Hanna Perlstein Marcus's Blog, page 14
October 29, 2012
Sidonia’s Thread Now Available on Kindle!
Hanna Perlstein Marcus is proud to announce that her book, Sidonia’s Thread: The Secrets of a Mother and Daughter Sewing a New Life in America, is available on Kindle! Now you can read this powerful and moving story in both traditional paperback and in e-book format.
My memoir about my life with my courageous, talented mother, Sidonia, has resonated with so many readers in the short time since its publication. As I travel to libraries, museums, churches, synagogues, and other organizations, I am so heartened that readers have fallen in love with Sidonia. She would have been so proud and grateful for readers’ strong feelings for her.
Like many other readers, I still have a combination of traditional hardcover and softcover books along with my e-books. I really enjoy the convenience of the e-book reader yet sometimes I long for the touch of a book to hold and savor in my hands and put on my book shelves. Now, Sidonia’s Thread will give you the choice of either version or both!
To buy your copy, click the Amazon button on “The Book” page of this website now!
June 11, 2012
My JBC Two Minutes Are Over
What an amazing experience last week at Hebrew Union College in New York where about fifty authors (just a portion of the over two hundred authors who attended the Jewish Book Council Network Conference) presented their two minute synopses of their recent publications! It was an eclectic group of authors ranging from novelists, to historians, scientists, memoirists, and healthy recipe mavens. I was truly inspired by many of the stories by these very erudite authors and the passion they infused into their two-minute orations.
Some of the topics discussed? Susan Weissman’s story of the trials and triumphs of a food allergy family, Andrew Tertes’ (formerly of Newington, CT) story of a man named Jacob’s journey to reconcile nature and tradition, Andrea Strongwater’s history of the lost synagogues of Europe, Ari Schonbrun’s memoir of his survival as one of the only employees of Cantor Fitzgerald to survive the World Trade Center attack, Gerald Kolpan’s fictional tale of a Jewish boy who becomes an interpreter for the great Indian Chief Standing Bear, and the courageous Ellen Schecter’s memoir of finding fierce joy despite the loss and pain of an incurable illness.
I hope the audience was enticed by my two minute presentation about my combination of love and distrust for my mother Sidonia, the one person in the world who was my family yet whose deeply held secrets created a divide between us that we could never cross. I am usually not very nervous at my speaking engagements and in discussing Sidonia’s Thread, but I must admit that I had a tinge of nerves on this occasion. Yet despite my nerves, I enjoyed this chance to share my book with representatives of over one hundred Jewish organizations from around North America and to meet other authors from various corners of the world.
Again, my thanks to Carolyn Starman Hessel, Director of the Jewish Book Council, who I had the privilege of meeting, Joyce Lit, Network Associate and my two-minute coach, Miriam Pomerantz Dauber, Program Director, who arranged the conference logistics, and to everyone at the Jewish Book Council for this great opportunity.
It is really not that different after all to move from being a public sector social worker to author. They both can be catalysts for change if their heart is in the right place.
May 31, 2012
Only Two Minutes in New York
Wish me luck in New York. I will be presenting a two minute synopsis of Sidonia’s Thread at the Jewish Book Council Authors Network Conference at Hebrew Union College in New York City on June 4th. Who will be listening? About one hundred and fifty representatives of Jewish organizations from around North America seeking authors for events and speaking engagments, like Jewish Book Festivals, will be in attendance. In 2007, The New York Times described the JBC Network “Meet the Author” events as a “combination of “The Gong Show” and speed-dating.” JBC Two Minutes
How can I make an enticing presentation about Sidonia’s Thread in just two minutes? I never thought it could be possible. I have so much I want to say about my life with Sidonia, but two minutes is all I have. Over the past few weeks, I have worked on my speech, composing just the right hook to engage my audience, discarding extraneous comments and statements, and focusing on the salient aspects of my story. I finally have it. I found that it is possible after all to whittle your thoughts and words into a compelling, succinct presentation. I look forward to meeting the representatives of the JBC Network and thank the Jewish Book Council for giving me this great opportunity!
April 17, 2012
My Fascination With Book Signings
I recently bought a new special pen, one with a thick rubberized grip to help me steady my hand during recent book signings for Sidonia’s Thread. When I wrote my story, like many authors, I wasn’t sure what kind of reception it would garner. It was written as an homage to my strong, clever, talented, independent mother with the hope that others would find her as inspiring as I finally did, although it took me a while to feel that way.
