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'The Making and Breaking of a Self-Loathing Jew'
by Euan Kerr, Minnesota Public Radio
September 8, 2004

"Shanda" (Courtesy of Touchstone Books)

St. Paul, Minn. — Shanda is a yiddish word for "scandal." It's a word used to describe someone who is an embarrassment to his family or even his community. Minneapolis writer Neal Karlen describes himself as a shanda. He grew up Jewish, in a devout Twin Cities family. At one point it looked as thought he was going to become a rabbi, but he turned to journalism instead and began to drift away from his heritage.

He says in time he became what he describes a "Jewish Uncle Tom."

In his new book "Shanda" he tells how he tried to make people like him by being outrageous and telling jokes laden with offensive stereotypes. He told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr everything came crashing down around him when he went to a party to watch a boxing match.

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