My grandmother on my mother's side was the only grandma I had—my other grandma died the year I was born. She was in my life for my first 35 years, so she had an impact. Initially, she was accompanied by my grandfather, Meyer, who was a joy to b...

When does a house become a home? How does a house become a home? In the recent L.A. fires, around 10,000 houses were destroyed. When a house is also a home, much more goes up in flames than the structure and its contents. The house itself has a...

From 1934 to 1951, Canada Lee was the most famous and revered Black actor of his day, associated -- and frequently starring -- with every landmark African American Broadway production. He broke barriers again and again by being cast in non-Blac...

But have you heard of any Jewish boxers? Did you know that almost 30% of professional boxers in the 20s and 30s were Jewish? As for Jewish athletes, you may have heard of Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, but why not Barney Ross, one of the few ...

"I was an American again, had been for the decade since we had returned from our sojourn in France. Nothing, it seemed, had stuck from my wonder years in the City of Light except for something of the language I had learned to speak by the end o...

Sam and Daniel are in Israel, circa 1969. They are on a kibbutz, learning Hebrew in the morning and working for their room and board in the afternoon. Sam follows Daniel in his effort to deepen his Jewish identity. They go to Mount Tabor, site ...

America 1968. Everything was up for grabs. All passion and creativity seemed to gush from the counterculture. "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive/But to be young was very heaven." I was young, 18, and enrolled as an undergraduate in the four...

What's in a bedtime story? More than you might imagine. As we were growing up, my father introduced his version of imaginary creatures, the goops, into our household and family life. Created as negative role models to teach manners to Victorian...

Dr. Philipson interviews playwright and lesbian activist Jewelle Gomez about the life of the famous blues singer, Alberta Hunter, and the play Jewelle wrote based on that life.

"I have concluded from the melancholy nature of my subsequent development that the artifacts hung up on a child's wall can have a permanent effect on his life."So begins the essay on the role the Art played in my formation, an evolution...

Christian, Jew, or undeclared, all are subjected to the music, the rituals, the legacy of the Victorian Christmas which exercises an annual month-long grip on American culture. How can one not be warped, influenced, sentimentalized by this slow...

Meet Doris Hale, the most intimate and important African American that my famlly knew and trusted, in her own words. Dr. Philipson conducted and transcribed the interview back in the early 90s. In anticipation of releasing the manuscript of the...

The topic is an exposition of my diffuse yet distinct identity as a non-practicing Jew, as the son of non-practicing Jews, and as the great-nephew of the once-famous Rabbi David Philipson, one of the first Reform rabbis to be educated and ordai...

Dave Drexler of the San Diego's Jazz88.3 FM  conducted an interview with Dr. Robert Philipson when his documentary, "Body and Soul: An American Bridge" was selected as the closing night offering of the San Diego Jewish Film Festival and wa...

In 2019, the Netflix adaptation of the August Wilson play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, spread her fame to tens of thousands of Americans. The film starred Viola Davis as the bisexual blues diva and enshrined Chadwick Boseman's final perf...

Shoga Founder Dr. Robert Philipson holds a dialogue with African American composer Ozie Cargile about the possibilities of Black classical music. Find out what an orchestra "hit" is.

Shoga Founder Dr. Robert Philipson discusses the question, "Can Classical Music Be Black" with African American composer Ozie Cargile. Does there need to be something recognizably “Black” in classical music compositions by Black composers? Inde...