A: Since its founding, The CJM has been a home away from home, each visit like spending time in a village my ancestors came from—but a village that’s fully grounded in the present. I’ve wandered the galleries, alone and with others. I came many times to watch Julie Seltzer, one of the first women known to write a Torah scroll, sitting with quill and parchment—which deeply touched my heart. Over the years, I’ve read stories there, taught there. And it was such an honor to have been part of Nicki Green’s recent show, Firmament; to see my words for and about her amazing sculptures spiraling around the walls of the gallery. Such a blessing!

A: Lately I’ve been reading lots of young adult novels, all of which I find in Little Free Libraries on my walks around Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda, many of them by Jewish authors. That, and my ongoing conversations with Nicki [Green] about future collaborations—where to go after having danced sculpture and words together with angels—has inspired me to start writing my own first young adult novel. It’s grounded in ancestral stories, the culture we live in, the deep connections in my Jewish gay/queer life. It takes place on a Jewishy planet—that has three genders.

A: Obviously, I find inspiration in books and art. I was drawing before I started writing poems or stories, and my morning meditation is to do a small sketch with colored pencils. I find deep inspiration in nature. Birds, trees, the light at sunset, and smiling babies coming by in their strollers all touch my beating heart in a way that moves me to write, draw, dance, sing, cook, and spend time with others who are also in love with the world and want to share that love in their own creative ways.

A: My father was raised Orthodox in Brooklyn, New York. My mother grew up around the corner in a Jewish communist family. And I love bagels. We had them for breakfast every Shabbos. Daddy insisted on it (They had much bigger holes in the 1950s!). And every Sunday morning, we had bacon and eggs. Mommy’s requirement. Blending tradition and counter-tradition—hold that expression, and picture me standing at my kitchen counter—every Shabbat for breakfast I have a bagel with peanut butter and a banana smooshed on it. Cinnamon raisin, whole wheat, blueberry, sesame seed—all of which would have horrified both sides of my family! And sometimes, I eat it while soaking in the tub (try eating in the tub yourself. I think you’ll like it too!)