Departure Stories: Betty Crocker Made Matzoh Balls (and other lies)
246
Departure Stories: Betty Crocker Made Matzoh Balls (and other lies)
246Paperback
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780253064073 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Indiana University Press (Ips) |
| Publication date: | 10/04/2022 |
| Pages: | 246 |
| Sales rank: | 1,115,824 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d) |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Departure
1. the act of leaving a place
2. a variation that deviates from the standard or norm
—Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The two central definitions of "departure"—leaving and deviating from the norm—aptly describe the history and character of my family, the Jews, and my experience of growing up Jewish in the White Christian Minnesota suburbs.
They also describe my mother, whose various departures (from sanity, her marriage, her children, and eventually, Minnesota,) drove the plot line in my family's story. She was, as they say, "a pistol," whose thwarted ambitions include her attempt to become the first Jewish Mrs. Minnesota in 1964.
This book is rooted in my family's departure stories examined through the broader lens of Minnesota history. It touches on the state's antisemitism and its unique relationship to "difference." My family was one of only a handful of Jewish families living in the Minneapolis suburb of New Hope during the 1960s and 70s. Among the humorous anecdotes of latkes and lutefisk, you'll find tales of Jews as insider/outsiders—tolerated but not quite welcome. It's a different perspective of Minnesota's particular brand of "Nice."
Table of Contents
Author's NotePart One: ArrivalsThe Bernick Family Survival RelayMemory is a Slippery FishThe Great Jewish InvasionThree Jewish JokesThree Minnesota JokesA Departure from Minnesota NiceA Story Told to Me by Grandpa IzzyAliens from Dee Olt CountreeDecamping to the SuburbsInteresting DemographicsEmigration to AssimilationThe First Coffee KlatchWaikiki Meatballs (recipe)Arlene Wants Nice LampsMaking a Betty Crocker Break for ItMrs. Minnesota 1964Mrs. Jewish Minnesota 1964Mrs. Samuel Bernick Reaches for the CrownHusbands of Contestants Wash DishesPageant Night—Mrs. Minnesota 1964Winners and LosersJewishNotChristianMrs. Swanson—1967Can't Hide from the WeatherCold SnapThe Pain Game—1968Sewing (In)SanityPart Two: Departing from the StorylineAnother Jewish Joke(Re)Constructing the NarrativeMarriage Go-RoundDisclaimerArlene Goes AWOL—1968Disappearing ActTurn Up the Volume—1968Missing the Strike ZoneExiled to the War Zone—1969RevolutionariesNo Rescue in Sight—1969Terra IncognitaThe Swinging TreeStress FracturesBubble-SpeakGritOut in the ColdLooking for the ExitsSnow Bunny Gets Lost in La La LandBad with a Capital BSA Real NightmareRemembering and ForgettingTruth and LiesThe Nearest ExitEpilogue: Evolving StorylinesAppendicesTimeline: Jews (and my family) in Minnesota 1840-1962Timeline: Jews (and my family) in the Minneapolis suburbs 1950-1970Timeline: The "Divorce Revolution" 1960-1975Timeline: Jews (and my family) in California 1945-1973NotesBibliographyAcknowledgmentsWhat People are Saying About This
Elisa Bernick's compelling memoir is an insightful exploration of abandonment and abuse. As a child of a minority Jewish family in her Minnesota town, Bernick grapples with her status as a religious and social outcast, and her mother's cruelties and neglect. But make no mistake, this superb, fascinating memoir is not a typical tale of a woeful upbringing. There is no self-pity on these pages. Its genius arises out of Bernick's interrogation of how a personal narrative creates identity. Through her hopeful, optimistic interpretation of the Passover story, Bernick concludes that reinventing our narratives allows us to break free from victimhood and find a meaningful and fulfilling way to live our lives.
In this thoughtful and thought-provoking memoir, Bernick reveals strengths inherent in resilience, while offering up just the right touches of humor and hope. A must-read for those needing a blueprint for how to bring an unwavering eye to difficult relationships in order to find the truth that rests not merely in the past but within ourselves.
If you've ever wondered what "Minnesota Nice" is, go get a copy of Elisa Bernick's Departure Stories! Bernick deftly weaves personal narrative and history in this coming-of-age memoir about growing up Jewish in a Minneapolis suburb, where she felt both different and invisible, "belonging and not belonging." But when Elisa's parents divorce (long before that was acceptable) and she's uprooted to Southern California, she taps into her own resilience and the ability to craft a different story for herself. Full of humor and heartbreak, Departure Stories is a delightful memoir that uncovers larger truths about memory, identity, family and the lengths we will go to find our way home.
Elisa Bernick's Departure Stories is a marvel of a memoir. Her alternately heartbreaking and hilarious prose both glimmers and cuts, her storytelling as knowing as a Coen brothers film about the tragicomic weirdness of growing up as a Jewish kid on the prairie in the 1960s and 70s. Toss into the narrative the Bernicks—a family as dysfunctional as a dystopian Brady Bunch—and one finds an absolutely unique narrative that forcefully strikes both the heart and head. Whether recalling the perhaps not-so-clueless neighbor dropping off a nice ham, or over-hearing her mother making love to a man not Elisa's father, Bernick delights even in her darkest recollections.
This is a tough/tender, sad/hopeful book about the history we share with those close to us and that which we share with the world, and how that history is shaped by our own memories. Elisa Bernick tells the story of her fraught family with depth and humor and a sense of forgiveness that is an inspiration.