by Matthew Friedman | Jun 30, 2025 | Behind the Lines, Commentary
This is my Canada Day confession: I lost my “us“ about a decade ago, along with my “res“ and my “gues.” I stubbornly held onto them throughout graduate school in the United states, and I even have a footnote in my dissertation about my preference for “theatre“ rather...
by Matthew Friedman | Jun 24, 2025 | Behind the Lines
I’ve been drinking a bit more beer than usual, lately. I blame the hot, humid, New Jersey weather, I guess, but also that, since my partner finally came out as an occasional beer drinker, I’ve been picking up the odd six-pack to keep in the fridge – Allagash,...
by Matthew Friedman | Jun 18, 2025 | Commentary, Essays, Politics
I did not march last weekend. It is not that I don’t support the demonstrations, and I still feel guilty about not “doing my part,” but I am a permanent resident in the US. That makes me a barely-tolerated foreigner in the United States with the flimsy armor of a...
by Matthew Friedman | Jun 9, 2025 | Essays, Jewish Life
I live in fear. It isn’t an intense terror or that primal fear of imminent destruction. Rather, I live in a constant state of suspended apprehension that something is about to happen, something bad. It has happened before and, as Hannah Arendt noted, once evil is...
by Matthew Friedman | Jun 1, 2025 | Commentary, Gaza Journal
I documented the destruction of Gaza for 52 weeks – an entire year – in my Gaza Journal. I began the journal on 29 October 2023 after an erstwhile friend took exception to my social media post, “I am diminished by the death of every noncombatant, whether they are...
