Today I Am A Man

50 year old Steven Goldman waits for Todd Holloway, a 15 year old student, to leave school, and beats him up in front of his friends. Afterwards Goldman calmly goes home to have dinner with his family while he waits for the police to arrest him. The key to his reprehensible behavior becomes apparent through a series of flashbacks to his childhood, when his family moved from a harsh Canada winter to the raw heat of Los Angeles in the early sixties.

A son of Chinese immigrants discovers his true self in a “sharply written debut . . . a coming-of-age tale for our time” (Seattle Times). Publishing Triangle’s Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, Winner 2015 PEN/ Hemingway Award, Finalist Lambda Literary Award, Finalist Longlisted for the 2014 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection for Spring 2014 A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize At birth, Peter Huang is given the Chinese name Juan Chaun, “powerful king.” To his parents, newly settled in small-town Ontario, he is the exalted only son in a sea of daughters, the one who will finally fulfill his immigrant father’s dreams of Western masculinity. Peter and his sisters grow up in an airless house of order and obligation, though secrets and half-truths simmer beneath the surface. At the first opportunity, each of the girls lights out on her own. But for Peter, escape is not as simple as fleeing his parents’ home. Though his father crowned him “powerful king,” Peter knows otherwise. He knows he is really a girl. With the help of his far-flung sisters and the sympathetic souls he finds along the way, Peter inches ever closer to his own life, his own skin, in this darkly funny, emotionally acute, stunningly powerful debut. “Sensitively wrought . . . “For Today I Am a Boy” is as much about the construction of self as the consequences of its unwitting destruction—and what happens when its acceptance seems as foreign as another country.” —The New York Times Book Review “Subtle and controlled, with flashes of humor and warmth.” —Slate “Keeps you reading. Told in snatches of memory that hurt so much they have the ring of truth.” —Bust

THE STORY: Talented and precocious, Irving Yanover, at the tender age of 10, is both a piano prodigy and, at times, a thorn in the side of his orthodox parents, who lament his unaccountable predilection for bacon. But knowing that his mother and father indulge a similar passion (while dining out at a Chinese restaurant), Irving can only question their double standard. But even more upsetting is the unhappy fate of Annie, the Yanovers' young Ukrainian housekeeper, whose romance with a young Italian immigrant is bitterly opposed by her staunchly old-world parents—even though everyone knows that Annie's father is an enthusiastic devotee of Italian opera. Happily, however, these and other problems are delightfully resolved, with wit, gentle humor and a warm sense of humanity which will endear the play to audiences of all faiths and backgrounds.

"Can I now, a white-haired man who gets into the movies at reduced cost, do I have any magic words left? Can I get a miracle? If I can recall my youth and understand it, that may be the miracle I seek now." When David Hays was 66 and had joined a synagogue for the first time in over fifty years, he decided to study Hebrew and be a bar mitzvah. And so this world-renowned theatrical designer, founder of the legendary National Theatre of the Deaf, father of two grown children and coauthor of the bestselling "My Old Man and the Sea," borrowed his grandson's beginner's Hebrew workbook and joined a class of twelve-year-olds. It launched a wondrous journey of faith and community. In "Today I Am a Boy," Hays's new world begins to intersect with his own history: on Yom Kippur, Hays, who has sailed around Cape Horn with his son, reads the story of Jonah to the congregation and gives a sermon on the Old Testament and the sea. His long-dormant love of learning is wholly rekindled. At the stage of life when most of us begin to slow down, Hays feels more alive than ever, rejuvenated by newfound connections to his youth and faith. "Today I Am a Boy" is a brave, clear-eyed and joyous examination of life.

“The amazing tales of Jewish girls on six different continents who celebrate the Jewish ritual of becoming a woman.” —The Jewish Journal Winner, Spirituality Category, New England Festival Best Books of the Holiday Season Divided into nine regions—Africa; Asia; Australia and New Zealand; the Caribbean, Europe; the former Soviet Union, former Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe; Latin America; the Middle East and North Africa; and North America—this book tells the story of each girl’s unique journey and introduction into womanhood. Gorgeously illustrated with more than 100 black and white family photographs, Today I Am a Woman also captures each area’s unique customs and how they affect the lives of Jewish girls and the local Jewish community’s traditions. “The editors scoured the globe to find powerful, varied, and moving depictions of bat mitzvah in the contemporary Jewish world. This is a rich resource for anyone interested in understanding religious diversity, folk practices, and cultural creativity through the lens of gender.” —Deborah Dash Moore, former Director of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies and a Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor of History and Judaic Studies, University of Michigan “The stories speak for themselves, putting Jewish girls and women on the center of the stage, into the limelight, and at the pulpit. By showcasing ritual innovation, they make a point about Judaism’s elasticity and women’s agency.” —Hasia R. Diner, coeditor of Remembering the Lower East Side

As a race, we can no longer hold the entire Caucasian race responsible for what their parents and grandparents did to our parents and grandparents because they had nothing to do with it. Through the actions of many men and women who happened to be white, I have learned that love has no color. Only racism, prejudice, and hate recognize color. We can't change the prejudice and attitudes of other people; we can change their attitudes by not living up to their prejudice. If we, as a human race, would forgive others just one-third of how much Jesus forgives us, there would be very little prejudice, racism, jealousy, and envy. As a race, many of must get out of this poverty mentality and realize that speaking proper English, getting an education and becoming successful are not limited to one race but open to all races. Many African Americans feel like they have to be defined by their race when in actuality, we should all be defined by our individuality. We have to come to the conclusion that we are one race; before we were defined by our color, we were the human race. We must understand that the best way to prove you are a man is to simply be a man. A real man doesn't feel like he has to prove he's a man, because he already knows he's a man.

History is a life lesson that often repeats itself, however we as women can learn from our past to create a promising future. Learning is a powerful tool that most of us take for granted. With this book, I hope to teach and inspire individuals from my personal perspective. This book is for the women that think they're going through life's hardships alone, for the women that lack self empowerment to reach their aspirations, and for the men that simply want to see life from a woman's point of view. I wish to share with you my personal journey, in hopes that you may be able to find courage and happiness within your own life.