Summary

BeforeThe Red Tentwon her international literary acclaim, Anita Diamant was a columnist in Boston. Over the course of twenty years, she wrote essays that reflected the shape and evoution of her life, as well as the trends of her generation. In the end, her musings about love and marriage, birth and death, nature versus nurture, politics and religion -- and everything from female friendships to quitting smoking -- have created a public diary of the progress of her life that resonated deeply with her readers. Now,Pitching My Tentcollects the finest columns of a writer who is a reporter by training and a storyteller by heart, all revised and enriched with new material. Personal, inspiring, and often funny,Pitching My Tentdisplays the warmth, humor, and wisdom that Diamant's legions of fans have come to cherish.

Author Biography

Anita Diamant, the author of six books about contemporary Jewish life and two novels, is a prizewinning journalist whose work has appeared regularly in The Boston Globe Magazine and Parenting. The Red Tent, her first novel, was named Book Sense Book of the Year. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband

Introduction

Love, Marriage, Baby Carriage

The Kiss

(6)

Religious Fanatics

(4)

Why Marry?

(4)

Blast Off

(5)

Nagging

(4)

Truce and Consequences

(4)

Grief, Dispossessed

(4)

Airing It Out

(5)

Bedtime Story

(3)

Fireflies

(11)

My One and Only

One

(4)

Nursing a Dream

(4)

Tender Triangle

(4)

Artful

(3)

Reading Material

(4)

Learning to Let Go

(3)

Beach Beacon

(3)

Dear Emilia

(3)

The Mother's Bat Mitzvah Speech

(3)

Columbine

(3)

Friday Night at the Crossroads

(8)

The Good Ship

Side by Side

(4)

Girlfriends, in Particular

101

(3)

With a Friend in Mourning

104

(3)

A Four-way Debate

107

(3)

Widening the Circle

110

(3)

To Sir, with Love

113

(3)

Dogs and Katz

116

(9)

Time Zones

Straddling the Calendar

125

(3)

Rosh Hashanah

128

(4)

The Sukkah Next Door

132

(3)

Assimilating Thanksgiving

135

(3)

Christmas Lessons

138

(3)

Ha-Ha-Hanukkah

141

(4)

Purim Rocks

145

(3)

The Orange on the Seder Plate

148

(3)

Yom HaShoah

151

(3)

Yahrzeit

154

(7)

In the Middle

Midlife, the Beginning

161

(4)

First Flame

165

(4)

Vigil

169

(4)

Time-out

173

(3)

Good-bye

176

(3)

Heaven on Earth

179

(4)

The Communal Route

183

(8)

Home for the Soul

Aleph-Bet

191

(3)

Reforming

194

(4)

My Teacher

198

(3)

Joyful Noise

201

(3)

Meeting Adjourned

204

(3)

Midrash---or Not

207

(4)

Living Waters

211

(6)

Community

217

(4)

Acknowledgments

221

Supplemental Materials

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Excerpts

Introduction

BeforeThe Red Tent,beforeGood Harbor,before and during six books on contemporary Jewish life, I was a columnist.

I wrote essays about friendship and fashion, about marriage and electoral politics, about abortion, lingerie, situation comedies, birth, death, God, country, and my dog. I covered the waterfront and the supermarket, my synagogue, the waiting room outside the intensive care unit, and my own kitchen table.

I did this over the course of twenty years for publications that included a weekly newspaper with a mostly twenty-something readership, and later for a Sunday-magazine audience of millions. I wrote for food lovers in a New England magazine, for the parents of young children in a national publication, and for an international Jewish audience in an on-line magazine. Most of the time, my assignment was weekly; sometimes, it was monthly.

My job was to report on the events of the day and the changes under my own roof. The challenge was to pay closer-than-average attention and then shape my experiences and reactions into entertaining prose that rose above the level of my own navel. It was more than a great job -- it was a meaningful job.

This collection, culled from those publications and years, turns out to be a sort of diary. It includes musings about the contents of my refrigerator as well as reflections about the most important decisions of my life. To divorce and marry again. To have a child. To live a Jewish life.

I suppose it's a measure of how much the world has changed that what once seemed like "edgy" choices now seem fairly mainstream. But at the time, I was thinking and doing things that were simply unimaginable for women at any other period in human history. Having been born female, white, and middle class in the United States, in the middle of the twentieth century, meant the women's movement happened to me, in me, for me. It meant that it was highly unlikely that I would die in childbirth, and it meant that I could teach my daughter to speak in her own voice. It meant I could love my work and love my family. And it meant that there was an audience for what I had to say about the trials and joys of this girl's life.

Actually, the audience was the great, unexpected gift of the assignment because they wrote back. A few said, "No way," and "How dare you?" But many more said, "Me, too," and "Thanks."

We connected -- my readers and I -- because we were trying something entirely new. We were not just tinkering around the edges, adjusting our "roles" as women and men. We were reinventing the female psyche and soul, which of course required a radical recasting of the male. We're still at it, too, and with more confidence, wisdom, and resources every year. That our daughters and sons are blasé about this transformation is a measure of our success.

Looking back through these essays, reflecting on the reflections, is a lot like leafing through the family photo album. I stop and exclaim over the difference between my daughter then (kindergarten) and my daughter now (college). The changes in me are not quite as photogenic, but I think I've become kinder and more patient. I sure hope so.

My tent is filled with friends and songs and books and memories. My tent -- and I hope yours, too -- is filled with blessings. Come see.

Excerpted from Pitching My Tent: On Marriage, Motherhood, Friendship, and Other Leaps of Faith by Anita Diamant
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.