We apologize again for our slow posting this week; our new server should be up and running next week and we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled program of good news and good times. Speaking of good times, we were the proud guardians of our local JCC’s only gender-bending Queen Esther this morning and plan to carry out this new family tradition by dressing as Haman at tonight’s chavarah festivities (enter groger noise here!) Purim isn’t only fun for the kiddies; check out Aish’s hilarious short Flash movie, especially for Jews who like to poke fun at themselves. So Shabbat Shalom and chag sameach – We’re off to hit the holiday-sanctioned Manischewitz!

Give us a “V” for “Victory”: Athens, GA will soon be rid of Marilou Braswell, the cheerleading coach whose case we have been following ever since she tried to intimidate a Jewish cheerleader into “mandatory” Bible study to qualify for the varsity cheer squad at the University of Georgia. Braswell has claimed that she never did anything wrong, but after being fired and losing her appeal against the school (whose officials say she owes $300,000 for camps she hosted), she’s finally got it through her airhead that she should take her Christian-only pep rally crap elsewhere. Surely, there is some small Bible college in Eastern Kentucky who will appreciate it. In the meantime, we think it’d be really cool to hire a cantor for her vacant position. Who better to fire up a crowd?

Please excuse our absence here at Jmerica.com, we’re about done switching everything over to a bigger, better server that will accomodate the increased membership of the last few months. We’re handling our inability to bring you news about Jews with alternating bouts of guilt-ridden hysteria and binging on hamentaschen, but we promise to get our blog on as soon as the new server’s tight. In the meantime, nosh on a couple of links: *Rabbi Rosen explains the whole megillah (aka “The Purim Story”) at SomethingJewishUK.. *Did we say JAPs were making a comeback? Apparently, in the Midwest, they never left. (c/oLifeOfRubin). *Jewish biker gangs plan to converge on Washington, D.C.–your bubbie wants a helmet.

The UK’s Jewish Chronicle spotlights the kinda-Jewish Sean Penn this week. His grandfather was a Lithuanian immigrant who ran a kosher deli in New York before his parents moved him to Malibu, where he perfected the stoner dude impersonation that made him famous. But he’s all about serious acting and even more serious political stances these days, so don’t expect him to revive his humor skills:
“When you’ve got a stern, crooked face, with an over-pronounced nose as I have, you don’t get sent a lot of comedy,” he says.
And although he once played a balding, neurotic heeb in Carlito’s Way and was married briefly to everybody’s favorite Kabbalah poster girl, we’re not going to hold our breath to see him at synagogue

First, it was all about the jokes (What does a Jewish American Princess make for dinner? Reservations!), then came the (well-deserved) backlash against negative stereotypes. Now it’s all about, uh, empowerment? According to the Boston Globe, JAPs are making a comeback.
“To some, JAP is just the latest slur to be embraced as a means of self-empowerment, much the way gay culture adopted ‘queer’ and African-Americans use the n-word. JAP’s comeback may signal a new era in identity politics, one in which Jewish women, feeling victorious after battling the double burden of misogyny and anti-Semitism, peel away many aspects of the old stereotype-the snobbishness, the dependency on daddy’s Amex, the sexual frigidity-and keep… well, the shoes and the Chanel.“
In other words, it’s okay for Jewish girls to call each other JAPs, but coming from outside the tribe it’s still an insult? We’ve spent most of our lives trying to prove that in spite of our expensive orthodontia and penchant for running up credit cards that we’re not some shallow clich

Even an Irish holiday has Jewish relevance

It’s not funny that tsunami victims may still need basic relief like food, water and clothing, but one group of Israeli merrymakers hasn’t forgotten the importance of balloons, red rubber noses and squirting flowers. JTA reports how a lil’ Jewish silliness helps the healing process.

We probably would have missed this article about Jewish supermodel Caprice Bourret in the London Times business section if not for the eagle eyes at DailyJews. Turns out Caprice ain’t capricious with her money; the interview reveals the tall blonde drink of water to be an investment-savvy saver with excellent spending habits who saves every receipt. She does admit, however, to one retail-therapy weakness: tracksuits.
“I must have more than 100, in every style and colour. They