North Carolina

This past Monday, the City Council in North Carolina voted to rescind parts of an anti-discrimination ordinance, and now transgender people, in particular, will have to endure discrimination with little legal recourse. I am baffled.  The world is supposed to make progress, not go backwards. It is unconscionable that these terrible lawmakers are going out of their way to stigmatize and injure such a vulnerable population. I said it once, and I will say it again: NOT MY COUNTRY. NOT MY PRESIDENT!  I am prepared to march for so many causes, until the blisters on my feet are bleeding. If you stand for nothing, you fall for everything. Politics has reared its ugly face, and the fangs are just beginning to abundantly dig in their ugly claws.

Two State Solution

Israel is now facing a horrible boycott by the U.N., one which Obama could have vetoed-but did not. Why? Obama does not want to shelter Israel from this criticism by the international community because Israel is wrong. Believe me, it pains me to say this, but Netanyahu demonstrates over and over he DOES NOT WANT A TWO STATE SOLUTION; he wants to appeal to his far right contingency. John Kerry recently returned from Israel in his last-ditch effort to broker a deal for peace in the Middle East. What he said is the two state solution is in jeopardy, and if Israel continues to act the way they are acting, so much damage will be done to Israel and the region. In fact, here will be a real possibility for WAR. Ask any level-headed Israeli who does not support Bibi; his behavior is jeopardizing Israel's chances for survival.

 Under president Obama, the U.S. continues to subscribe to the position in the 1933 Oslo accords that the future of Jerusalem, like that of the West Bank, should be decided by negotiation, not be diktat on either side. Settlements are exactly that-diktat.

 Bibi is so excited for President Trump, since David Friedman, the U.S. special envoy to Israel who he has appointed, plans on giving Israel a carte blanche. This is not how negotiation begins; this is how war begins. And Thomas Friedman in today's NYT editorial, indicates that under Trump, by siding with Bibi on this, is being manipulated into helping Iran and Isis, perpetuating an eternal conflict with Palestinians and the Muslim world. Israel will either no longer be a Jewish state or will be anti-Democratic. Either way, it is lose/lose and dangerous. It is so against the spirit of my book, whose plea is for peace and negotiation and a two state solution. It is actually criminal and so very deeply sad. I grieve not just for America, but I grieve for Israel, too, and for the people who want Israel to succeed, but in a just and humane way! RONIT AND JAMIL--I pray for peace. But how?

Bionic by Suzanne Weyn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Yet another spectacular book from Suzanne Weyn, my friend and celebrated author of terrific young adult literature. Yet again, she has outdone herself in BIONIC, the story about a star athlete and teen, bound for success, who gets into an auto accident, and some of her bodily parts are replaced by prosthetics. What happens to young Mira when this technology has her feeling (and others) that it is now a robot performing-not her, as she starts to perform the way she never has before? Is this a positive? Will she ever regain her old life, the sense of self she had before? And what about the people around her? Using the dazzling and wonderful diction that only Suzanne has, enter the pages of this poignant and terrific pager turner-and discover the answers to this brave new world!

View all my reviews

House of Lords and Commons: Poems by Ishion Hutchinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just finished reading wonderful poetry book, HOUSE OF LORDS AND COMMONS by Ishion Hutchinson, born in Jamaica, and an assistant professor at Cornell University. Talk about language that slices through the skin; his diction is stark, challenging, dark, haunting, lyrical, and lovely. I love his rage against politics, his poignant understanding of tenderness and fatherhood. There is wonderful irony and edgy violence, but his authenticity makes this an amazingly beautiful book. A must read!

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The Holidays

The holidays are always a mixed blessing. It is a time of celebration, to count your blessings, but this year, in particular, there is a general sense of mourning, since the new president-elect does not offer hope; he diminishes it. In the last week, I saw two shows, both of which brought me into a state of sorrow. The first was the final interview on the Oprah show where she interviewed Michelle Obama. She is the epitome of brilliance, beauty and grace, and she is being replaced by a first lady whose campaign is cyber-bullying, a woman married to a president whose middle name is BULLY. It is sick and scary. Today I saw the movie "Barry" on Netflix, and all I could think about was how much I will miss having a smart, thoughtful intelligent president. President Obama did not have D.T's silver spoon feeding him; he rose in the ranks because he was smart, thoughtful, well-read, graceful and serious about the world and his place it it.

