Why is this newsletter different from all other newsletters?

Short answer: the American Jewish scene; neighborhood and urbanism; higher ed; literature; family; dadhood; ice cream.

Ashley's Ice Cream - The Shops at Yale — My favorite local ice cream.

If that is your cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate/coffee-Oreo ice cream, click here:

Longer answer: I am interested in The Way Back: the way back from our current anomie, atomization, anger, and polarization; the way back seat of those great 1970s and ’80s station wagons, like my mom‘s cream-colored Plymouth Volare; and the best in art and culture, for example the under-appreciated 2013 movie The Way Way Back.

The Way, Way Back movie review (2013) | Roger Ebert — A good movie.

(This newsletter takes no position on the Wayback Burgers fast-food chain.)

Put another way, I will cover some of the interests that have sustained me during my stints covering religion and culture at The New York Times, The Christian Century, and Tablet: religion and other human institutions, like neighborhoods, schools, and art, that bring people together in real, in-person community. There will be a lot about Jewish life, but Gentiles, and Gentile stories, will have a safe space here, too.

Gin and Tonic Digital Image Digital Download. JPGPNG for image 1 — Gentile allyship.

If you know have thoughts on things that are working, things that are building community in new (or old) ways—your curling club, a 12-step group, the church sisterhood, a darts league—or if you just have something to recommend (a book, a song, a useful gadget), write to me at markoppenheimer@substack.com.

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Things can seem pretty broken—but there is a way back. It will definitely involve neighborhood, religion (in my case, Judaism), family, other old truths. And coffee ice cream. And the way-back seat in the station wagon.

People

Mark Oppenheimer

@markoppenheimer

Author of “Squirrel Hill,” “Wisenheimer: A Childhood Subject to Debate," forthcoming bio of Judy Blume. I support local ice cream. Like many, I think human flourishing peaked senior year in college (in my case, 1996).