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"Butterfly Summers" Front Cover By Deborah Thompson

Celebrating Gloria Stuart

Deborah Thompson

It was fitting that Gloria was born on Independence Day. She was a firecracker: sharp, witty, energetic.

Topics: Painting, Family, Film, Poetry

Nora Ephron, 1941 - 2012

For all her acerbic humor, she was always warm to me. For all her Jewish disconnection, she felt utterly Jewish to me.

Aviva Kempner

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Aviva Kempner was born in Berlin after World War II to an American father and a Polish mother. Her childhood was marked by the experience of her parents during and after the war. Her desire to understand them led her to a career in filmmaking.

Lucy Kramer Cohen, around Age 17

Lucy Kramer Cohen: A public-spirited woman/a private inner life

Nancy Kramer Bickel

Ever dream of making a film about someone you wanted the world to know more about?

Topics: Family, Motherhood, Film

A new name for "Jew Pond?"

Kate Bigam

I’ve been living in New Hampshire for more than a year now, but until recently, I’d never heard of Mont Vernon, N.H. When the small, rural town made its way into national headlines this week, it wasn’t for positive reasons: This week, controversy arose surrounding the name of a Mont Vernon skating and fishing pond, which has long been referred to as Jew Pond. Yep, you read that right: Jew Pond.

Topics: Antisemitism, Film
Sophie Tucker

Sophie Tucker: “You’re Gonna Miss Me, Honey”

Stephen Benson

One hundred and one years ago today, Sophie Tucker sang those words from “Some of These Days” onto a four minute cylinder recording device. It became her signature song, and toward the end of her career she guessed that she had sung it over 45,000 times.

Topics: Music, Comedy, Film, Theater
"In the Land of Blood and Honey" Movie Poster, 2011

"In the Land of Blood and Honey" premieres at Holocaust Memorial Museum

Kate Bigam

Angelina Jolie (not a Jewess but a definite do-gooder) visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum last week to premiere In the Land of Blood and Honey, a film she wrote, directed, and co-produced.

Topics: Activism, Holocaust, Film

MTV After Hours: Putting Scarlett Johansson and Matt Damon to the test

Kate Bigam

Hanukkah may be over until next year, but that doesn't mean we can't still enjoy some of the best Hanukkah video goodies the Internet has to offer.

Debbie Friedman

The Lives They Lived: Jewish women to remember in 2011

Leah Berkenwald

“[Debbie Friedman] emphasized the value of every voice and the power of song to help us express ourselves and become our best selves. As she wrote for JWA's online exhibit Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution: 'The more our voices are heard in song, the more we become our lyrics, our prayers, and our convictions.' The woman who wrote the song that asks God to 'help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing' herself modeled for us what that looks like.”—Judith Rosenbaum.
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Top 10 Moments for Jewish Women in 2011

Jewesses With Attitude
10. We celebrated the 40th anniversary of Our Bodies, Ourselves

Documentary "Gloria: In Her Own Words" premieres on HBO

August 15, 2011

On August 15, 2011, the documentary Gloria: In Her Own Words premiered on HBO.

Natalie Portman wins Oscar for Best Actress

February 27, 2011

Natalie Portman was named Best Actress at the 83rd annual Academy Awards on February 27, 2011.

Anna Halprin

Anna Halprin and "Breath Made Visible"

Leah Berkenwald

I've never thought of myself as a particularly good dancer. I dropped out of ballet after one lesson and these days I only feel comfortable on the dance floor after a couple of drinks.

Topics: Dance, Film
"The Debt," 2010

"The Debt": Mothers and daughters, secrets and truths

Susan Reimer-Torn

When is the last time you saw an action-packed film with a mature woman who must reckon with her own history as the main protagonist? This sort of screenwriting doesn’t come around too often.

Remembering Kitty Carlisle Hart

Alan Kravitz

If ever there was an unofficial Queen of New York City, Kitty Carlisle Hart was it.

Topics: Television, Film
Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem: Her words as relevant today as ever

Leah Berkenwald

Last week, a group of JWA staffers gathered on our lunch break to watch the HBO documentary Gloria: In Her Own Words.

Postsecret Community Art Project, 2011

Our Bodies, Our Moms

Leah Berkenwald

Last Sunday on Postsecret, someone sent in a postcard (pictured right) about mothers, daughters, and body image. I think most can relate to the anonymous author of the Postsecret card.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," Part II, 2011

Harry Potter: Four progressive lessons for the Jewish Community

Leah Berkenwald

Last weekend the eighth and final Harry Potter movie hit theaters. In the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling created a magical alternate universe.

Film Series Guide

JWA's film discussion program provides groups with tools to explore cultural attitudes about American Jewish women through screening and discussion of five popular movies produced over the last fifty years.

Who is Frida Kahlo?

Leah Berkenwald

Tomorrow we celebrate the 104th birthday of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist known for her striking self-portraits. Kahlo's work was largely influenced by pain after a bus accident left her with permanent disabilities, making her an inspirational figure from a disability point of view.

In 2006, conceptual identity performance artist Maya Escobar (@mayaescobar) created a Youtube video called "el es frida kahlo," below.

Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis make the same movie

Leah Berkenwald

Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, the Jewish stars of the acclaimed 2010 film Black Swan, have apparently made two different versions of the same movie. As Blind Film Critic so clearly depicts in this trailer mashup of No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits, these films are identical right down to the camera angles.

Topics: Film

Laura Ziskin, 1950 - 2011

She was one of those singular forces of nature, who could move mountains, once thought immovable.

Orgasm Inc. Film

Yet to come: Orgasm Inc. and the invention of female sexual dysfuntion

Leah Berkenwald

Last night I saw Orgasm Inc., a documentary film by Liz Canner about the medicalization of female sexual pleasure and the race to find a cure for so-called "female sexual dysfunction."

Topics: Film, Medicine

Interview: Vlada Bilyak on young, Soviet identity in the US

Leora Jackson

I spend a lot of time thinking about Jewish identity: what it means to be Jewish, what kinds of obligations I have because I identify as a Jew (if any), and what kinds of factors moderate or mediate the ways in which Jewishness and Judaism can be understood. Because of this, I really enjoyed watching Vlada Bilyak’s documentary about Jewish identity for young people from the former Soviet Union.

Natalie Portman at the Toronto International Film Festival, 2010

Can a girl have an Oscar and a Bunsen Burner too?

Etta King Heisler

The first thing I thought when I read this article in Monday's New York Times was "How cool! All these women are scientists?!" What immediately followed was the thought "Too bad." Too bad I never knew that Winnie from the Wonder Years loves math. Too bad I never found out that Blossom totally digs science. Too bad I had no idea that Queen Amidala was a super science nerd in high school, or I might have found the Star Wars prequels more interesting.

Topics: Education, Film, Science

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