I will never, ever watch another State of the Union or news conference (even if D.T. ever gives one). Holiday cheer? I celebrate my own good fortune and my personal good deeds. I mourn a real president's exit from the world arena, a world which will one day realize what being presidential is all about.

RONIT AND JAMIL Event

I will be reading from RONIT AND JAMIL on Wednesday, February 1 from 6-7:30 at Jefferson Library. YA authors include Yvonne Ventresca, Mary Thompson, Shani Petroff, Matthue Roth, Crissa-Jean Chappell, Carey Ann Aaydu and Tiffany Jackson. And, of course, me--RONIT AND JAMIL, one of its first public appearances!

Review of RONIT AND JAMIL by School Library Journal

Ronit & Jamil

Poet Laskin’s short, lyrical novel in verse is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in present-day Jerusalem. Ronit is an Israeli girl whose father, Chaim, is a pharmacist, and Jamil is a Palestinian boy whose father, Mohammed, is a physician. Chaim supplies prescription medications to Mohammed’s patients. The two teens first meet at the clinic where both their fathers work, and, as in Shakespeare’s original, the young lovers fall for each other after meeting only briefly. Through secret texts and clandestine meetings, they desperately try to be with each other while facing opposition from their parents and the very real physical barrier between Israel and the West Bank. The story departs from the original, though, with the implication that Ronit and Jamil will escape the conflict and find a way to be together—an underlying message of hope for the larger Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Laskin frequently quotes Shakespeare’s play as well as Arab poets, including Rumi and Mahmoud Darwish, and makes skillful use of Middle Eastern poetic forms, such as the ghazal. It may occasionally be difficult for readers to tell which character is speaking, but the accessible verse and universal questions about crossing cultural lines make for a quick and powerful read. VERDICT An obvious choice to pair with Romeo and Juliet in a literature class, this can also open discussion about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and about bridging cultural boundaries.–Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ

SWEAT

Just came back from seeing Lynn Nottage's SWEAT at the public theater, and I am still trembling. This is the story of race in America, but it is also the story of class and how someone like Donald Trump could get elected. The closing of factories, the world of hopefulness is all but eliminated. And I get that D.T. offered hope, though-in truth-he will offer so much less for this population, and all their safety nets will be removed. It is such a sorry state of affairs.

Lies

According to an editorial in last Sunday's NYT (12/11), Donald Trump lies, people know he lies, the Republicans know he lies, but it does not really matter. I am sorry, this is not "The Apprentice" nor is it reality television, and I have always expected my politicians to mostly tell the truth, particularly my president. Now that it has been proven, there was Russian tampering with this election, I am thinking: if it is a known fact that we are sending a criminal to the White House, why can't the electorate do anything? I dream of the days of Walter Cronkite, when I knew what I was getting was news, not a reality spin, not an orchestrated nightmare of an election. I quote the NYT, "Without a Walter Cronkite to guide them, how can Americans find the path to a culture of commonly accepted facts, the building blocks of democracy? A president and other politicians who care about the truth could certainly help them along. In the absence of leaders like that, media organizations that report fact without regard for partnership, and citizens who think for themselves, will light the way."

Rohingya

My next YA novel, WHY NO BHINE, is focused on the plight of the Rohingya population. Apparently, according to the Wednesday NYT, Kofi Annan, the former head of the United Nations, said that he was "deeply concerned" by reports of human rights abuses in the country's restive Rakhine State, where dozens of Rohingya  Muslims have been killed since October in a crackdown by the military." Activists have reported stories of rapes, arson, targeted killings and other atrocities.

In truth, this breaks my heart. One year after the completion of my novel, and the turn of events is just as bad, just as dark. What has happened to human rights in this brave new world? Apparently not very much! Thank heavens there are some leaders willing to put up the good fight!

