"As a #Jewish #food #writer and #anthropologist of sorts, #JoanNathan had always been interested in her own family’s history. The “Julia Child of Jewish #cooking” has even #written about it in her recent #autobiography, “My Life in #Recipes.”

But many details about her father’s family, some of whom had perished in the #Holocaust, were scant.

On a recent Thursday morning, #Nathan spent two hours at the Ackman and Ziff Family #Genealogy Institute in #Manhattan, where those secrets would be uncovered as part of a new program called “Histories and Mysteries.” Nathan learned about the fate of a great-aunt, who was confined at #Theresienstadt, and her grandson, who by a circuitous, ultimately tragic path is remembered by #Catholics as a #martyr.

She discovered not only what happened to those relatives, but saw photographs of them and their homes, and read newspaper articles and letters about them."

https://www.jta.org/2026/04/14/united-states/jewish-food-writer-joan-nathan-knew-her-relative-became-a-catholic-martyr-a-search-reveals-the-rest-of-his-holocaust-history

Movement as Routine

By Cliff Potts
Bay Bay City, Leyte, Philippines — April 16, 2026

This is a serialized installment from the autobiography of Cliff Potts.

The Toolbox

When a project ended, the family packed. The largest and most important object was my father’s steel toolbox — nearly the size of a steamer trunk. He could lift it as if it weighed far less than it did. It contained the tools that kept the machines running.

When the toolbox moved, we moved.

Early Geography

I do not remember San Rafael. My early life is reconstructed from sequence rather than memory. Bakersfield, California. Tucson, Arizona. Then back to Bakersfield by the time I reached kindergarten.

Bakersfield became the first stable reference point — oil fields, truck yards, construction crews, heat, and dust. It was not glamorous, but it was functional.

Sound and Environment

My infancy unfolded in the background noise of construction: engines idling, hydraulics hissing, steel against earth. Entire sections of the state were being cut, graded, and reshaped. My father’s work placed us inside that process.

The landscape was not sentimental. It was under development.

Record Over Memory

If memory fails, documentation remains. According to Catholic records, I was baptized on the Feast of St. Blaise. Two crossed candles were held at my throat during the blessing. Tradition remained steady even when location did not.

Family called me Clifford. Others called me Cliff. The name carried no decoration.

finished reading Things I Don't Want to Know 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑
by Deborah Levy.

A brief memoir delving into feminism, identity and what it means to be a writer. Very much in the spirit of A Room Of One's Own, and of similar calibre.

#BookReview #Books #Bookstodon #Autobiography #Feminism

@wildwoila @[email protected]

“Blue Heron” Is an Exalted Drama of Troubled Childhood

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/blue-heron-is-an-exalted-drama-of-troubled-childhood

Much as I completely understand all the criticism, there's something about her I like (and though I mostly enjoyed Girls, I don't really like her work)

'If you have an addictive personality, which clearly I do, any hit of the dopamine of positivity [is welcome] and there’s also a hit of adrenaline that comes from the negative. And then, because you see something negative, you want to see something positive to erase it, and you end up in this cycle. It’s easy when you’re young to feel** **the internet’s a game you want to win'

#tv #lenaDunham #interview #girls #bookstodon #autobiography

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/apr/11/lena-dunham-interview-memoir-famesick-rehab-fame-broken-friendships

Building California

By Cliff Potts
Bay Bay City, Leyte, Philippines — April 9, 2026

This is a serialized installment from the autobiography of Cliff Potts.

A State Under Construction

The California of the late 1950s was not the polished image it later became. It was being built — graded, blasted, and engineered into modern form. Subdivisions replaced farmland. Highways cut through mountains. Entire water systems were designed to reshape population growth.

The California Aqueduct

One of the largest undertakings of the era was the California Aqueduct system, created to move water from northern reservoirs to the dry and expanding south. Canals were dug across valleys and deserts. Pumping stations operated continuously. When hydraulic systems failed, the work stopped.

The machinery was large and constant. Breakdowns were inevitable.

My Father’s Trade

My father was a heavy equipment mechanic specializing in hydraulics and automatic transmissions in earth-moving machinery. Cars held no interest for him. He worked on dozers, scrapers, loaders — machines built to move land itself.

Somewhere among my belongings is his old Caterpillar key, a universal starter used across much of the equipment on those sites. It was not a symbol of authority. It was a symbol of competence. He needed to move a machine before he could repair it.

The Grapevine and Interstate 5

Another major project involved the early carving of the Grapevine and what became Interstate 5. Mountain terrain had to be cut, blasted, stabilized, and graded into something that could carry continuous traffic. Engines overheated. Hydraulics failed. Equipment required constant maintenance.

That was his environment. When machinery stopped, someone like him was called to bring it back to life.

From birds to brains: My path to the fusiform face area (2024)

https://www.kavliprize.org/nancy-kanwisher-autobiography

#HackerNews #birds #brains #fusiformfacearea #autobiography #neuroscience

Today In Labor History April 4, 1928: Poet and Civil Rights activist, Maya Angelou, was born on this date. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjtuJvnZB9g

#workingclass #LaborHistory #MayaAngelou #poetry #CivilRights #literature #autobiography