We all came here from somewhere.

Unless you’re a Native American, your people came here from somewhere else, learning how to become American, figuring out what that meant, how to parse the line between the fears of the Old World and the crazy promise of the New.

The Jewish American experience on the Lower East Side of New York is recent enough that there’s still first-hand memory of coming here or growing up with people who did. There’s a three-volume book that’s just come out, full of the voices of those witnesses and well worth reading.

Smitty has a piece in there, so okay, I’m prejudiced but what I’ve seen just dipping my toe in looked fascinating.

Here’s her take on it; here’s a link to the publisher and here’s the Amazon link. Have a look. It’s amazing how universal the immigrant experience is across ethnic lines and how many ways those experiences still ripple through our lives today.

Some members of Congress ought to read it to, I’m just sayin’…

(And, for those of you disappointed that I’ve paused in the hype for Mindbenders 2, I promise another chapter and update within the next week or so. Thanks for your patience.)