Departure Stories: Betty Crocker Made Matzoh Balls and Other Lies

A collection of powerful essays--filtered through the traditions of a Judaic perspective--that shed light into the life of a writer/journalist and her complicated relationship to family.

Departure Stories by Elisa Bernick--a writer/journalist from Minnesota--is an inviting, deeply poignant first memoir that offers an intergenerational smorgasbord of well-balanced, well-portioned personal stories, anecdotes, jokes, Jewish history and heritage—and insight.

Growing up in white, Christian, New Hope, Minn.--a suburb of St. Paul--during the tumultuous 1960 and 1970s, Bernick was basically well-assimilated, but always felt “different.” It’s these glimpses of alienation--along with episodes of "Midwestern antisemitism" and a striving to be like others--that set the foundation of this memory-driven narrative. Short chapters weave together fascinating personal stories peppered with remembrances of her ancestors, grandparents and parents. Spiritual aspects of Judaism are largely absent from the book. However, traditions of Jewishness--along with humor--pervade the entirety of the literary landscape. Her mother, Arlene, with blazing red hair, was a fiery--dynamic, yet difficult--presence. Stricken by mental illness, Arlene’s abusive volatility pervaded the folds of family—along with Bernick’s own experiences and rebellions. The emotions generated from such incidents--however sad and burdensome--ground Bernick. They ultimately shape her personality, her sensibilities, her fate and how she has thus, lived a life trying always to understand.

Identity--and Bernick’s search for it--is forefront. There are many telling stories, but the most pivotal stems from Bernick as a rebellious five-year-old: she ran away from home (rode a bus for hours) and upon her return, faced a harsh berating from her mother. This incident becomes a larger metaphor—Bernick continually trying to escape “home,” to keep an emotional distance from the deep-rooted tendrils of family, yet always being drawn back beyond the boundaries of its angering influence.

The story of her relationship to her family eventually comes full circle delivering a poignant conclusion. Older, wiser and more deeply enlightened Bernick (The Family Sabbatical Handbook) and her easy-going narrative style--her regaling readers with evolved consciousness and reinterpreting memories 50-years in the making--ultimately coalesce, granting Bernick enlightenment, while also making the world, via Departure Stories, a better place.

Departure Stories: Betty Crocker Made Matzoh Balls by Elisa Bernick

Indiana University Press, $22.00 paperback, 9780253064073, 246 pages

Publication Date: October 4, 2022

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

 

Documentary: What is Philanthropy?

In the award-winning documentary, What is Philanthropy?, Salvatore Alaimo explores and analyzes the history and meaning of "giving"—what and why we give. Alaimo--a professor at the school of Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration at Grand Valley State University (Grand Rapids, Michigan)--sheds light and dispels myths surrounding the idea of charitable giving. The film demonstrates how philanthropy is not just about donating money, nor does it solely apply to the wealthy. In fact, in the USA, lower and middle-income earners actually give the most to charity as philanthropy is also about giving time, volunteering and advocating for social change.  

A wide-range of information is presented through Alaimo's lens depicting the role of how the federal government, the states, the private sector and individual citizens engage in philanthropy and how philanthropy touches everyday lives. The film offers a historical perspective of how, over the course of centuries, people--from Benjamin Franklin to Andrew Carnegie, among others--have pursued philanthropic causes. Interspersed throughout are interviews with learned scholars, academics, civil rights leaders, politicians and religious charity chairpersons from Judaic, Christian and Muslim backgrounds who offer their own insights, research and opinions about the role philanthropy has--and continues to--play in society at large. Also included are interviews with notables in current American culture who have used public platforms to promote larger philanthropic causes such as Estee Lauder and her work with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation; environmentalist Nell Newman--the daughter of Academy Award-winner, Paul Newman--and how her foundation, Newman's Own products, advocates for organic, sustainable agriculture; and NFL quarterback Alex Smith and how his foundation provides foster teens with resources and support as they transition into adulthood. 

Alaimo highlights those who work selflessly to promote causes such as Angel Flight, an organization where private pilots transport patients for medical care and treatments, and the efforts of people like Derreck Kayongo, a Uganda native, who started the Global Soap Project in the US, which collects used soap bars from American hotels and reprocesses them for shipment to impoverished nations such as Haiti, Uganda, Kenya and Swaziland. 

The most heartfelt aspects of the documentary showcase how smaller philanthropic foundations are often established after a person has suffered a deeply personal struggle and loss such as the Josie King Foundation, which advocates for a culture of patient medical safety. This foundation was established by the parents of Josie King in an effort to combat their personal grief after losing their 18-month-old to medical errors on February 22, 2001. Rounding out the film are moving stories of individuals who participate in giving via the likes of sewing circles and those who donate blood, platelets and even breast milk to charitable causes.

Along the way, Alaimo cleverly ties in clips from contemporary TV programs and movies to the theme of philanthropy. A portion of the film also depicts how social activism--including the pursuits of American Indians, the disabled, Gay Pride, Occupy Wall Street, voting rights, the death penalty and healthcare--also falls under the umbrella of philanthropy.  

What is Philanthropy? is well-balanced, lively and informative and is sure to stimulate lively debate, discussion and reflection for those--academics, students and social activists--who wish to more thoroughly understand the history and ideas of philanthropic "giving" in its many unique forms.

What is Philanthropy? a documentary (written/produced/directed) by Salvatore Alaimo
86 minutes; DVD $15.99; Blu-Ray $22.99
Distributed by Indiana University Press ( www.iupress.indiana.edu )
Also available via Amazon.com - link HERE 

Letters to Santa Claus by "The Elves"

For years, letters addressed to Santa Claus have been shipped to Santa Claus, Ind., where a staff of dedicated town volunteers, "elves," process and answer over 400,000 pieces of mail every December.

The book gathers more than 250 scanned letters and documents from the 1930s to the present. Material wish lists reflect the times--from Shirley Temple dolls to Apple gift cards--and the letters are telling and confessional. A "good little bad boy" admits he's been a "real louse," pouring Tabasco instead of chocolate syrup on his brother's ice cream.  A humble little girl only wants "some shoes...with heels" for her depressed single mother.  Another asks for a time machine to "fix all the bad things that have happened to me." A 6 year-old wants Santa to bring his ex-con father a job. A dog, abandoned by housemates, wants his favorite treats. A Braille letter from a blind, Filipino girl asks for a radio.  There are others boldly seeking mates, money, lingerie and legal aid.

Some lists are long and typed, others short: "I want my dad to be smarter" (102); "Can my mom come home from the hospital?" Questions about reindeer, chimneys and coal abound, as do apologies and vows toward better behavior. Some dangle prospects of Christmas Eve sweet treats to entice Santa—one promises beer and a liverwurst sandwich.  This well-presented, historical collection--reflecting both the naughty and nice--will entertain and offer insights into the human condition. And it's even been reported that a reader spotted her own letter to Santa in mix! Might yours be included?

Letters to Santa Claus by "The Elves" (Forward by Pat Koch (Head Elf); Afterword by Emily Weisner Thompson)

Indiana University Press, 20.00 Hardcover, 9780253017932, 224 pp

Publication Date: October 5, 2015

To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (10/27/15), link HERE