Will London Have ‘Amy Winehouse Way’?

This post first appeared on The Arty Semite blog at the Forward.

Beatles fans in London have Abbey Road, to cross. Now, admirers of the late Amy Winehouse might also have somewhere special for walking.

The Sun reports that there are efforts underway to have a street named after the singer, who died in 2011 at age 27. A new area in King’s Cross is being redeveloped for housing, and locals are being asked to suggest street names for the new neighborhood. Winehouse’s former home is in Camden, which borders King’s Cross.

The singer’s fans, with full support from the Winehouse’s family, are lobbying for one of the roads to be named Winehouse Street. It’s been suggested that Winehouse Way might have more of a ring to it.

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© 2013 Renee Ghert-Zand. All rights reserved.

Obama’s Next Term? In Hollywood

This post first appeared in The Times of Israel.

President Obama plays Daniel Day-Lewis playing President Obama in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Obama.’ (photo credit: YouTube screenshot)

Steven Spielberg is working on a new movie. Naturally, he’s following up his successful “Lincoln” with “Obama.”

“As I was thinking about what to do next, in the middle of the night I woke up and it hit me — Obama. I mean the guy’s already a lame duck, so why wait?” the director remarked.

“I needed someone who could dive in and really become Barack Obama,” Spielberg said. So, of course, Daniel Day-Lewis, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of the 16^th president, plays the current commander in chief. “He becomes his characters,” the director praised the actor.

If this sounds like a joke, it’s because it actually is. Saturday evening, The White House YouTube channel posted a video made for the White House Correspondents Dinner featuring not only Spielberg, but also amateur thespian President Barack Obama.

 Click here to read more and watch the video.

© 2013 Renee Ghert-Zand. All rights reserved.

Jews, Israelis Await US Supreme Court’s Gay Marriage Ruling

The article was first published in The Times of Israel.

Lawyer Lavi Soloway, center, and his husband, Sebastian Dungan, share a daughter who will soon turn 6. (Albane Navizet)

Immigration attorney Lavi Soloway knows exactly where he’ll be Wednesday morning: standing in line outside the US Supreme Court, hoping to hear a case that could completely change the lives of his clients.

For 20 years, Soloway has fought tenaciously for marriage equality and the rights of LGBT immigrants, and currently represents 70 affected couples.

Since 1996, his clients’ main obstacle has been the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman. The law, which President Bill Clinton signed and now opposes, deprives protections to all gay and lesbian couples, but is particularly problematic for bi-national couples, who can be more easily torn apart because of US immigration policy. The law is one of two potentially landmark cases involving gay marriage before the Supreme Court this week. Arguments on the other case begin Tuesday.

“It’s been a gradual process, with many years when there was no progress to point to,” Soloway told The Times of Israel about his slow-going, uphill battle.

But in the past three years, momentum has been building in his clients’ favor.

“Apprehension and pessimism have given way to an avalanche of real, palpable change,” he said, referring to Americans’ rapidly changing attitudes toward gay marriage. A survey by the Public Religion Research Institute shows that American Jewsin particular are in favor of gay marriage, at a rate far greater than other religious groups.

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© 2013 Renee Ghert-Zand. All rights reserved.