My mother's first cousin, Marion Michelle, had grown up in the first decades of the 20th century chafing against the bourgeois restrictions of Cleveland Jewish society. She went to the University of Chicago where Thornton Wilder frightened her out of serious literary effort and learned photography. She also got involved with the Communists there as…

Our choice of pets says a lot about who we are … and we are all very different. There are cat people; there are dog people; there are bird people; there are reptile people and on and on. The famlly pet can mark a child’s development for better or worse, but if a dog or cat lives out the full term of its life, it is a part of that family for 12 or 1…

The phrase "HIV Negative" implies the diagnosis "HIV positive," a precursor to the AIDS epidemic which decimated the gay male population in the 1980s and beyond. The stigma, still a force in some sectors of our society, delayed the mobilization for effective treatment when the epidemic first appeared in the early 80s. It took Ronald Reagan five yea…

This episode explores the life and legacy of actor John Garfield (born Julius Garfinkel), focusing on how his Jewish roots shaped his identity, artistic choices, and political stance. Journalist Robert Nott, author of He Ran All the Way: The Life of John Garfield, recounts Garfield’s upbringing on New York’s Lower East Side, among Jewish immigrant …

In the conclusion of The Artificial Grandma, Dr. Robert Philipson continues his journey through post-college drift, emotional illness, and the disillusionment of returning home. Set against the backdrop of a failed commune dream, an acid-laced revelation, and the oppressive weight of family history, Philipson navigates his internal crisis from the …

Dr. Robert Philipson reflects on the emotional limbo of post-college life in 1970s Pasadena, where returning home sparks a spiral of depression, existential doubt, and a search for meaning. Amid the decay of suburban sprawl and family disconnection, a psychedelic night with friends offers a vision of communal living rooted in shared purpose and sim…

Host Dr. Robert Philipson reflects on the life of his maternal grandmother, Jeanette, tracing a family legacy shaped by mismatched love, unspoken expectations, and the emotional weight of generational silence. From her immigrant roots and ill-fated marriage to her slow decline into senility, Jeanette’s story becomes a lens through which Dr. Philips…

Dr. Robert Philipson reflects on the layered history and personal meaning of his childhood home in Southern California, weaving together Indigenous displacement, colonial conquest, and postwar suburban life. As he moves room by room through The Old House, Philipson unpacks memories of joy, loneliness, family ritual, and quiet grief, transforming th…

In this episode, Dr. Robert Philipson interviews Mona Smith, Canada Lee's biographer, about the rise, political assassination, and virtual erasure of this African American hero. 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…

In this episode of Shoga Speaks, Dr. Robert Philipson interviews author Doug Century about his biography Barney Ross: The Life of a Jewish Fighter, exploring the extraordinary life of Barney Ross—a Jewish boxing champion, World War II hero, and outspoken recovering addict. Born Dov-Ber Rosofsky in an Orthodox household, Ross rose from Chicago’s Jew…

Host Dr. Robert Philipson guides listeners through a lyrical meditation on memory, identity, and the lasting imprint of Paris. Framed by a moment of reflection on the banks of the Oubangui River in the Central African Republic, Philipson recalls the two years of his childhood spent in Paris—an experience that profoundly shaped both him and his moth…

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 of a battle between the Israelites and the Canaanites, spend a weekend at a Chassidic yeshiva where Daniel…

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 fourth year of the great experimental campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz. The spirit of the …

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 children, the goops first saw life in books of moralistic doggerel published in 1900 and after. "But it w…

This episode of Shoga Speaks dives into the life and legacy of legendary blues singer Alberta Hunter through a rich conversation with playwright and activist Jewelle Gomez, whose play Leaving the Blues reimagines Hunter’s journey as a closeted Black lesbian performer in early 20th-century America. Host Dr. Robert Philipson and Gomez explore Hunter’…

"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 spanning Southern California, France, the groovy Sixties, Africa. "Still Life" will reveal the malefic influence…

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-motion avalanche. We can take "Christ" out of Christmas, but we cannot remove it from our hearts. Host In…

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 family memoir, we present certain chapters as podcasts performed by voice actors. "Skinny" was recorded a…

In this deeply personal and thought-provoking episode, Robert Philipson traces the intertwined threads of family, faith, and identity, beginning with his great-uncle, Reform Judaism leader Rabbi David Philipson, and winding through his own complex upbringing in mid-century America. From the unlikely honor of portraying Shylock in a high school Engl…

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 was watched by over 1000 people. Philipson discusses the composition of the song "Body and Soul" by Jewish compose…

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 performance before his untimely death to cancer. In a blog post I wrote about the film at the time, I prophesied that V…

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? Indeed is there anything “Black” about the classical music tradition or is it, as Dr. Philipson contends, a wh…

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. Website: www.shogafilms.com; Instagram: shogafilms; Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms; Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilms…

Website: www.shogafilms.com; Instagram: shogafilms; Facebook: facebook.com/shogafilms; Twitter: twitter.com/shogafilmsBy robert