Crux

This is not a Christian book. If this story collection had to claim a denomination, it would be a secular Jewish book, pointing out Christianity's obtrusion on others. Christian presumption prevailed in Southern Indiana, where childhood for a Jewish kid was like a salmon run, upstream, against the current.History is rife with abuse. Personal baggage is unpacked here, no offense intended. My Teacher Has a Big Red Apple first appeared in Lonely Hearts, Changing Worlds (Permanent Press,...
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This is not a Christian book. If this story collection had to claim a denomination, it would be a secular Jewish book, pointing out Christianity's obtrusion on others. Christian presumption prevailed in Southern Indiana, where childhood for a Jewish kid was like a salmon run, upstream, against the current.History is rife with abuse. Personal baggage is unpacked here, no offense intended. My Teacher Has a Big Red Apple first appeared in Lonely Hearts, Changing Worlds (Permanent Press, Sag Harbor, NY, 2001), reprinted with permission, and with encouragement from Bill McCauley, who said, "If you ever want to know how to write a short story, read My Teacher Has a Big Red Apple." It still makes me laugh, so here it is. In the Blue hits home where least expected, in fear, in dramatic departure and arrival. A snorkel executive won't share certain tales with tourists on vacay. But here it is. Because Crux goes to mortality and milestones on the way. Meaning can be nuanced in contact, with brief insight to the all of all, until that last transit, when essence changes. Consequence may linger, in spirit. Or not. Just for fun, here too are Hagan's Trial and Top of the Arch, first appearing in Hagan's Trial & Other Stories (ER. Smallwood, Tucson, 1995). Both recall innocent times and less tangle. Top of the Arch unfolded when Old Mom wasn't even seventy. Mai Li samples a Chinese worldview, heaven help us. Jewish youth in Southern Indiana could include stiff-neck anti-Semitism. Fire & Ice is excerpted from The Ice King (ER. Smallwood, 1995). Hoosier Daddy is a new perspective on that time.Crux is a convergence of secular and religious Jews coming to terms and, more importantly, replacing claims of dominance and domain with humble resolution. Christian Caucasian ideology often presumes that America is a Christian nation. America is a free nation, as taught in junior high in Southern Indiana in the late '50s. The crux for Jews is that some people will not forget you are Jewish, even if you do.