Michael Hickins's Blog, page 2

Wildfires, Silence, and the Jewish Experience

I’ve always been reticent to use the term “gaslighting” because it’s so reminiscent of the term “gassing” – which is synonymous (at least to me) with the Nazi death camps like those where my grandmother, my great aunt and uncle, and many other relatives were murdered by the Nazis. The reason I’m talking about gaslighting … Continue reading Wildfires, Silence, and the Jewish Experience

Why Can’t We Say Junteenth? We Have to Talk

Our local library is closed in celebration of Juneteenth, but it apparently can’t bring itself to say the actual words. So it calls it “the federal holiday.” You can bet it will say Independence Day when it comes to July 4. This is a big deal. I realize there’s a lot of political pressure from … Continue reading Why Can’t We Say Junteenth? We Have to Talk

I Have My Favorite Commandment. What’s Yours?

I used to hate the Ten Commandments. I hated Charlton Heston. I hated anything that smacked of authoritarian, paternalistic, overbearing high-and-mighty lording-it-over-you-ism, especially if it tried to tell me I couldn’t watch the Yankees on the Sabbath. Last week marked the observance of Shavuot, which celebrates the revelation of the Ten Commandments, and is the … Continue reading I Have My Favorite Commandment. What’s Yours?

75 Years of Controversy: The Israel Question for the Children of Holocaust Survivors

My father was a Holocaust survivor, but his relationship to Israel was complicated. And so is mine. The image above is of an affidavit my father had to sign attesting to thefact that he had no nationality. He was a man with no passport, because theNazi state had stripped him of his nationality for the … Continue reading 75 Years of Controversy: The Israel Question for the Children of Holocaust Survivors

The Silk Factory Threads Forward

In two weeks, you’ll be able to actually hold The Silk Factory: Finding Threads of My Family’s Holocaust Story, in your actual hands. You can pre-order now, and get the ebook for the ultra-low price of $2.99. Pre-ordering my book really, really helps because it tells the Amazon algorithm that I have an audience and … Continue reading The Silk Factory Threads Forward

My Father Never Told

(Please order my forthcoming memoir, The Silk Factory: Finding Threads of My Family’s True Holocaust Story.) When you tell on someone, it’s usually a bad thing. But there was something great that my father never talked about. But why? My father, a German Jew – probably more German than Jewish in his everyday life, but … Continue reading My Father Never Told

Yom HaShoah and the Silk Factory

Today marks Yom HaShoah, when we remember the Holocaust and its victims. Today is also the day my memoir becomes available for pre-order. It’s an odd feeling, and even calling it a Holocaust memoir is a very strange feeling, because The Silk Factory isn’t so much as Holocaust memoir as it is a memoir of … Continue reading Yom HaShoah and the Silk Factory

Ineffable Greatness

How hard do you figure it is to be great at any one thing? I mean, how hard is it to become a great painter? It would take a lifetime. How about horse breeder? Probably another lifetime. Or how about getting elected mayor of your hometown? (I couldn’t be elected dog catcher, even if all … Continue reading Ineffable Greatness

Publisher: Found

I just finished reading The Girl Who Counted Numbers, by Roslyn Bernstein, and I can’t say enough about it. It’s a profound storytelling exercise in showing how history affects us in personal ways, whether we want it to or not. That’s a topic I also explore in my forthcoming memoir for Amsterdam Publishers, The Silk … Continue reading Publisher: Found

Story: Gold Digger

Druid Hill Park in Baltimore is a shambling place crossed by potted roads and occupied by stands of trees and a museum and ballfields labeled one through six and there are old sedans parked alongside curvy curbs and you can just feel the potential for nefarious shit happening all over the place. This is where … Continue reading Story: Gold Digger