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Journalism

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Tila Tequila

The Superficial's moronically hateful coverage of Tila Tequila's conversion to Judaism

Kate Bigam

Let’s get the meat of the gossip out of the way: Reality show star Tila Tequila (real name: Tila Nguyen) is converting to Judaism.

Sarah Silverman on Complex.com's List of Hot Jewish Women

Are lists of "hot" Jewish women kosher?

Leah Berkenwald

This week on the Sisterhood, Naomi Zeveloff wrote:

'Hot Jews' and the Peril of Ethnic Fetishism

‘Tis the season for year-end lists, and the pop culture web site Complex.com has come out with one that places them squarely in skeez territory: the 50 hottest Jewish women, a catalog of actresses, porn stars, and models with Semitic heritage.

Topics: Feminism, Journalism

Top 10 Moments for Jewish Women in 2011

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

Jill Abramson Begins Work as First Female Executive Editor of New York Times

September 6, 2011

On September 6, 2011, 57-year-old Jill Abramson began work as the first woman in the top editorial post at the country’s most prestigious newspaper.

Entitlement and its Discontents

Judith Rosenbaum

This week, New York Magazine’s cover features an oral history of Ms. Magazine, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

Bessie Breuer’s play “Sundown Beach” opened on Broadway.

September 7, 1948

The first and only play by fiction writer Bessie Breuer was one of the newly formed Actor’s Studio's first productions.

Not this again: Women asked to move to the back of the bus in Brooklyn

Leah Berkenwald

"Women told they must ride back of the bus in Brooklyn"

I saw this headline on Jezebel.com and thought, "Not again." It's been less than two weeks since we heard about Yiddish signs asking Jewish women to "move to the side when a man approaches." Is it just me, or is the Hasidic/secular battle for public space in Brooklyn getting out of hand?

Birth of writer Dorothy Parker

August 22, 1893

The always witty, sometimes vicious writer Dorothy Parker was born on this day in 1893 to a Jewish father and Scottish mother.

Edna Barrabee Grace, 1914 - 2010

Prominent Boston-area therapist Edna Barrabee Grace enjoyed a long and successful career counseling couples. She helped many save their marriages by teaching them simply to be nice to each other.

Jill Abramson ascends to top spot at the New York Times

Kate Bigam

The New York Times announced a change last week in its managerial lineup when current executive editor Bill Keller said he would retire and managing editor Jill Abramson would take his placep in the paper's to spot.

In defense of Jewish food

Katherine Romanow

It was just over a week ago that my advisor told me about Josh Ozserky’s article entitled "The Kugel Conundrum" in which Ozserky bluntly declares, “Jewish food is awful.” My first reaction was one of incredulity and I wondered whether a convincing argument could be made against Jewish food.

Topics: Food, Journalism
Hillary Clinton, President Obama, and Security Team in the Situation Room, 2011

Hillary Clinton "too sexy" for Hasidic newspaper

Leah Berkenwald

Brooklyn-based, ultra-Orthodox, Hasidic Jewish newspaper, Der Tzitung, has decided to rewrite history by photoshopping Hillary Clinton out of the photo of U.S. leaders receiving an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden (right). Why? Because the idea of a woman in the Situation Room was "too scandalous."

Gerry Faier, 1908 - 2011

An agitator, rabble-rouser, and working-class Jewish lesbian, Gerry Faier found company and camaraderie among fellow labor organizers, the burgeoning gay and lesbian communities of Woodstock and Greenwich Village, and activists across many generations.

Adele Landau Starr, 1916 - 2007

She had a strong sense of what was ethical and right; she didn’t just talk about it, she took action.

Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City

Labor History Landmark: No. 1 The Forward Building

Leah Berkenwald

The Top 11 Labor History Landmarks in New York City is a blog series on Jewesses with Attitude created in honor of Women's History Month and the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Waist Factory fire. Learn more about the series here, or check out JWA's online walking tour.

Top 10 Jewish Women in Labor History

10 Things You Should Know About Pauline Newman

Leah Berkenwald

Born in Kovno, Lithuania, in 1890, Pauline Newman was barred from the local public school because she was Jewish. As a girl, her opportunities for a Jewish education were limited. Her father tutored well-to-do boys in Talmud; he eventually allowed her to attend Sunday classes, where she learned to read and write both Yiddish and Hebrew. The obstacles she faced in getting an education motivated her to fight for gender equality later in her life.

TIME will tell: The most powerful Jewesses of the past century

Kate Bigam

The venerable TIME Magazine, known in part for its "top" lists – everything from the best inventions to the best TV shows – just published a new list of particular interest. As its name indicates, "The 25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century" lists 25 powerhouse women from the U.S. and beyond, including three Jewish dynamos - four, if you count Madonna (though I'm never sure whether I should!). Here, an overview of the Jewesses who made TIME’s cut:

Topics: Journalism

Lani Silver, 1948 - 2009

She liked to tell me that she started out in life as conservative but that she did a full political turn when she traveled to South Africa at l9 and observed first hand the awful effect of apartheid. When she returned to San Francisco, she became active in the Jewish community and with liberal and social justice causes and campaigns.

Helen Yglesias, 1915 - 2008

...her protagonists come from the variable Jewish life of New York. ... these women are assimilated but concerned with utilizing the morals of the Jewish past and its prophetic ethic—a concern for justice and dignity.

Ruth F. Brin, 1921 - 2009

Ruth Brin was an essential part of the fabric of Minnesota's Jewish community, teaching classes on immigrant literature, American Jewish writers and Judaism at the University of Minnesota and Macalester, shaping the Jewish arts scene with contributions of time, energy and critical funding, writing book reviews . . . up until her death, and raising distinguished and engaged children. . .

Rebecca Lipkin, 1960 - 2009

Acclaimed journalist Rebecca Lipkin's colleagues and friends have penned glowing tributes about her storied career, consummate professionalism, and supreme news savvy. But it's obvious that she's equally revered for her warmth, inherent goodness, and sense of fun and adventure.

Frances Feldman, 1912 - 2008

Frances Feldman's life and work are a testimony to the highest standards of social work scholarship. They reflect compassion, systematic understanding, and relentless curiosity. A pioneering spirit, personally and intellectually, she changed the world she lived in and left indelible memories with all who knew her.

Rosetta Reitz, 1924 - 2008

The obituary for Rosetta Reitz in the New York Times portrayed her as a champion of black jazz artists, while the one in the Villager featured the feminist Rosetta who wrote the ground-breaking book on menopause. For me, Rosetta Reitz under her maiden name of Toshka Goldman will always be memorable as the founder of the Four Seasons Bookstore in Greenwich Village.

Mattie Levi Rotenberg, 1897 - 1989

One Erev Pesach my grandmother demonstrated physics at the University of Toronto for three hours, went to the radio studio to tape a live broadcast, taped two more broadcasts for the upcoming days of Yom Tov, and came home to make seder.

Sheilah Graham, 1904 - 1988

By the time she left England in 1933 to try her fortune in America, [Sheilah] had earned a modest reputation as a freelance journalist. She had also written two unsuccessful novels, a credential that allowed her to bluff her way into jobs as a New York staff reporter, getting scoops and writing eye-catching features such as 'Who Cheats Most in Marriage?' a breezy inventory of the men of Western nations.

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