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‘Not From Here: The Song of America’

JL;DR SUMMARY Leah Lax's "Not From Here: The Song of America" delves into the immigrant experience in America by presenting personal narratives interwoven with her own family history and insights from her time in the Hasidic community. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

IdentityJewish HistoryStorytellingSoviet JewryMemoirImmigrationAmerican DreamHasidic LifeHoustonLeah Lax

Places mentioned

Houston, Texas, United States
"Houston author and librettist Leah Lax was commissioned to write a libretto of immigrant stories."
El Salvador
"Lax opens Not From Here with Luisas story—a young woman who fled sexual violence and death threats in El Salvador."
Brooklyn, New York, United States
"Known for her previous book, Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home, a memoir about living for three decades in the Lubavitch community in Brooklyn while a closeted lesbian."
Ukraine
"Lax documents Soviet Jewish immigration by returning to the ultra-Orthodox Brooklyn community she once called home to interview Manya, a refugee from what is now Ukraine."

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Cairo Item ID 42288
Cairo Source ID 44
Retrieved 2025-01-22 05:30:38 UTC
Curated 2025-01-22 08:31:19 UTC