David Joel Orenstein, at The Blogs

David Joel Orenstein

Oct 8, 2025, 9:53 PM

What is Happening In Gaza Is Not Genocide

The word genocide carries an unbearable weight. It is the most damning accusation that can be leveled at a people or a nation, because it describes a systematic attempt to erase an entire group from the face of the...

Aug 8, 2022, 2:18 AM

All we really have is each other /my father

My father is 87. A retired pharmacist, a husband and a dad, Age is taking its toll. He ambulates slowly with a cane and many of the who's, what's and where's of recent events now escape his memory. His...

Dec 15, 2021, 5:41 AM

My Father, Two Baseballs, a Hill, a Storm Drain and a Fence

On the east side of Hale Middle School in Woodland Hills, California, an eleven-foot-high chain link fence separates the playground from busy Platt Avenue and its storm drain. Most twelve to fourteen-year- old boys can scale the fence in...

Oct 5, 2021, 7:06 AM

The Mood Lifting Anti-Anxiety Toolbox

THE MOOD LIFTING ANTI-ANXIETY TOOLBOX These are rough times. Covid 19, climate disruption as well as political and social strife make life difficult and exacerbate all the other challenges life throws at us. Fortunately, human biology and culture have provided...

About Me

I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, grew up in Los Angeles, and worked and studied for a year in Israel before beginning my adult life. I enjoy writing poetry and essays about surviving childhood brain cancer, climate change, peace in the middle east and many other subjects.