It didn’t take very long after the book’s publication to gain attention, at least in my local area of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Now I find myself at events and libraries, speaking about my story using some of the illustrations from the book and some additional images to portray the events in my mother’s and my life together. At the end of each presentation, there’s the inevitable book signing, which is the best part. It is then that members of the audience come up individually to have me sign their book and ask me their special questions or tell me a little about their own life story – of sewing mothers, immigrant communities, secrets they shared with parents, the novel they still haven’t finished–all of which, in turn, provides inspiration for me.
I look forward to many such book signings in other parts of North America where I can hear a little about your story. My new pen and I are ready.
January 31, 2012
Sidonia’s Thread Book Launch
Sidonia’s Thread Book Launch, a set on Flickr.
Photos from Sidonia’s Thread Book Launch held January 15th, 2012 at Beth Sholom B’nai Israel in Manchester, CT. Hanna Marcus was on hand to sign copies of the book and discuss the story.
January 11, 2012
Why I Decided to Write My Story
Now that my memoir, Sidonia’s Thread, is published, I think it is a good time to recall the blog post that originally initiated this website, “Why I Decided to Write My Story.” With the book’s publication, I can finally reveal the secrets that I have held inside my whole life. We all have them, yet we are reluctant to release them to even the best of friends. Perhaps we feel we will be judged too harshly by others or that no one can relate to them. The reasons need not be rational. Sidonia’s Thread reveals the pride, extraordinary talent, self-reliance, resilience, deep love, and yes, the secrets that shaped me into the person I have become.
Keeping secrets with my mother had a stranglehold on me. Not a day went by when I didn’t think about asking the questions my mother didn’t want to hear—about the identity of my father, about the real reasons for her isolated life, her fabricated age, and more. But I never could bring myself to pose the questions. When I finally discovered the truth about her secrets, I never revealed it to her for fear of driving her to the point of madness. In the end, we both held our secrets tight on the inside, too afraid of hurting the other.
But ultimately, most secrets between parents and children need to be revealed. I wish I had begun to share my discoveries with my mother before her death in 2006, and to tell her I loved her no matter what I learned about her past, but her descent into dementia over the last three years of her life made it impossible. It was too late to bare my discoveries to her, but there was still time to share them with others. Writing my story about my relationship with the person who was my only family as a child not only allowed me to come to terms with my conflicted emotions about my mother, but to share her unique, determined, clever, and talented character.
My mother had a way with thread whether sewing by hand or sewing machine. The stitches she crafted resulted in the most stunning, head-turning garments, attracting the attention of many women in our area of New England. Our bond during our life together centered on our partnership in showcasing her genius for fashion design and creation.
The themes of my story contain a common thread with the stories of millions of others in America and around the world—immigration and passage to a new country, sewing and handicraft, single parents and their children, trauma survivors and their families, fashion, strong women, and Holocaust survivors and their descendents. I hope my story inspires and resonates with you.
October 6, 2011
Springfield’s Council of Jewish Women Scholarship Brunch
I was honored to be the guest speaker on Friday, September 23, 2011 at the Council of Jewish Women’s Scholarship Brunch in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was a whirlwind of a morning with great food, welcoming guests, friends, and loved ones. Special thanks to Ann Cowen and Nedra Mirkin, Scholarship Committee Co-Chairs, and the Scholarship Brunch Committee for extending the invitation.
The Council of Jewish Women has provided over $1.5 million in scholarships to deserving students in the Springfield area since 1943, allowing the recipients to attend institutions of higher learning. I received a scholarship in the 1960’s which helped me with my tuition at the University of Massachusetts, and I couldn’t think of a better way to give back to this generous organization, albeit just a few years later.
My topic, “Sewing a New Life in Springfield,” was a personal story of my mother’s and my life together as immigrants who came to Springfield from a displaced persons camp in 1949. I spoke of the woman, a member of the SCJW, who took us into her home soon after our arrival in Springfield’s North End. Later, in the early 1950’s, we moved to an apartment building, still in the North End, where many of the refugees from the Holocaust resided. My mother, Sidonia, kept to herself among this group, retaining an air of mystery about her experiences before our move to America.
