But the most terrifying part was that when we turned back south to come home, we could see, for the first time, flames clearly cresting the ridge and coming down the Valley side of the mountains. Worse than any horror movie.

We decided to take the long way home, going west on the 101 to Topanga, then north to the 118 where we could see the whole plume as the sun set.

Today while we were out we drove all the way to the top of Reseda (to the edge of the evacuation zone near Braemar Country Club) and I cannot describe the horror of seeing the fire up close.

This is not really a happy update. My daughter and I have taken to visiting our favorite weird grocery stores (there are many of these in the Valley) in the afternoons for snacks and treats and to get out of the house.

I had some doubts about posting this here because on FB someone called me "shameful," but here goes. This photo was taken on Nir Oz in 1998 with my Israeli “family.” It was a beautiful place full of lovely people... 1/9?

LA folks, there will be a book launch event for Beyond the Land one week from today!

I took the weekend off, but I'm back today with an excerpt from Chapter 5, on the Israeli expatriate artistic community in Berlin and the movement for diasporic Hebrew. The image is from a Poetic Hafla event in Berlin (learn more about them in the book!). Excerpt to follow.

Chapter 4 of Beyond the Land focuses on Yael Bartana's And Europe will be Stunned, a 3-part video installation that imagines Jewish pioneers settling in Warsaw as part of a transnational liberation movement. The image is from the third part of the series, Zemach (Assassination).

Today's book post is from Chapter 3, about translingual (English) literature by Israeli writers. The map below is from Rela Mazali's Maps of Women's Goings and Stayings, and this is from the conclusion of the chapter:

(excerpt to follow)

Today's book post is from Chapter 2, which analyzes Hebrew novels written in English by Ruby Namdar and Maya Arad.
Excerpt to follow.

The map below is from Yoav Avni's excellent novel Herzl Amar (Herzl Said), and appears in the first chapter of my new book, which is about novels that imagine Jewish homelands in locations other than Palestine. Excerpt to follow.

In honor of my book's publication this week, I wanted to share some excerpts. Today, a bit of the intro:

If you order, message me your address and I will send you a personalized bookplate.

One week until publication day!

I was going to make my first bluesky post about my book but then my cat did this. (I’ll post about the book tomorrow.)