The Emperor is Naked

Why are people afraid to say the emperor is naked? I have said it; so there! He is as naked as they come. He tweets; he appoints horrible people to office; he talks about women in a disgusting way; he incites hate. Plus, he is very, very ugly--inside and out. He's naked as they come. I was afraid to watch Paul Ryan's interview on 60 Minutes, since I hate any attempt to normalize the man, and I was afraid of watching 60 Minutes, for fear they would do this. But much to my surprise, Ryan was pressed to SPEAK the TRUTH; he just couldn't. The house speaker bites his tongue about the president elect, so when asked about the tweet that millions of people voted illegally for Hillary Clinton--a downright lie, he responded, "I have no knowledge of such things."

Guess what, Speaker of the House. You are a naked emperor, too. Do not pretend to be such a boy-scout!

The Divided States of America

Now I say, I am a New Yorker, not an American in the Divided States of America (TIME Magazine). But even in my beloved city, a man shoved a NYC transit worker down the stairs, screaming that she was a terrorist. "Go back to your country," he shouted, because she was wearing a hijab.

I want to stay to that disgusting man, you are the one who is not American, though America is not the one I once knew under President Obama. MY America has decent people with good values who are aware we are a nation of immigrants. I will protect people like officer Aml Elsokary, no matter what it takes. I will fight and fight hard.There is no room for hate in MY New York City, not in my America, the one which ONCE was great, and being made so much less by a man so NOT qualified to be president.

Coming Together

Jolted to action by the recent wave of hate crimes, American Jews and Muslims are coming together to resist whatever "evil" forces are coming down the pike with the advance of the president elect, Donald Trump. The goal? If Muslims have to register, we will all register. My grandpa, Sol Laskin, taught me that being a good Jew means resisting the forces of hate and opening your heart to "the other." I have always believed this, so much so that there has never been another; we are all one and the same. Vaseem Firdaus, a Muslim, says, "Sitting in an event like this makes you feel it's really not so hopeless. This is food for the soul." May this spirit, as the spirit of my book RONIT AND JAMIL, live on, in the face of the ugly Trumpism, which rears its ugly head daily!

Message From President of City College

Last night, we discovered anti-Semitic graffiti on the CCNY campus. The New York City Police department is investigating this graffiti as a hate crime, and I fully support that approach.

But I also wanted to say how heart sick this kind of thing makes me, and should make us all. There’s not a person on this campus who would not now, or in the recent past, have been vulnerable to something like an attack of this kind. Today it happens that someone wrote something hateful and nasty about Jewish people. Tomorrow it may be African Americans or people who follow the Muslim faith. But on this campus, in this city, nothing should be more obvious than the fact that we are largely and magnificently composed of people who share a history of this kind of vulnerability, and that a huge part of what makes us special, and can make us extraordinary, is the wisdom that comes from understanding and celebrating that history. I know that the vast majority of CCNY students, faculty and staff are as fully committed to this ideal.

Whoever you are, and for whatever reason you decided to write those words: know that you are corroding something precious and irreplaceable. Once this kind of language enters our public spaces or private conversation, it destroys trust, it displaces kindness, and it decimates hope. Everyone belongs on this campus, and in this world—and to suggest otherwise in any way is an act of violence against us all.

At City College, we emphatically condemn hate speech of any kind, directed against any population. In this specific instance, we condemn the anti-Semitic language used in the campus graffiti, and ask each of you to protect and cherish the community we build, each day, on this campus.

Frankenstein

America created a Frankenstein in the name of Donald Trump, and now he is our political leader. Once our country said it is okay to employ hate language; engage in misogyny and LIE--repeatedly, and you can still be out president; it is okay to behave badly and unpresidential, without dignity, grace and not following judicial protocol, we, in essence, created a monster, who will now be our president. Yes, I would have given him a chance, since supposedly democracy brought him to office (he did not win the popular vote, but he lies about that too), but his cabinet choices are appalling. I am sickened that a man like Tom Price can be our Secretary of Health, someone who cares little about the welfare of patients, but cares a lot about money in the hands of doctors (my husband, a doctor, says he and other concerned physicians are saying God help public health); Betsy Vos as Secretary of Education (really--let's do away with public education); Jeff Sessions as attorney general (an outright racist) and Steven Bannon as Chief White House Advisor, a spokesperson for the alt-right, it is evident that a tornado has been let loose on the world, ready to inflict its damage on millions (billions) of people, many of whom are the ones who voted for him.

