Have never had a schizzy relation with being Jewish. It’s my ethnic identity; and I have always been able to navigate all worlds. Do believe that Jewish girls can find Jewish boys. Heck, I have….
Like many Long Island bred Jewish girls who lived in Queens until age twelve, and thus had schizzy relations with both, I have long had crushes on Dennis Quaid, Kevin Bacon and Viggio Mortenson. Yeah, James Spader, too but that’s separate. Just to clarify: I don’t have a crush on William Shatner. Gawd no, but I was the first person to point out how well dressed he is.
Meg and Dennis were okay, but I was neutral on Meg. Kyra and Kevin; yes always loved that combination. Kyra’s exciting; there’s a danger about her. Even in The Closer where she described her character as “Talbot’s 1970′s.” Thought that was the greatest description I have ever heard.
When I lived on East 63rd and truly felt like an uptown girl, I would think about how Edie Sedgwick lived across the street from my building, and if she could do it…she had killed herself before I moved there, but aside from that minor detail, I thought that she made a great role model. Though I had no desire to know Andy Warhol.
I had known Holly Woodlawn when I was in my late teens-mid 20′s, and to know Holly was to know her parrots, and I’m not a bird person. Kind of ruined the whole Warhol mystique for me.
Edie and Kyra are first cousins once removed. I actually know what this means as I memorized the Princess Diana/how to figure out cousins or something issue of People one Memorial Day weekend in Sag Harbor when I banned The Blenderbusters from playing music because Lucia had sung rock lyrics in an opera voice to me for eleven straight hours, and I thought I would never listen to music again. I had power over my friends and I used it. Have no idea why I had power; will explore that some other time.
Kyra’s father and Edie are first cousins. Remember reading an interview with Kyra when she was very young and new, and she talked about how sick Edie was and disdained the whole drug thing. Didn’t believe it all; maybe I didn’t want to. I assumed she was WASP because Edie was; but uh I look it too at times.
Always thought that Kyra and Kevin are the essence of cool. I don’t know why it shocked me so much when I first came upon Neil’s blog, and saw uh, an interview did with three famous Jewish actors: Leonard Nimroy, Jason Alexander and Kyra Sedgwick.
Shocked. I was totally shocked, and have been ever since. Kevin Bacon’s been married to a nice Jewish girl all these years? How did I not know this? Can’t decide if I have to get a life because I didn’t know this, and should have or because it’s so important to me. Being Jewish is part of my identity more than my religion. I have never analyzed this and aren’t going to begin here. Yet I don’t have many Jewish friends. Do I? I live in New York, duh, yes. We just act more Unitarian. Kyra’s not what you expect when you hear the word “Jewish,” and I like going against type.
Kyra being Jewish makes me very happy. Sort of akin the way a group of my girlfriends felt the day Candace Bushnell got married. It’s a weird reaction but I love love love Kevin Bacon; The Bacon Brothers, his group with his brother are not great but very good. Saw them at a free concert shortly after 9/11. Almost actually paid to see them somewhere but I don’t like them that much.
Think I have a girl crush on Kyra; this is both a strange thing to feel and to admit.
I always hear about the chiksas (non Jewish girls) who move in on all the good ones. Personally, I married a nice Jewish boy, really nice; and there was Zachary, my New Orleans singer/song writer, rebel with a zillion causes non meaningful, who had even been Bar Mitzvahed.
My sister used to make me go to single things at The 92nd Street Y with her so I always associate it with nerdy, in the bad sense, guys, who move in too fast and have the worst lines in the world, all having to do with their profession. It has a good writing program but I’m too lazy to go cross town or downtown for one.
If I were a better Jew I would have read the catalogue before throwing it out, and I might have even gone to this, but…
Neil’s mother isn’t the only person to find his interview funny. I was on the floor. It’s priceless.
The phrase “If I were a better Jew…” always amuses me when my friends say it (or something similar). Is it a positive thing that so many Jewish people finally feel comfortable enough to let down some of the walls that has kept the ethnicity comparitively “pure” for so long? I mean, a Jewish person marrying a gentile seems like it’s probably less of a big deal today… Is it a sign of a better world?
Um, not Jewish, but think Kyra is friggin awesome. She has such a cool look about her. And she and Kev are a match made in heaven.
Heya! Thanks for visiting my site yesterday!
Man, we have *such* a small jewish community here in Vancouver when you compare against New York that it’s all so foreign to me!
cute post.
My friend … is half Jewish his mom is I guess the chiksa thing. He was brought up in both religions… and now he gets to choose; although, he choose no religion…anyway..his grandmother, whom I met this summer, was big on, not saying if you were a better jew, but saying ” I thought you’d be a better Jew than that”.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Bacon band the only thing I think of when I hear his name is seven degrees of separation.
Loved the post…
Hey, do you guys still go to Sag Harbor? My dad lives out there… near Cromer’s Market on Noyac Road. Small world…
Am also surprised to discover Kyra is Jewish; has any other Jewish girl played southern so convincingly? (I know Jewish women from the south, and it still hits me as incongruous that someone Jewish can have an accent like that…) I have a boy crush on her, but have no trouble admitting it.
This is all very interesting. Reading this post, I felt like I’ve been discovered by Columbus.
I don’t know why but Kyra doesn’t do a thing for me. I’ve always enjoyed the company of the Jewish girls I’ve come to know. There’s something about their intellectual agility and their family’s emphasis on education. Asian families have that ethic too. Hell, after talking to my dog all these years I’ll chat with just about anyone.