Sidonia became well known for her extraordinary talent as a fashion designer and dressmaker in western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. When we lived in the Forest Park neighborhood of Springfield, many women and men brought their ideas to her for fashions—a pantsuit, skirt, jacket, blouse, or shirt, among other garments. Sidonia sewed thousands of garments during her more than fifty years in Springfield.
It was gratifying to hear many of the personal stories that audience members told of their interaction with Sidonia, her humility, generous nature, her reticence to reveal her hidden secrets, and her amazing talent. I look forward to sharing my book, Sidonia’s Thread, with this and other audiences in the near future. It was a morning that I will never forget!
July 25, 2011
I Could Have Danced All Night
I recently attended an enchanting matinee performance of “My Fair Lady” at the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre at the University of Connecticut. “My Fair Lady” — has there ever been a better musical production created in America? My excitement and anticipation before the performance somehow surprised me, though. Yes, it’s a great show with the most memorable musical numbers such as “Wouldn’t it be Loverly?,” “With a Little Bit of Luck,” “On the Street Where You Live,” and “Just You Wait.” But why did I have this indescribable feeling that I was putting together the pieces of a mysterious jigsaw puzzle in my head as I sat down in my fourth row seat?
I looked down at my playbook just before the lights went down, and read the names of the songs that were to be performed in the first and second act. Then, my friend, Eleanor, and I looked at each other with smug smiles on our faces, knowing that we would recognize each and every tune even before we heard them. The lights were dimmed and we began to watch the story of Eliza, the cockney flower vendor on the dirty streets of turn-of-the-twentieth century London catching the eye of a dialectician and his friend, phonetics professor Henry Higgins. Professor Higgins wagers that he can turn this ragged, flower girl with a cockney slang into a proper lady within six months.
After taking Eliza into his home, Professor Higgins and his linguist friend, Colonel Pickering, make multiple attempts to convert her language, manner, and looks into one of an aristocrat but to no avail. It’s not until she finally catches on to the correct accent when reciting “The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain” that they realize they are on to something. By George, they were on to something, and so was I! The cut-out pieces of that puzzle were beginning to come together for me. It had something to do with my mother, who had her own accented voice. But what was the full mystery?
At the end of the first act, Eliza has appeared as a beautiful, well-spoken lady at the Embassy Ball, dazzling all who are in attendance. However, during the intermission, as we waited for the second act, I was still pondering over what could be gnawing at me about “My Fair Lady?” What was so especially significant about this play? Then the second act began with Colonel Pickering congratulating Professor Higgins on his triumph, his successful transformation of Eliza Doolittle, “You Did It.” It was then that it all started falling into place for me. That was it. I had seen this play before, many years before, when I was thirteen years old. My mother earned a bonus from her employer at the dress factory where she worked, two train tickets to New York City, a night at a New York hotel, and two tickets to see “My Fair Lady” on Broadway!
So what made this all come back to me soon after watching the beginning of the second act? I had never seen it before. As an immigrant from a small village in Eastern Europe, my mother had never attended a theatre performance before, and neither had I. We thought the show was over after the first act and left the theatre, marveling at how nice it was that snacks and drinks were served in the lobby at the end of the show. But it didn’t matter. We had a wonderful time anyway, and I sang “I Could Have Danced All Night” all the way back to Springfield.
June 4, 2011
Springfield’s Sudden Twist of Fate
6-2-2011 - Storm aftermath - Staff Photo By John Suchocki - Springfield Main Street businesses damaged by the tornado late Wednesday afternoon.
The Springfield Massachusetts newspaper described the tornado that hit the city on June 1 as a “Sudden, Violent Twist of Weather.” Growing up in that city, situated in the western portion of the state about one hundred miles west of Boston, I always thought tornados were destined for cities in the southern or western United States. Nor’easters, particularly in the winter, are the kind of storms we New Englanders are accustomed to experiencing.
But now the streets I used to pass through on my way to the old Classical High School, and the downtown area where I shopped for accessories to my mother’s handmade clothes, and where many of the city’s manufacturing companies were located, are devastated by wreckage to trees, roofs, and walls making Springfield eerily similar to the streets of Joplin, Missouri. These photographs graphically show the damage to city streets, homes, businesses, and nearby towns.
Sudden twists of fate, like an oncoming tornado when you least expect it, or the sudden losses of war, are the parts of our lives over which we hold little or no control. I wish it weren’t so.
