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Life’s a Beach: Film Reveals Surfing Family’s SecretsI first met the amazing Paskowitz family in 1978, when I was a writer and producer for “Two on the Town,” a CBS magazine show in Los Angeles.
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Stranger in a Strange LandIn “Rapture Ready: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture” (Scribner, 2008), Daniel Radosh presents a delightfully varied compendium of Christian items known among many actual Christians as “Jesus junk.” These include candy conversation hearts imprinted with “John 3:16” and “He Lives” instead of “Kiss Me” and “Sweet Talk.” There are Faith Pops (wrapped in bible verses) and Cross Pops (shaped exactly the way you think). There are Testamints. There’s a T-shirt that looks like it’s adorned with the Mountain Dew logo, but when you look closely it says “Do the Jew.” (“The Jew” would be Jesus, not, say, Abe Foxman.) There are gospel golf balls (“Now when you lose a golf ball you will be sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ!”) with a pastor’s endorsement: “This golf ball is the most effective outreach tool I have ever seen in golf.” Which, Daniel points out, raises the question of exactly how many golf-based outreach tools there are.
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Sephardic RootsA group of young artists, writers and musicians discuss their generation’s connection to its Sephardic roots in an event titled Young Artists Exploring Our Heritage: A Journey Where Art Meets History. The panel discussion, moderated by the Forward’s art and culture editor, Alana Newhouse, features Michael Jay Cohen, Michelle Ishay-Cohen, Vanessa Hidary and Galeet Dardashti. The American Sephardi Federation sponsors the talk.
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