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"Luke Ford reports all of the 'juicy' quotes, and has been doing it for years." (Marc B. Shapiro)
"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff) LATEST POSTS:
- Dennis Prager v Cedars-Sinai Lawsuit
- Dennis Prager Through Randall Collins: Interaction Ritual Chains
- What is a ‘Received Idea’?
- Jordan Bardella: The Manufacture of Normality
- Everyone Became Television: Bourdieu’s Warning and the 2026 Iran War
- Marine Le Pen
- The Coalition-Proximity Rule
- Nigel Farage
- Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
- Walker Connor (1926-2017)
- Benedict Anderson and the Nation as Imagination
- Anthony D. Smith: The Student Who Kept the Question and Rejected the Answer
- Ernest Gellner
- Eric Kaufmann: The Man Who Made the Majority Visible
- Dominic Cummings: A Biography
- Steve Lopez: The Last City Columnist
- California Historian Kevin Starr
- Stephen Kotkin: A Life in Power
- William T. Vollmann: An American Life in Excess
- Rod Dreher: A Life in Exile
BEST POSTS:
- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
* People Leak To People Who Are Fun (6-11-26)
* Why Does Australia Produce So Many Great Journalists? (6-11-26)
* Steve Wynn and the Press: Power, Litigation, and the Contest Over Las Vegas (6-3-26)
* Sheldon Adelson and the Journalists (6-3-26)
* The Vigilant Animal: Thinkers Who Reject the Myth of Human Gullibility (6-2-26)
* The Cost of Refusing the Misunderstanding Myth (6-2-26)
* Show Me How It Travels (6-2-26)
* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
* Centering Marginalized Voices (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for the Los Angeles Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* Why Wembanyama Lives on the Perimeter (5-31-26)
* The Emotional Palettes Of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco & Sacramento (5-27-26)
* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* San Diego - The Quiet Republic (5-27-26)
* The Quiet Bar: San Diego Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* SF v LA Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* Why Talent Travels Poorly Between San Francisco and Los Angeles (5-27-26)
* San Francisco and Los Angeles as Rival Models of Urban Access (5-27-26)
* Social Cliques in New York, 2026 (5-25-26)
* Social Cliques in San Francisco, 2026 (5-25-26)
* The Rival Courts of Washington (5-25-26)
* The City of Private Rooms (5-25-26)
Category Archives: Fiction
The Yeshiva Of Hard Knocks
A guest post: I knew a boy named Luke Ford. I had the misfortune of being close to him. My name is Amber*. Because I’m nice, I was always seated next to Luke Ford at Jewish journalism events. People thought … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction
Tagged fetal pig, Jewish Journalism, journalism events, journalism history, luke ford, thane rosenbaum
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A Walk On The Wild Side
It was April 1, 1894 when a man with no name walked into Dodge. Yes, he walked in. He didn’t ride in. But he was no April Fool’s joke. He didn’t have a gun. Only a water pistol. And he … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Personal
Tagged april fool, man with no name, rough city, rubber ducky, walk on the wild side, water pistol
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One Holy Sabbath
The following play is inspired by real events during one Pico-Robertson Friday night in January 2008. ACT ONE Levi, about 40 years old, is the first person out of shul on this Friday night in winter. He walks rapidly, heading … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction
Tagged Aish HaTorah, christine white, conversion program, converting to judaism, cross tattoo, daven, holy sabbath, robertson blvd
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We Must Write What We Can Only Whisper
I imagine things from her perspective: I met him in yoga in early January. He came in late. He looked a mess. He wore sweats. He had a beard and a yarmulke and tzitzit hanging out. He was looking for … Continue reading
Posted in Dating, Fiction, Personal
Tagged drink tea, earthquake, guru, Jewish Literature, la cienega, la cienega blvd, orthodox jew, slippery places, slippery surface, tzitzit, Yarmulke
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Friday Night I Crashed Your Party
"I’m bruised and battered," says Jeri*. "I need to have a talk with that young man," I say. Jeri goes to bed. She was out partying until late. "When I was here last," I whisper to Jezebel* and Rachel*, "she … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction, Personal, Pico/Robertson
Tagged jewish thing, liquid courage, mouthfuls, orthodox conversion, quot quot, reform temples, topless man
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As Pico-Robertson Turns III
Read part one here. Part two. Her name is Rachel the Rabbi Killer aka Rachel Gold. She makes $200,000 a year selling ads for the Jewish Journal. She won’t be denied. When she enters a rabbi’s office, she won’t leave … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction
Tagged ewww, jewish standards, private sessions, rachel gold, shacharit, torah classes
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As Pico-Robertson Turns II
Read part one here. They had met while working nights at a psych ward. Her name was Christine Smith. She was 24 and doing a masters degree in Family Therapy at California Lutheran University. She’d just ended a three-year relationship … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction
Tagged black jazz, california lutheran university, degree in social work, doing a masters degree, jazz musician, yellow fever
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As Pico-Robertson Turns
I’ve decided to add a fictional soap opera to my website. Here’s part one: I hit Makor on a Friday night. I was kicked out last year after a dozen women complained to the rabbi that I used sexual innuendoes. … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction
Tagged crunchy granola, domination of women, male domination, sexual innuendoes, soap opera, torah study
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I Don’t Need Them
I had some painful surgery recently. It was entirely elective. I decided to get rid of a couple parts of my body. I handed them over on Monday. "Here, please keep these for me," I said. "I don’t really need … Continue reading
Posted in Fiction
Tagged foolish things, goyim, oy, painful surgery
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