LZ Sunday Paper Newsletter: The "Connect the Unrelated Dots" Edition
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Readers,
Once again, Shanah Tovah (Happy Jewish New Year) to you and yours.
Our New Year's service at Tamid was really special. We installed a new Torah. Which is already a big deal. You don't just buy one at CostCo. Unless it is rescued or discovered from somewhere else in the world, it has to be commissioned. This one is the first Torah in the borough of Manhattan ever to have been scribed by a woman. It took Julie Seltzer about 2 1/2 years start to finish to acquire the materials and to write the 300,000+ letters with a feather quill and ink, on unbound animal parchment, bought in one of only a few places in Israel that are authorized to sell Torah supplies and would do so to a woman. Everyone in the congregation was invited to write a letter with her and, amazingly, almost every single family in the congregation did so!
Here we are writing our letter-- I think it's THE PIC(K) OF THE WEEK-worthy:
and you can read a bit more about it here, though it is behind he WSJ paywall:
Congregation Set To Unveil Torah Transcribed By Woman via The Wall Street Journal
It was an emotional experience, tbh. Maybe not as insane, dysfunctional, sexually charged, radical, and brilliant as the new season of 'Transparent', which partially takes place in Israel, but just as Jewish.
Another moment in my TV history was recalled this week when Lillian Ross died. Most people would not associate the great and literate Lillian Ross with TV, but my team and I at VH1 had the honor of her writing about a television show that I produced way back in time. Thank you, PR Guru and now Cleveland denizen Mary N.!
It was the second year of the VH1 Fashion Awards, 20ish years ago! The small band of folks who are quoted in the article are still my friends, one or two amongst my closest. It is a funky New Yorker Archive piece so hopefully you can open it and read it.
It was the year that we unleashed Derek Zoolander upon the world, by way of a short sketch. As brilliant as that was, and we absolutely knew it was funny as hell and a character for the ages, I can't believe I had the wherewithal to recognize that all the sketches being by men/for men/played by men was not going to work. I am proud that my woman-focus, or in this case my stern protesting was noted by the esteemed Lillian Ross, for posterity and a historical all-time record.
That year, we ended up also casting both Andy Dick and Kathy Griffin, each in a truly hilarious sketch. Kathy's was about an Ugly Model Academy. And Andy's was something about being a designer and waiting and waiting for Dolce & Gabbana to call. The internet is letting me down! I can't find any of those sketches anywhere. But I did find my fave sketch from the following year, with David Cross aka Arrested Development's Tobias Funke (and an amazing cameo by Jon Benjamin aka Archer's lead, Archer) as a The Nose, aka a perfumer. I thought they were beyond hysterical then and I do now. The fashion folks in the audience then, and probably now, not so much.
The LZ Sunday Paperâ„¢ launched at the dawn of 2014. I didn't expect to catch the wave of massive gender-, race-, and political disquietude, but hey I guess it was just in the ether and it was easy to become part of the rising tide. I did expect to expose and recirculate interesting content that is about, and frequently by, women in politics, business, media, and tech, along with a dose of ultra-relevant culture. I think that culture comes high and low, not much in between. Every week I hope to deliver at least one good laugh.
The audience we have to reach is vast and not gender-driven.
You can use the tip-line here, for interesting things to include in a future edition. Or just to say hi. Or vent.
Follow me on Twitter to get a daily fix.
I am on Insta @LZSundayPaper.
Find my true life perspective--when things are looking up, look down!-- by following me at @LZFloors Shalom,
LZ
POLITICS:
Angela Merkel, The Most Powerful Woman In A World Of Unstable Men via The New Yorker
Katie Tur's Insider Memoir Chronicles The Trump Campaign--And The Indignities Of Reporting While Female via The Washington Post
Democrats Are Losing Their Most Loyal Voters: Black Women via The New Republic
Men Weren't The Only Heroes Of The Vietnam War via The Lily
BUSINESS NEWS
App-savvy New Starbucks COO Is First Woman, African-American In Company's Highest Echelon via The Seattle Times
DIGITAL & TECH:
The Pao Effect Is What Happens After 'Lean In' via Wired
This Is How Sexism Works In Silicon Valley. My Lawsuit Failed. Others Won't. via The Cut
Push For Gender Equality In Tech? Some Men Say It's Gone Too Far via The New York Times
ARTS, MEDIA, FASHION, SPORT, CULTURE
Lena Waithe's Historic Night At The Emmy's via Longreads
Author Nnedi Okorafor Gets Slowly Pushed Aside As Her Book "Who Fears Death?" Becomes New HBO Series via Blavity
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Directed 'The Vietnam War' Together. Why Is Only One Of Them Famous? via The Washington Post
The New Powerpuff Girl Will Be Black via Shadow and Act
Actually, An All-Girls 'Lord Of The Flies' Could Be A Good Idea via Electric Lit
Safest Bet In Sports: Men Complaining About A Female Announcer's Voice via The New York Times
Boys Are Better At Physics Because They Learn About 'Projection' While Going To The Toilet, Researchers Say via The London Telegraph
Arm Spanx Are Happening, and Vogue Is Losing Its Mind via The New York Post
Baking With Mum Who Has Dementia via The Pool
Sue Klebold: My Son Was A Columbine Shooter. This Is My Story via TED
OBITUARY:
Lillian Ross, Acclaimed Reporter For The New Yorker, Dies At 99 via The New York Times
AND WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT:
A Short History Of The Skort via Atlas Obscura
The LZ Sunday Paperâ„¢ launched at the dawn of 2014. We expose and recirculate interesting content that is about, and frequently by, women in business, with a dose of ultra-relevant culture. We think that culture comes high and low, not much in between. Our audience is vast and not gender-driven. Every week we expect to deliver at least one good laugh. Send suggestions, clips, or names of people you think might enjoy this to LZSundayPaper@gmail.com.
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