Posted by Naomi Firestone-Teeter
Earlier this week, the Jewish Book Council sent a few NETWORK authors to TribeFest. We set up two panels:
A PEEP SHOW OPERATOR OR A HASIDIC JEW; THE LOVE OF FAMILY OR A LIFE FILLED WITH OPULENCE & PROMISE: TWO CONFLICTING WORLDS AND LIFE DEFINING CHOICES with Sharon Pomerantz and Joshua Braff
and
MEGA-CHURCHES, PRISONS, AND JEWISH IDENTITY: LOOKING FOR ANSWERS IN UNLIKELY PLACES with Benyamin Cohen and Avi Steinberg
Upon returning from Vegas (to attend the National Jewish Book Award ceremony!), Sharon sent us the following reflections on her experience:
Tribefest at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas attracted about 1200 – 1400 young Jews (I heard different estimates as the day went on). The diversity was staggering – Hasidic, Conservative, modern Orthodox, Reform, Ashkenaz and Sephardic; singles and parents with children; transexual, gay and lesbian Jews; Jews by Choice; Israeli and Canadian Jews; Jews from cities and small towns across America, Jews who rap and do stand-up, Jews in sports – I could go on and on.
My session with Josh Braff was a lot of fun. His book, Peep Show, is an interesting pairing with Rich Boy, as it’s about an Orthodox family in the strip club/peep show business in New York City in the 1970s. That’s the same time Robert Vishniak comes to New York City as a cab driver, though his eyes are on Park Avenue, not 42nd Street (that’s more his brother’s realm). The audience of about 100+ people asked terrific questions, about the writing process, morality and fiction, the future of the publishing industry, and, my favorite question – what makes a book Jewish?
There was a lot of blogging, tweeting, Facebooking and general use of technology at the event. I spent some time with my friend, Esther Kustanowitz, blogger and tweeter extraordinaire (Esther was “blogging” and “tweeting” about Jewish issues back when few of us knew what those words meant). To get to the sessions, we had to walk through the casino. I come from a family of very passionate gamblers, and though I did restrain myself, I managed to make what my late father would call “a small donation” to the casinos.
The economy of Las Vegas can certainly use the tourist dollars. My cab driver and several others I encountered outside the event told me quite a tale of woe – the state of Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, is tops in home foreclosures and car and truck repossessions. The tourist industry, obviously, is hurting and I was told to “tell my friends to come to Las Vegas” more times than I can say. So in that way, holding Tribefest in Las Vegas was a mitzvah.
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