the Kohanes or the pitcher of the … Continue reading
Report from Prague | Old Jewish Cemetery, Part 1
The Old Jewish cemetery of Prague is a daunting site. About 12,000 graves in eleven layers hold the remains of Europe’s oldest existing Jewish community. The oldest grave — Avigdor Kara The oldest grave in this cemetery that abuts the … Continue reading
Posted in Report from Prague
Tagged Hendl Bassevi, MaHaRaL, Old Jewish Cemetery Prague, Prague Jewish cemetery, Rabbi Lev, Rabbi Loew
4 Comments
Report from Prague — The Jewish Museum
Today members of our Jewish Studies class, along with a bunch of others from our Prague Summer Program, were guided through the multi-stop Jewish Museum by Dr. Tomas Kraus, executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech … Continue reading
Report from Prague – Day One
Ahoj, Whole Megillah readers! As some of you know, I was named a finalist for a fiction fellowship at Western Michigan University’s Prague Summer Program. So, here I am in Prague, where I’ll be taking courses in fiction and Jewish … Continue reading
Posted in Report from Prague
Tagged Eric Kimmel, Franz Kafka, Jewish Prague, Maisel synagogue, Shofar Books
7 Comments
