December 20, 2012, 5:00am
Forward Fives: 2012 in Non-Fiction
By Forward Staff
http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/167581/forward-fives--in-non-fiction/In the annual Forward Fives selection we celebrate the year's cultural output with a series of deliberately eclectic choices in music, performance, exhibitions, books and film. Here we present five of our favorite works of non-fiction of 2012. Feel free to argue with and add to our selections in the comments.
Joy Ladin, "Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders"
With "Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey Between Genders," Ladin, who holds the David and Ruth Guttesman Chair in English at Stern College, has luminously expressed her situation and has become an advocate of transgender rights and issues in the Jewish world. In it, she describes in sometimes heart-wrenching detail her transition from Jay, the male English literature professor at Yeshiva University's Stern College for Women, to Joy, the first ever openly transgender person to teach at an Orthodox Jewish institution.
