Paul Wieder photo 375

Paul Wieder

Imagine a man with the charisma of Cary Grant, the audacity of Marlon Brando, and the brilliance of Laurence Olivier. That's George Clooney. I'm more… Jason Alexander. I was born in Cleveland in 1970, but entered Northwestern in 1988, moving to Chicago permanently (so far) in 1994… so there is some hesitancy as to where I'm "from". I have three gorgeous, genius children- two of high-school age and a first-grader. As of 2007, I have a wife who is prettier, smarter and more athletic than me. And we have a mini Labradoodle who is just plain ridiculous. Me? I have worked for JUF's Marketing Communications department since coming to Chicago, where I edited the Tween Page of JUF's website, including one of the most comprehensive lists of Jewish celebs on the Web. For the last several years, I have been the associate editor of JUF News. I have kept writing on the side, doing my own creative writing and now blogging. Since 1999, I have been reviewing Jewish music, with a recent series of podcasts in which I interview that genre's major figures, including Matisyahu, David Broza, and Debbie Friedman, as well as other musical celebrities, including Peter Paul & Mary's Peter Yarrow, classical pianist Yefim Bronfman, and the late jazz icon Dave Brubeck, as well as Scandal's Josh Malina, I spend way too much of my time in front of "glowing rectangles", even though I like to be outdoors. I am somewhat handy tool-wise, am competent in the kitchen, and I can fold a king-size fitted sheet by myself. I read mostly non-fiction, and I don't get enough sleep. Oh, and when I grow up I want to be Roger Ebert.

Articles by this Author
paulsummerjams
What’s Jewish about fun-in-the-sun favorites
poetrybook
Explore a new book compiling historical and contemporary Israeli poetry.
WT2
How up-to-date are you on Jewish trivia?
jewish kids books
Great Jewish children’s books are released every year. But sometimes it’s great to revisit some old friends.
christmas music
A list of 25 Christmas songs written by Jews, told in the form of a song, of course.
yiddish professor
Meet Jessica Kirzane, the new Yiddish lecturer at UChicago.
hava nagila photo
Scrolling through the documentary offerings on Netflix, I began to feel that there were a lot of them on one subject: The Holocaust.

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