Alicia Jo Rabins is a performer, musician, singer, composer, poet, writer, and Jewish scholar. She lives in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
, in the United States. Her use of language and words is central to her work: "Words may be the closest we get to immortality as humans. Death has no power over those words. Geography has no power over them. They transmit something beyond any one, or any community's, lifetime."
She played violin for eight years in the rock-klezmer band
Golem
A golem ( ; he, , gōlem) is an animated, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is entirely created from inanimate matter (usually clay or mud). The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the l ...
.
Biography
She got her B.A. in English and creative writing at
Barnard College
Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...
, received an M.F.A. in poetry from
Warren Wilson College
Warren Wilson College (WWC) is a private liberal arts college in Swannanoa, North Carolina. It is known for its curriculum that combines academics, work, and service as every student must complete a requisite course of study, work an on-campu ...
, an M.A. in Jewish gender and women's studies from the
Jewish Theological Seminary, and studied for two years at the
Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies () is a Jewish educational institution based in Jerusalem with programs worldwide.
History
Pardes was launched by Rabbi Michael Swirsky in the fall of 1972 with the support of the World Zionist Organization, ...
in Jerusalem.
During the Fall 2016 session, she taught a course, "Arts and Jewish Experience: Exploring Diverse American Identities through Art", at Portland State University.
In 2014, Rabins performed "A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff".
She has performed at: Webster Hall, New York City (October 27, 2008); "A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff",
Portland State University
Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decad ...
(May 2014);
University of North Carolina at Asheville
The University of North Carolina Asheville (UNC Asheville, UNCA, or simply Asheville) is a public liberal arts university in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. UNC Asheville is the designated liberal arts institution in the University of N ...
(March 6, 2018);
and
The Poetry Project The Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church was founded in 1966 at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in the East Village of Manhattan by, among others, the poet and translator Paul Blackburn. It has been a crucial venue for new and experimental poetry ...
, New York City (November 26, 2018). Rabins and her work has been featured in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', ''
Literary Mama ''Literary Mama'' (LiteraryMama.com) is a U.S.-based online literary magazine focused on publishing writing about motherhood in a variety of genres. The writings found in ''Literary Mama'' challenge all types of media to rethink its narrow focus of ...
'',
the
Jewish Women's Archive,
''
Lilith
Lilith ( ; he, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Ed ...
'',
''
The Forward
''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ...
'',
''
Tablet'',
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary television and radio public broadcasting network for most of the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington. OPB consists of five full-power television stations, dozens of VHF or UHF tra ...
,
and more.
Jo Rabins is married to bassist
Aaron Hartman and has two children.
Discography
*''Sugar Shack'' (2003)
* ''Girls in Trouble'' (2009)
* ''Half You Half Me'' (2011)
* ''Open the Ground'' (2015)
Filmography
* ''
A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff: The Film''
Publications
Books
* ''Divinity School''
*''Fruit Geode''
Writings
* ''A Passover Story''
Awards
* 2015 Honickman Book Prize Winner
References
External links
*
Alicia Jo Rabins on Jewish Women's Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabins, Alicia Jo
Living people
Barnard College alumni
Jewish Theological Seminary of America alumni
Writers from Portland, Oregon
Warren Wilson College alumni
Jewish American writers
Jewish poets
American women poets
Musicians from Portland, Oregon
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American poets
21st-century American women writers
21st-century American musicians
21st-century American women musicians
American violinists
Women violinists
Klezmer musicians
American punk rock musicians
Women in punk