Do not try to normalize him; he has broken countless rules already, and he is not even president. Just tell me what to do with him? Man created Frankenstein, and then the big question became--now what?

I ask you the same thing. Now what? NOT MY COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!

RONIT AND JAMIL Review By Publishers Weekly

Ronit & Jamil
Pamela Laskin. HarperCollins/Tegen, $17.99 (192p) ISBN 978-0-06-245854-4Laskin (Homer the Little Stray Cat) creates a resonant contemporary version of Romeo and Juliet, transporting Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers to modern-day Gaza. Ronit, a Jewish Israeli teen, meets Jamil, a Muslim Palestinian, through their fathers, a pharmacist and doctor. Though both families work together to help the needy in Palestine, they don’t fully trust the other and are particularly wary of their teenage children talking to each other, much less falling in love. Writing in clipped, understated verse, Laskin borrows lines from the original play as she sensitively describes two lovers weaving their way through social, political, and familial hurdles designed to keep them apart (“I hate the parting/ the sorrow of it/ the fear/ tomorrow will never come”). Laskin takes pains to address the similarities between the Palestinian and Israeli households—two back-to-back poems titled “Dinner Chatter” reveal parallel menus (“Ommi’s good food:/ hummus, falafel, baba ghanoush.... Imah’s good food:/ hummus, falafel, baba ghanoush”) and attitudes—starkly juxtaposing them against mutual prejudices. A lyrical message of peace and love radiates from this relevant and hopeful reimagining. Ages 13–up. Agent: Myrsini Stephanides, Carol Mann Agency. (Feb.)
Reviewed on 11/28/2016 | Details & Permalink

RONIT AND JAMIL Review by Booklist

Issue: December 15, 2016

 

Ronit and Jamil.

Laskin, Pamela L. (Author)

Feb 2017. 192 p. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen, hardcover, $17.99. (9780062458544).

 

Israeli-born Ronit’s abba works as a pharmacist in East Jerusalem; Palestinian Jamil’s abi works as a doctor. But when both fathers decide to drag their willful teens onto the job with them, they impart the same stern words of advice: “Don’t look.” Yet in this modern day Romeo and Juliet revamp, Ronit is quick to admire Jamil’s hazel gaze, and Jamil, too, swiftly swoons for the “girl / with the song in [her] voice.” So begin text message trysts, marketplace meetups, and a love as fierce as it is forbidden. Like its predecessor, Laskin’s tale, a series of mostly page-length poems, unfolds in five acts. Alternating between the perspectives of each teen (and, eventually, their fathers), it illuminates a tense but textured land riddled with rockets, roadblocks, and olive trees. Occasionally saccharine but always accessible, the modern verse—flecked with Arabic, Hebrew, and iconic excerpts from the play itself—will ease romance-hungry teens into both Shakespeare’s original and the challenging context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A welcome nod to hope in the face of the impossible.

— Briana Shemroske

Grief

GRIEF. My country is awash in a terrible storm. My beloved Gulliver, my children's dog, is not feeling well. I saw the movie, "Manchester by the Sea" and all I could do was cry-the whole film. The tears felt good, though. They felt authentic. They were a release during the duration of the film. But then I woke up today and felt sad all over again.

What do you do when the grief just stays there, aside from sit on it? And, I suppose, acknowledge it is a dark period, and the grief just won't quit. What do you do when you are generally an optimistic person, but have lost that sense of hopefulness.

Do you say tomorrow will be better? And what do you do if you really do not feel that?

Myanmar

In the New York Times, Friday December 2, it is reported that Myanmar's leader is faulted for silence in the campaign against the Muslim population.  I completed my book WHY NO BHINE almost a year ago, about this same exact issue. And now, a year later, the same issue rears its ugly head. "Satellite images show villages burned to the ground. Human rights groups relay allegations of rape and the slaughter of children. Thousands of refugees have fled across the border to Bangladesh, while the workers have been prevented from reaching the afflicted."  WHY NO BHINE, the anguish of the Rohingya's, is still a book about a terrible reality. It is an immigrant's story, and--unfortunately--such an ugly reality, to ostracize a population in such a terrible way.

And all I feel is anguish because this is still a reality, and not just in Myanmar, but also in America!