Author: Jessie
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You Gotta Believe
I have taken a day to grieve because it has been nine years since a World Series appearance, and my whole lifetime, and then some since a World Series win. But I can now say that this was the definition of a Mets season and the reason baseball is (in my opinion) the best sport… Read more
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In the New Year 5785
A year ago today I was awake at 2 am when news started appearing on my social feeds about October 7th and what was happening in Israel. I was awake at 2 am because I was on a girls’ trip weekend with my best lifelong friends. In 365 days two of those women have since… Read more
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ACE Explainer – Still Wanting Relationships
I’ve received a lot of great feedback on my most recent essay published in the Jewish Women’s Archive, “Asexuality: A Text Study,” as well as some really thoughtful clarifying questions. In the spirit in which those questions were asked, and the mission of continuing to educate, I’ve put together a few extra explainers below on… Read more
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Alas, Hineni
What other group has to share their location and promise to text their loved ones hourly as a matter of safety because they are going to a peaceful protest? Well, apparently, I, as a Jew, must, because that’s how my day began. But I was lucky. I came in contact with nothing but peace and… Read more
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A Time for Mourning
Tomorrow will mark the seventh day since Hamas massacred civilians in Israel. In Judaism, after a person passes away, a formal mourning period of seven days, known as shiva, is observed by the immediate family of the deceased. So, tomorrow, Shabbat will be the end of a sort of shiva period for the wider Jewish… Read more
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Pondering Peace
Tonight I went to a vigil for Israel. Four days and the pain is still as constant as the numb feelings, the shock. New details every day highlight more horror. Kidnapped grandparents, decapitated babies, the sheer numbers. It seems too outlandish to even write as fiction. Despite the horror I’ve seen in the online discourse,… Read more
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In Reality at the Supreme Court
I stood outside the Supreme Court yesterday after the news broke that the court has already voted to overturn Roe v Wade in a draft opinion. You may have seen pictures from me, you may have seen pictures from others, you may have seen pictures on the news. But those pictures may not have been… Read more
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Actions vs. Words
What I remember from a year ago today is working. I remember answering emails with the January 6th insurrection on in the background. I remember being horrified and distracted, but still working. Even more than that, I remember getting up the next morning and still going to work as if everything was normal. My boss,… Read more
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Rosh Hashanah Writing
Writing sometimes feels like the High Holy Days in Judaism (Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish new year, and Yom Kippur – the day of atonement). Writing, just like the holidays, is something I have to fit in around “work” and the wider expectations of a society that doesn’t recognize the meaning of the act or the… Read more