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Perplexed Jew

Thomas P. Balazs

Writer, English professor, late-life dad. Second-generation Holocaust survivor raised as a Christian, living as a Jew, dabbling in religion, philosophy, politics, and culture.

Platform
Substack
PricingOnly free issuesPublishesWeekly
Issues100Founded3 years agoLast Issue6 days ago
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Latest Issues

No, the MFA Workshop Model Is Not the Problem

OK, here’s the problem with MFA programs. The problem is not with the workshop model. The problem is with the institutional program model.

The problem is definitely not that workshop encourages conformity to some abstract ideal.

Here’s...

6 days ago
7
1

The Eagles: Troubadours of Modern Love

The Eagles performing in Atlanta on their 2026 “Long Goodbye Tour.”

Well I’m a-running down the road trying to loosen my load
Got seven women on my mind,
Four that want to own me, two that want to stone me
One says she’s a fr...

21 days ago
11
8

Photographs and Memories

Back in 2015, my wife, son, and I took an amazing year-long road trip across the country. The following is a very slightly revised blog post I wrote at the time that I thought readers might still enjoy.

We didn’t have a lot of family photo...

a month ago
12
4

Two Guys Walk Into the Woods . . . .

Pups without politics

So I was walking my dog in our usual spot, a nice little trail through a wooded valley. And as I descended into the park, my dog off leash as usual, I spotted a guy maybe ten or fifteen years younger than me, wearing...

2 months ago
12
11

Star Trek Indulgences for Self-Made Purgatories

There was a time—so I learned from The Canterbury Tales—when you could buy yourself a timeout from purgatory with a so-called “indulgence,” available for a small sum from your local pardoner.

These certificates purported to earn you an ea...

3 months ago
17
16

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  • Thomas P. Balazs

    Thomas P. Balázs is a cultural critic, storyteller, and “perplexed Jew” writing on faith, fiction, and keeping kosher and its discontents. His work appears in Quillette, Tablet, Horror Library, and other picture postcards.

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