TOM PARKER, I OWE YOU

An ancient Jewish saying goes, “Acquire a teacher and make yourself a friend.” Tom Parker was both. Tom Trebitsch Parker died last month at 82. Trebitsch was the family name in Austria, changed after Tom’s parents fled Nazi persecution of Jews. Tom was an accomplished writer of fiction, including the novels “Small Business” and “Anna,…

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CONFESSIONS OF A CULTURE CRIMINAL

Last September, I wrote about “cultural appropriation” in “Let the Book Burning Begin.” Some attendees at a literary festival in Australia excoriated the novelist Lionel Shriver for advocating that “white” writers should be free to create characters of other ethnicities. They can also excoriate me! My novel Slick! (one of Kirkus Reviews’ 25 Best Indy…

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MUNCH’S “SCREAM” AND SARAH SILVERMAN

Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” is an icon of modern art. A genderless person resembling a space alien with round eyes and hands on cheeks projects a scream from a gaping mouth. Many see angst. I see something else. You may have witnessed the same expression at a comedy show. Great humor move us because it…

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